STEAK OF ORIGIN ARCHIVES

2009 STEAK OF ORIGIN

Near to 350 entries were put forward for the Steak of Origin this year and although Angus did not feature in the overall winning steaks for the first time for a year or two they were well served again by Joe Fouhy with his Glanworth Angus and The Neat Meat Company with AngusPure in winning the ‘Manawatu Beef Dish of the year’ and the ‘Best of Brand (wholesale and foodservice)’.

With plenty of entries in total, spread throughout the ‘Best of British’, ‘Best of Crossbred’, Best of Brand (Retail) and ‘Best of Brand’ (Wholesale & Foodservice), Angus had every chance again but it was not to be the year of the Angus as it had been in so many of the preceding years, with a friesian X Piedmontese steak taking out the main trophy.

Manawatu Beef Dish of the Year

A regular participant and finalist since its inception, Jo Fouhy has also been on two occasions the outright winner of the Steak of Origin, so it is no surprise that he has set up with butcher shops in Pahiatua and Woodville to sell to those in his home region who know him so well his own branded Glanworth Angus.

Using his beef in the day to day running of their restaurant Nero’s of Palmerston North won the best beef dish Manawatu.

Best of Brand – Wholesale and Foodservice: William & Simon Eriksen, The Neat Meat Company.

Yvette & Scott Kennedy (Nero cafe) with Lea & Joe Fouhy.

2008 STEAK OF ORIGIN TRIUMPH FOR ANGUS AGAIN!
5 OUT OF 5 – NOT POSSIBLE!!

The Steak of Origin competition in 2008 once again turned up trumps for the Angus breed.

The grand champion sirloin, judged New Zealand’s most tender and tasty steak, was bred by Angus breeders Alistair and Patricia Sharpe of Waihi. Congratulations!

Outright winners of the 2008 Steak of

Origin Competition; Allistair & Pat Sharpe

Three hundred entries in the competition were whittled down to 16 finalists over four classes, by tenderness testing at Lincoln University and public tasting at supermarkets in Christchurch the week before the finals in Feilding.

The finalists steaks were cooked and taste tested by a panel of judges at the Steak of Origin Awards dinner. Judges chef Graham Hawkes, Dom Post farming editor Jon Morgan and Manawatu Mayor Ian McKelvie tasted the 16 steaks and rated them on aroma, taste, tenderness (bite), juiciness and texture.

The judges said it was not an easy job, with 16 superb pieces of meat.

“We really had to concentrate on each steak and be guided by the head judge in analysing each piece for the judging criteria,” said Mr Morgan.

Head judge and chef, Graham Hawkes said the quality of the lineup of steaks was fabulous.

“Each had subtle differences,” he said. “Choosing the winner was not an easy decision.” Mr and Mrs Sharpe first won the Best of British Breed class, before going on to win the overall Grand Champion award.

Their prize was the Meat & Wool New Zealand ‘Steak of Origin’ trophy, $6,500 in cash, 250,000 PGG Wrightsons reward points and a $1,000 Swanndri voucher. Mr Sharpe said he was “fairly rapt” to receive the award, after being placed second in the class last year.

The winning steak came from one of three 18-month-old Angus heifers selected for the competition from those bred on the Sharpe’s Waihi hillcountry Angus stud farm.

The heifers were from pure New Zealand genetics, a genetic purity that Mr Sharpe is very passionate about. “I have a fetish for cattle with the pure New Zealand bloodlines,” he said, “as they seem to be able to handle the conditions through thick and thin.”

Breeding Angus cattle at his ‘Waitawheta’ stud since 1986, Mr Sharpe believes the black cows have “the ability to convert grass of dubious quality into good quality red meat.”

The Sharpes supply steers and heifers to the AngusPure programme through Wilson Hellaby in Auckland and say they will definitely be back in the competition next year. As for the prize money, Mr Sharpe said “at least now I will be able to look at the bulls at the Beef Expo!”

