Everybody in our club has a pet peeve of some kind I'm sure of that. Mine is "hot dogs". Now mind you, I love hot dogs but I would never allow a hot-dog with chicken meat in it to grace my home refrigerator or my palate. As a matter of fact how did chicken get into the traditional hot dog? No body can nail the history of the hot dog down however, it is most accepted that the "frankfurter" was created in Europe, specifically German and Austria. Americans popularized it around 1890 and it became along with baseball, a national sports tradition. The original franks were made from "pig meat" however, beef was an accepted alternative and was mixed with pork however, somewhere along the line they were separated and beef franks stood alone.
The original franks were stuffed in sheep casings and when you bit into one of them it would snap and all those delightful juices would fill ones palate. The casings made the franks pricey so somebody got the idea to create a skinless hot dog. In 1927 the skinless hot dog was invented by Erwin O. Freund, his company later became Viscase. The fist name coined by Freund for the skinless dog was "Nojax" short for "no jackets". His theory was that skinless hot dogs would be more uniform in size and shape than a natural casing dog and cost less. So how the heck did "chicken meat" find its way into hotdogs?
Well first off, somebody introduced "tuna dogs" in 1947, then another company introduced chickenfuthers about 1951. Both were huge failures. Why? Because Americans were trying to protect the purity of a "national icon". However, the sneaky chicken snuck back into play around 1962. This is when the chicken comapnes started to apply pressure on the USDA. So the USDA made a proclamation; " A frankfurter can become chickenfurter if the formula is more than 15% poultry and chicken must be declared on the label. Oh boy now here comes the "big bird" lobby and says that won't "fly". We would like chicken removed from the label unless the formula is 25% or more.
So now the politicians knowing that they will get hammered by the" citizens to protect the frankfurter" (CTPTF just made that up) called for hearings. Now you know when politicians call for hearings it is really called " passing the buck" to the public. Well now what do you think happened? The Nixon administrations stepped in and stopped the hearings because it would cause unnecessary delay for a decision. So the Nixon Watergate team created a taste panel and they felt that you can add up to 15% of chicken meat and it would not alter the taste of the frankfurter and further more, poultry has just as much nutritional value as pork or beef.
In my opinion the powers to be who started the proceedings to impeach Nixon over Watergate had it all wrong. He should have been impeached because he allowed " the big bird lobby" to put chicken meat in frankfurters. A much bigger crime than Watergate!
Personally I think the ruling should be repealed and Leon should get a petition started on this site to have the name of chicken and turkey hot dogs changed! Now I have nothing personal against "big bird", and they can still put chicken meat in something, but not hot dogs. I would go along with a new terminology called " bird dogs".
So there you have it. My Pet Peeve! So what's yours?
-- Edited by Coalcracker on Tuesday 20th of October 2015 09:29:50 PM
-- Edited by Coalcracker on Tuesday 20th of October 2015 09:30:28 PM
-- Edited by Coalcracker on Wednesday 21st of October 2015 08:18:49 AM
-- Edited by Coalcracker on Wednesday 21st of October 2015 08:20:40 AM
-- Edited by Coalcracker on Wednesday 21st of October 2015 08:25:22 AM
I don't like how some cryovac meat is partially (cooked?) now. Especially flank steaks. Why is the meat slightly brown on the outside in some areas now? It's by far worst on flanks. You either have to leave it on and it will be ugly, or trim it off and lose a lot of money. Not so bad on other items. I heard there's some extreme heat now that's required for sanitation and that's why it gets that cooked look to it.
Also boxed beef back ribs from almost any company. There's too much meat removed and I'm embarrassed to sell them.
I don't like how some cryovac meat is partially (cooked?) now. Especially flank steaks. Why is the meat slightly brown on the outside in some areas now? It's by far worst on flanks. You either have to leave it on and it will be ugly, or trim it off and lose a lot of money. Not so bad on other items. I heard there's some extreme heat now that's required for sanitation and that's why it gets that cooked look to it.
Also boxed beef back ribs from almost any company. There's too much meat removed and I'm embarrassed to sell them.
From my experience sometimes bags get jammed up in the shrink tunnels thus getting singed a bit. You don't notice it on any cuts with a cover but flank steaks have no cover. If it happens now and then that is one thing but if it is continuous then it has to be addressed by your beef buyer. As far as extreme heat in shrink tunnels, I doubt that very much as they are pre set to a certain degree. I guess its possible that the temp might fluctuates but even it did, there is a Q.A. person standing at that position or tunnel operator. They should be able to catch those problem bags. However, if no body reports it to the packer they won't know.
My pet peeve, At the moment, is customers who approach the window... the MEAT window.... and ask where the vegetarian/vegan :hotdog,ham,turkey, burger, bacon, lunch meat...
And I guess it's not the individual customer but the whole faux food idea.... Call it something else you!@^#@^#%
-- Edited by cprbbq on Thursday 22nd of October 2015 07:22:12 PM
My pet peeve, At the moment, is customers who approach the window... the MEAT window.... and ask where the vegetarian/vegan :hotdog,ham,turkey, burger, bacon, lunch meat...
And I guess it's not the individual customer but the whole faux food idea.... Call it something else you!@^#@^#%
-- Edited by cprbbq on Thursday 22nd of October 2015 07:22:12 PM
I agree.
1) Possibly for the vegan beef items we can call them "bogus beef"!
From my experience sometimes bags get jammed up in the shrink tunnels thus getting singed a bit. You don't notice it on any cuts with a cover but flank steaks have no cover. If it happens now and then that is one thing but if it is continuous then it has to be addressed by your beef buyer. As far as extreme heat in shrink tunnels, I doubt that very much as they are pre set to a certain degree. I guess its possible that the temp might fluctuates but even it did, there is a Q.A. person standing at that position or tunnel operator. They should be able to catch those problem bags. However, if no body reports it to the packer they won't know.
I don't know how it happens, but often a case of flanks in packages of (6?) will all be burnt. All 6 flanks are stacked on top of each other. You'd think that only the outer side of the top and bottom one would be damaged. But they all are. Whatever happened occurred before stacking and packaging. Maybe I'll get a picture of this someday.
a taste panel and they felt that you can add up to 15% of chicken meat and it would not alter the taste of the frankfurter and further more, poultry has just as much nutritional value as pork or beef.
