Comprehensive beef recipes
Our eyes are how we consume. Furthermore, the inclusion of real food elements for flavor, look, and even nutrition adds value and sets you apart in the congested meat and poultry industry, as customers seek for less processed foods.
“Adding ingredients to meat and poultry can enhance flavor and pique consumers’ interest,” stated Kate Leahy, a Sunsweet Ingredients representative from Yuba City, California. Fruit goes well with meat, especially chicken and pork, as the sweetness highlights the subtle, savory qualities of the meat. These days, one may even express creativity with blended-meat products by adding additives.
According to Jeannie Swedberg, director of marketing and customer development at Tree Top Inc. in Selah, Wash., “inclusions pose the simplest and easiest way to create line extensions with either comforting flavors to suit the consumer palate or unique and trendy flavors.”
The inclusions must be genuine and true. This makes a short list of ingredients possible. The greatest way to avoid color problems or moisture migration in formed meat products like sausages, patties, and meatballs is frequently to use dried forms, particularly those made of fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
Doug Westers, director of product development at Tree Top, says that fruit inclusions including apple, cherry, apricots, plums, and pineapple go well with sausage, smoked meats, and plant-based meat substitutes. Fruit’s inherent acidity adds sweetness and balances the fat content.color and texture.
The founder and CEO of Gilbert’s Craft Sausages in Wheaton, Illinois, Chris Salm, explains why the company adds additions to its all-natural chicken sausages.
“First of all, we see sausage as a culinary blank canvas; additions result in more distinctive, flavorful products,” he stated. “Inclusions also fulfill a practical function by giving the sausage more texture and wetness, which is beneficial considering that skinless chicken has less fat than products made of pork or beef. Third, by including fruit or vegetable ingredients into the sausage and minimizing the fat content, our inclusions frequently assist our goods in meeting the nutritional needs of our customers.
Sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil are ingredients in the Caprese version. Aloha is created with brown sugar, ginger, and actual pineapple chunks. sugar.“Our fig and feta chicken sausage is just that,” Salm said. “It’s made with real feta cheese curds and dried fig pieces.”All Gilbert’s Craft Sausages are fully cooked using sous vide technology and are ready to eat. This process keeps the individually wrapped links fresh in the fridge.
Transparency factor
pplegate, a Hormel Foods Corp. subsidiary based in Bridgewater, NJ, now offers Applegate Well Carved, a new brand designed to satisfy conscientious consumers who are being mindful of their meat intake and its nutritional, ethical and environmental impact. The chef-crafted line features burgers and meatballs and combines meat with whole organic vegetables, legumes and grains. All products boast a transparent ingredient list, avoiding the many questionable ingredients found in heavily processed plant-based protein alternatives, according to the company. The grass-fed organic beef burger is made with cauliflower, spinach, lentils and butternut squash. The organic turkey burger includes sweet potato, great northern bean, kale and roasted onion. The organic Asian-style pork meatballs are made with brown rice, green onion, carrot and parsley, while the organic Mediterranean-style turkey meatball is made with lentils, feta cheese and spinach.
Heat-and-eat meat and poultry products also benefit from accentuating inclusions. Whole food ingredient integrity is critical for sensory effects.
“In the culinary world, we add inclusions mostly for flavor and texture,” said Hernan Angarita, culinary innovation and applications manager at Kerry Taste & Nutrition, Beloit, Wis. “On the flavor realm, ingredients such as scallions, garlic and a variety of chilis impart a strong flavor without having to use a lot. Other inclusions such as parsley and onion can be complementary to a profile and they will work with the main herbs, spices and flavorful ingredients to merge and build complexity.”
Think of preparations such as kefta kabob, where a blend of garlic, spices and herbs builds the identity of the dish. A slight tweak of the balance of these inclusions changes that identity.
“Will you make Moroccan kefta or a Turkish kefta?” Angarita asked. “Examples like this exist across the world, especially when talking about forcemeats or formed ground meat products.”
He provided the example of morcilla, which is known as blood sausage in the United States. It appears in almost every culture, but with varying inclusions.
“In Spain, the most common is the morcilla de Burgos, which has rice and onions for inclusions, but if you cross the Atlantic Ocean to Puerto Rico, morcilla is made with rice, garlic, cilantro and cubanelle peppers,” Angarita said. “The addition of these inclusions to meats and other products define the flavors, ways of eating and culture of a region.”
On the texture side, inclusion selection is more complex. Larger particulates are typically required for full impact.
“Take Argentinian matambre, for example,” Angarita said. “It uses highly flavorful ingredients such as garlic, cilantro, parsley and chili flakes to impart the identity of the region, but it kicks it up a notch by adding julienned peppers and diced hard boiled eggs. Roll all these delightful ingredients on an extended piece of flank steak, tie it up, grill it and slice it to get a truly unique eating experience.”
Zak Otto, senior research and development manager, Wixon, St. Francis, Wis., said, “Adding cheddar cheese dices and bacon bits to a burger creates a textural and flavor experience you cannot achieve with the addition of flavor alone.”
The meat snack category, which includes bars, chews, jerky and sticks, may benefit from whole food ingredients, too. Herbs may be applied topically to whole muscle via a marinade prior to drying. Comminuted products allow for the addition of bits and pieces prior to formation.
Pineapple pork is the latest flavor creation from Country Archer Jerky Co., San Bernardino, Calif. With zero grams of sugar, the flavor is reminiscent of a tropical vacation, as it contains bits of real pineapple you can taste and see in every bite.Inclusions may be used to add value and upgrade meat and poultry. But don’t go overboard.
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“With most inclusions, there is a diminishing return to their addition,” Otto said. “The value or function of an added ingredient will have a high point where it performs best and adding more does not necessarily equate to the product being ‘better.’ The addition of too much cheese or veggies in a sausage would start to negatively affect the texture of the product.”
Salm said, “We have found some limitations with moisture migration with certain ingredients, but there’s usually a workaround. Often, fresh or individually quick-frozen ingredients need to be swapped out for dried ingredients, or you could wind up with some mushy inclusions. For us, it’s a lot of trial and error to find the ingredients that perform the best.”