Second in the Best of British category were John and Joss Bayly with a steak from their Paihia Angus stud in the Bay of Islands.

Angus genetics also featured in the finalists for the Best of Crossbreed category. Kevin McConnell from Whangarei won second place with a Angus South Devon cross animal and Gerald and Sue Kemp from Gisborne were fourth with a steak from an Angus Simmental cross animal. Glanworth Beef, the branded beef product of Joe and Lea Fouhy of Glanworth Angus stud in the Wairarapa was also a grand finalist, having won the Best of Brand – Retailers, wholesale and food service category.

Second in the Best of brand category was the Neat Meat Company of Auckland with AngusPure produced by Chris & Karren Biddles, Te Kopuru, and fourth was TeMania Certified Angus branded by Freshzone / Foodmore of the Foodtown / Woolworths / Countdown group.

This is a tremendous boost to those that have been working so hard this past 12 months to grow the AngusPure programme in New Zealand.

The partnerships with Hellabys, Land Meats, Taylor Preston and CMP in the killing and processing area and Hellabys, Chefs Choice, Neat Meats , Foodstuffs, Toops and Meat Marketing in the distribution and marketing is working particularly well.

2007 NZ Beef and Lamb “Steak of Origin”  Competition: 4 in a row!!!

Steak of Origin Winners 2007
Chris and Karen Biddles.
(click image for larger version)

Manawatu Restaurant Beef Dish
of the Year winners,
Sage Cafe, Feilding.
(click image for larger version)

240 Sirloin steaks were entered in the 2007 ‘Steak of Origin’, ensuring stiff competition for this prestigious award in all classes. With only 16 of the original entries picked for the finals a big programme of elimination had taken place before the finals evening, with semi-finals having been held in Christchurch previously.

A big crowd sat down to the dinner at the Novotel to await the results of the celebrity judges Martin Devlin, Angela McKee, Jason Strong and Greg Heffernan but before the final placings were announced the guests were entertained by a lively speech from radio personality Marty Devlin, mainly covering  his years in the broadcasting game. He was followed by Jason Strong an Australian who has had considerable input into the acceptance of their ‘Meat Standards’ by the Australian meat industry. He complimented New Zealand on the job they were doing in advancing the standard of quality beef and the willingness of diners to pay more for quality, tender beef.

As always there was  a high level of expectation and anticipation as Rod Slater of Beef and Lamb made known the various class place getters with Angus featuring prominently again in these results. In the individual classes;

• Chris and Karren Biddles of Te Atarangi Angus won the “best of British’ class with Allistair Sharpe of Waitewheta Angus second and Joe Fouhy (almost constant finalist and outright winner twice) fourth.
• NZ Angus’s distributors Chef’s Choice won the ‘Best of Brand’ with AngusPure, with Neat Meats (Last years overall winner) fourth.
• In the grand final where all class winners were contesting the outcome Chris and Karren Biddles took out the coveted trophy for the 2007 Steak of Origin, making it the 4th year in a row that an Angus steak has won this trophy.
• As well as the Steak of Origin competition, the Manawatu Restaurants Beef Dish of the Year award is presented at this function and to cap everything off for the Angus breed this award went to Sage Café in Feilding with the Elm in Palmerston North the runner up.
• Both these restaurants are regular users of AngusPure and used AngusPure in    their winning beef dish. Well done to both of them as they fly the banner of quality.

Well done to Chris and Karren for their great win, from 240 steaks it is a great achievement to come out on top with so many quality steaks to compete with.

Of the 16 finalists 5 of them were from the Angus stable – supporting the strongly held view that Angus cattle produce some of the finest quality beef, a strong endorsement for Angus breeders and their branded programme ‘AngusPure.

