Oh So Canadian: Canadian Living with Canadian Beef

Last week we had the pleasure of hosting a team from Canadian Living out in the field at Harvie Ranching and in the kitchen at the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence.

On board for the tour were (left to right): Annabelle Waugh (Food Director), Irene Fong – Senior Food Specialist (a.k.a. ‘Steak Wizard’) and Sandra Martin (Editor-in-Chief), along with Jill Harvie of Harvie Ranching.

I’m from a farm and I work with food- but every time I get out on a beef ranch or farm tour, or in a kitchen with cooking colleagues, the one thing I know, is that there is always so much I don’t know.

Here’s some of what we learned:

On Ranch with Jill Harvie

• Canadian cattle breeds are making their way out all over the world. Jill attended a cattle show in Australia a few years ago to see one of her cattle offspring, born via an Australian surrogate.

• There is a global network of young ranchers and farmers that support each other and work together to refine their craft of raising cattle. Groups like 4-H, Cattlemen’s Young Leaders and Farm On offer opportunities for mentorship and sharing information.

• Young cattle ranchers and farmers are on fire for their work – the hours are long, the financial commitment is big, but the rewards are a life they wouldn’t trade for any other.

• Cattle walk in S patterned pathways – so Dr. Temple Grandin (livestock behaviourlist extrodinaire), developed systems for moving cattle that offer comfort based on the S pattern. Harvie Ranching uses those systems to manage and move cattle with care.

• Cattle graze by wrapping their tongues around grass and pulling it in – they don’t bite it off. 4-H programs help young farmers and ranchers learn about the identification of native grasses – and it is different depending on what region of the country you’re in. Grass is not just grass — and yes, it is always greener on the other side.

• I still love scratching cattle as I did when growing up – and I miss it.

In the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence (CBCE):

• The little known beef cuts like Tri-tip, Petite Tender and Flap were of keen interest. Annabelle takes a closer look at some Beef Medallions cut by CBCE resident butcher Abe Van Melle in the Meat Fabrication room at The Centre.

• Canadian Living kitchen agrees that the browning step for beef pot roasts in advance of slow cooker cooking is a ‘nice to do’ not a ‘must do’ step.

• Different beef cuts are really best when cooked to different levels of doneness, depending on the cut — and who is eating the cut.

• We need to do more investigation into the option of cooking beef from frozen.

As our final lunch together, we had a steak cook-off with Top Sirloin Cap Grilling Steak – served up with Succotash Sauté. And as a tribute to our ‘kitchen mash up’ we enjoyed a great mini pumpkin tart recipe from the Canadian Living October issue (done in mason jars instead of tart shells). Yum.

See more tour highlights on Twitter @CDNbeefrecipes, @LoveCDNbeef, @CanadianLiving, @SandraEMartin and @AnnabelleWaugh.