New cuts of beef from UNL researchers

LINCOLN — Chris Calkins and other meat scientists have started a revolution in butcher shops and at supermarket meat counters.

They’re turning previously overlooked parts of the beef carcass into savory steaks, roasts and boneless ribs. The new cuts are less expensive than traditional steaks, they say, but comparable for flavor and tenderness.

The enhanced value of the product totals in the millions of dollars each year, a boon to Nebraska beef producers.

Five new cuts have resulted from the most recent research: the Denver, Delmonico, America’s beef roast, country-style boneless beef chuck ribs and the Sierra. The scientists also are credited with the flatiron steak and petite tenderloins, introduced in 2000.

Mahlon J. Kohl, a meat cutter and owner of Blue River Meats in Crete, Neb., began selling the new steaks last spring.

The marquee outside Blue River Meats advertises two of the new cuts, the Denver and Delmonico. Kohl said he has received positive feedback from customers.

“It’s something more economical. We have customers who come back repeatedly for those steaks,” he said. “The percentage (of sales) is still low, 10 to 15 percent overall, but it’s growing.”

Kohl said the Delmonico is similar in taste and texture to the ribeye, while the Denver is similar to a New York strip but with a beefier, stronger flavor.

“We’re pretty happy we did it,” Kohl said. “I know a lot of guys who just throw a chuck (roll) into the grinder.”

Calkins is the Nebraska Beef Industry Professor of Animal Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After receiving his doctorate in meat science at Texas A&M University, he decided to come to UNL because it would allow him to both teach and do research in a state where “beef is king.”

In 1998, he and UNL colleagues, along with a team from the University of Florida, dissected 142 carcasses and studied 5,500 samples of 39 muscles in the shoulder and chuck roll, which is behind the neck and shoulder. The research was funded through the state’s Beef Checkoff program.

They tested for variables like shape, size, composition, tenderness and color.

“Muscles grow together, but they’re not the same,” Calkins explained. “Some are more tender and desirable than others. They’re diamonds in the rough; very undervalued.”

Calkins demonstrated the new cuts at the UNL cutting room.

He started with an 18-pound chuck roll, a large brick of bright red beef and white, gummy-looking fat. He peeled the upper portion back along a natural seam in the muscle.

“It almost peels itself,” he said as he cut 3-inch-thick slices to create the Delmonico steaks.

He cut another piece, laid it flat on the table, and sliced it down the middle. Repeating it twice more produced six boneless beef chuck ribs.

“These are nice and meaty. You cook them right and put them out, and everyone goes after them,” he said. “A butcher in Valentine told me he can’t keep boneless ribs on the shelf.”

The remaining meat was cut in half and netted with twine as America’s beef roast. The roast can be cooked in a dry heat like prime rib, and Calkins said it makes for a good roast beef sandwich.

After Calkins demonstrated cuts to form the Sierra and Denver steaks, he was left with 3 pounds of meat for grinding.

Calkins said the research dramatically increases the value of the chuck roll. “It’s consistent, uniform, convenient and good food. It’s a huge win for consumers,” he said.

Before muscle-profiling research, 30 percent of a cattle carcass contained most of the value: the filet, the ribs and the thick cuts of steak.

The remaining 70 percent was considered “hunk and chunk,” used for roasts and ground beef and worth $2 to $3 per pound.

Calkins’ study of the cow shoulder produced the flatiron cut, petite tenders and ranch cut, all of which sell for about $6 to $8 per pound.

Those three cuts increased the amount producers receive by $60 to $70 per head, according to Cattle Fax, a market research industry analyst. With 1.91 million Nebraska cattle slaughtered annually, producers gain at least an additional $114.6 million a year from the research.

The university research teams were awarded the International Meat Secretariat world prize for meat science and technology in 2004; it’s the only time the award has been presented in the United States.

New cuts require packers to completely redesign their processing lines to accommodate the products, which they have yet to do, said Tara Hoelscher, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska Beef Council.

So the cuts are mostly found in small, independent meat shops where the beef can be custom-cut and packaged. The Beef Council has hosted seminars for retailers about the cuts and marketing strategies, complete with samples.

Rancher and cattleman William Rhea III of Arlington, Neb., said he enjoys both the additional value of his cattle and the tasty new steaks. He’s enjoyed flatiron steaks at restaurants across the nation and petite tenderloins at home.

“It’s gotten more value out of the animal. The more of these products they find, the more cumulative benefit there is: a dime here, a nickel here,” Rhea said.

World-Herald staff writer Aaron C. James contributed to this report.