Steak of Origin 2007 Results:
 
Best of Breed – European
1st                    Dannie O’Shea, Whangarei (Limousin)
2nd                   Charlie & Leonie Stephens, Christchurch (Piedmontese)
3rd                    Norman Wylie, Takapau (Limousin)
Finalist           Don Buchanan, Taumarunui (Piedmontese)

Best of Breed - British
1st                    Chris & Karren Biddles, Te Kopuru (Angus)
2nd                   Alistair Sharpe, Waihi (Angus)
3rd                    David Morrow & Tony Marett, Ashburton (Hereford)
Finalist           Joe Foughy, Pahiatau (Angus)

Best of Breed – Crossbreed and Other
1st                    Werner Gut, Kaponga (Hinterwaelder / Jersey X)
2nd                   Dannie O’Shea, Whangarei (Limousin / Jersey X)
3rd                    Charlie & Leonie Stephens, Christchurch (Piedmontese X)
Finalist           Barrry Gray, Owaka (South Devon / Maine Anjou X)

Best of Brand – Retailers, Wholesale and Foodservice
1st                    Chef’s Choice, Wanganui (AngusPure)
2nd                   Magills Meats, Te Awamutu (Hereford Prime)
3rd                    NZ Meat Marketing, CMP Ashburton (Hereford X)
Finalist           The Neat Meat Company, Auckland (AngusPure)

The supreme winners, Chris and Karren Biddles, received the Meat & Wool New Zealand ‘Steak of Origin’ trophy and $6000. Winners in each of the other classes received $1000 and a plaque.

Chris and Karren Biddles farm at Te Kopuru, south of Dargaville in the far north where they run an all beef programme with their Te Atarangi Angus Stud the feature of their operation.

Congratulations to all those who entered – this is the 4th time in a row that an Angus breeder or AngusPure distributor has won the award – a fantastic endorsement for the Argus breed, its breeders and the AngusPure programme. No doubt this recognition will continue to drive the AngusPure brand and lift it to new heights as high quality produce and high quality beef becomes the norm for the consumer.

AngusPure Wins Steak of Origin
Challenge 2006

For a third year in a row the New Zealand Angus breed, its breed members and/or associated distributors of our branded product AngusPure have taken away the Supreme Award at the national ‘Steak of Origin’ competition, run by Beef and Lamb NZ during the Meat & Wool NZ Beef Expo week in Palmerston North.

Tim Brittain (Chairman ABQM) with
AngusPure distributors.

Well represented in the ‘British Breed’, ‘Crossbred’ and ‘branded Product’ sections, it was left to the Neat Meat Co Ltd of Auckland, (one of our AngusPure distributors) to win its own section and then take out the Supreme Award for 2006 ahead of all of the 200+ competitors, for the finest steak in the land.

Brothers Simon and William Erikson of the Neat Meat Co were on hand to accept the award. On behalf of all Angus producers, breeders and fellow distributors of AngusPure ‘Chef’s Choice (Wanganui), West Meats (Christchurch) this is a huge endorsement of our branded product AngusPure and the breed Angus for its quality and consistency.

Further improved with the introduction of semi-finals this year the competition was bigger than ever and the quality of the beef coming forward was of an exceptional standard, so to win for the 3rd year in a row is a tremendous feat.

All breeds are using this competition to gauge the acceptability of their meat in the market place and it is very noticeable with Angus’s success again in this competition that AngusPure is being asked for and sort by housewives, restaurateurs and hotels throughout the country.

Willie & Simon Erikson of
Neat Meat Co.

Well over 300 people packed into the Novotel in Palmerston North to hear how the judges (Greg Heffernan, Graham Lowe and Steve Braunius) had placed the steaks and when the Steak of Origin winner was announced, the nervousness in the Angus camp turned to jubilation. The Neat Meat Co received $5000 for their winning of the overall Title and also received nationwide publicity of their winning beef cut, AngusPure on Television and Rradio.

As a footnote to this success, AngusPure enquiries have shown strong growth since the Steak of Origin win from all sectors of the community both here and abroad.

Click here for 2007 Beef Expo and Steak of Origin photo gallery