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Schools

LT Savors New Relationship with Beef Council

School used as testing ground for national beef preparation program.

Beef, it is what’s for dinner.

But at Lyons Township High School, it’s a whole lot more thanks to a relationship between the school district and the National Cattleman’s Beef Association.

On Wednesday morning the aroma of roasting beef wafted through the halls of LT North as NCBA culinary consultants were busy preparing various cuts of beef roasts—all in the name of science, and of course the interests of the beef industry.

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Beginning in April the NCBA signed an agreement with the district that allows the organization to use school kitchens to cook beef for the Beef Check off Program. The test team is cooking multiple beef roasts to determine the best way to cook the meat.

LT was selected because its culinary facilities matched the needs of the NCBA, said Deb Baughman, director of test kitchen services. She said many of the schools and facilities they looked at contracting with had high-end kitchen appliances.

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“We wanted to use appliances that most people have in their homes, and fortunately for us that’s what LT has,” Baughman said. “This will ensure that when we cook our beef, we’ll be able to pass along information that will benefit the average consumer.”

The testers prepare between eight and 12 different roasts per day. The tests incorporate more than sticking the roast in a pan and shoving it in a hot oven. Temperatures are taken throughout the cooking process to determine when each piece has achieved the perfect cooking —which is between medium-rare and medium. In all, they will prepare about 300 roasts at LT.

For this project they have a budget of $5,000 for beef, most of which is purchased in a Western Springs market. The purpose of the testing is to confirm and establish appropriate times and temperatures to properly cook different cuts of beef. Multiple tests are completed on different weights of beef and triple-tested. All of the tests are based on USDA regulations and funded by the Beef Checkoff Program. The information will be included in a beef consumer guide, which can be found at the Web site: www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com.

“If people can have a better beef experience, then they’re likely to become repeat beef customers,” Baughman said

Another reason LT was chosen is because of the altitude of suburban Chicago. Although much of the NCBA testing is undertaken at their Denver headquarters, Baughman said beef cooks differently at different altitudes, so they the organization needed for sea-level tests. Although the NCBA recently shut down its Chicago office, the area was an easy selection for the sea-level tests, she said.

Having the beef program based at LT has been a pleasant experience for students and school staff, said Scott Eggerding, director of curriculum and instruction. He said not only do the aromas of cooking beef provide a pleasant aroma throughout the school halls, but he said the program is a benefit to the schools’ culinary arts courses.

“This gives students an opportunity to see various career tracks in food services. They will see there’s more to food services than just working in a restaurant, there’s all kinds of opportunities,” Eddering said.

He added it is also good for the community to see the role the school takes beyond academics.

Working at LT is also something special for Jill Haas, one of the culinary consultants. Haas, a fifth-generation graduate of LT, said it’s great to be back in her old school working with students who want to establish a culinary career.

Upon completion of the experiment with roasting, the team will turn its attention to brazing beef.

Each day the testers prepare beef, they’re left with scrumptious morsels that need a new home. Baughman said most of the meat is given away to faculty members and other school staff – which is something Eddering said was fine with them.

“They feed us, it’s a great perk,” he quipped.

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