This sounds like a winner to me.
From the bowels of the Protein Innovation Summit in Chicago last month comes the Las Vegas Strip steak. The newest and likely the last steak to be found within the carcass of a cow. The new steak is named in honor “the newest fine dining capital of the world,” (see site for details) Las Vegas. According to Jacob Nelson, a value-added meat processing specialist for Robert M Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center, the new steak has been fabricated/discovered/engineered in close association with the self professed ‘Meat Geek’ Tony Mata.
The steak was launched at a swanky dinner. According to reports, the steak was went down well and people ‘liked the look of it.’
The Vegas Strip Steak was well received by the audience,” Mata said. “They tasted it, loved it and applauded.”This muscle produces a steak that is on par with or better than today’s most popular steaks,” Mata said.
Unlike most hard to handle and labor intensive beef, the new steak is ready to go right out of the cow. Gone are the days of dry aging cuts to enhance flavor and texture.
“It does not require aging or marinating to achieve tenderness and its visual appeal enhances the steak eater’s overall enjoyment.”
The good folks at Gizmodo are also quick to point out that the location of this new cut of steak has not been identified within the cow. Further, it appears that only a few facilities have been given the permission to ‘fabricate’ them. All indicating that the steaks are most likely intellectual property and so far include a patent and special licensing.
To me this sounds like a neat idea with a whole bunch of marketing around it. The fact that the steaks are ‘fabricated’ and not butchered or cut, makes me think of a dubious industrial process. While I can see the benefit of another economical and tasty cut of beef, we consume so much of it already that perhaps the focus of future innovations should be on better farming practices and cattle husbandry.
sources:
Gizmodo, Vegasstripsteak.com, Drovers Cattle Network, Business Insider.