It's good for marinating jerky before tossing it in the smoke-house. No, it is excellent for preparing jerky to be smoked; 20-minutes instead of 20-hours. I would certainly acquire one if I had my own shop. I personally don't like the un-intuitive constructions that I have seen.
Other than that... a vacuum tumbler hasn't been good for much else. (in my uneducated opinion) I only have about six-months experience on a vacuum tumbler. I am learning from 3 guys who have been using one for almost twenty-years. And, that is their conclusion. It beats up meat too much.
The fact is 15-lbs of vacuum does open up and extend meat fibers making it easy to be able to infuse liquids into the muscles. I perfer to use injection so that I can measure precisely how much I have added before something must be labled 'water-added' which is 20% of the original dead weight.
This part is opinion: In my experience, consumers do not like the idea the of marinated meats. They down right distrust them. But, I come from a cooking culture and there isn't anybody who doesn't know slow food. I grew up next to a stove. Pre-marinated meat (especially in this way) seems to be a fast-passed, don't take time to smell the roses, type-thing.
-- Edited by JimmyMac on Thursday 15th of March 2012 04:31:02 PM
Tumblers are great! They will pay for themselves quickly!
you can create your own marinade program and section in your meatcase-sample the different flavors on the weekend, and sales will increase
you can advertise professionally marinated beef pork and chicken
Some spice companies have road reps-that will go to your store to sample thier spices-call around to different companies-tell them you have a tumbler and they may send someone over to sample thier spices- these guys get to see all the best marinade sections in the area and know the best flavors- it's definitely worth a call- I knew an x meatcutter that took one of these jobs, and he loved it
Most of us are at retail- and most of us may be on an ad/flyer program- which gets very repetitive- with a tumbler, you can marinade the lead sale items and capture extra margin every week and once you tumble a steak, its good for another 5 days
you can also tumble bnls chicken breasts with many flavors-
this is a great piece of equipment that allows you to "brand" your own unique store items then you can start advertising them
a vac seal machine is also excellent to have with a tumbler
this time of year-I push stir-fry sections (diet season, healthy image) you can make high margins with tumbled stir-fry's
the key customer benefit is- the conerstone in any successful meat department and thats CONSISTENCY- not a half ass/half covered/marinated steak
-- Edited by Mainemeatman on Thursday 15th of March 2012 05:30:36 PM
What they tell us, and what we find in our own and our customers daily use, is that the tumbler will enhance the juciness of the product, make it more tender if desired, and add flavor and variety for the consumer. Not just the same old boneless chicken breast.
It also can speed the cooking process since the product is more moist and make it tougher for the customer to overcook it and dry it out.
With our retail units the customers get the benefits for the Marinade Express patented marinades and benefits.
Visit http://marinade-express.com for more info. Or call us at 262-369-9450 if you want to talk to a live person.
I was using multiple tumblers twenty years ago in my Boneless PC Chicken Breast processing facility in Balt and they never stopped running. Benefits for the manufacturer: You picked up additional weight> Product now costs less to sell By custom marinating for specific customers you save them steps and further reduce "in house" production costs. Another benefit there for the producer is that he has now taken his customer one step further away from his competition. I was one of the first people private labeling Breasts products for my customers as well. If you private label it for them as well you will take them even another step away from your competition. Everybody loves to see their name on a box. More often enough your compettition will walk away from an account that has its product private labeled as well as pre-portioned and marinated. Obvioulsy if your customer has more than one flavor profile for his breast the better for you and the worse for your.........competitor. At the risk of being redundant there are the usual benefits the customer enjoys such as consistant portion size, consistent flavoring for the product, less people handling it. Portion Inventory is easier to maintain, no ingredient losses from miss use, poor storage and handling ......blah blah blah. I think it was Don Tyson, who said words to the effect that "don't be concerned with how much chicken you selll. BUt, rather be concerned with what you do with the chicken you sell." [ Sorry to Mr. Tyson if I detroyed his very wisewords]
In essence.....Do everything you can to remove your product from its humble beginnings as a commodity that everybody has to sell. Make it special unto each customer and you will become a special vendor to your customer.....Amen
