AUSTRALIA has again topped the gold medal tally at the World Steak Challenge branded beef competition held in The Netherlands, accounting for 26 of the 112 gold medals awarded in this year’s annual competition.
Next best was Ireland, with 24 gold medalists across the competition’s four classes.
Last year produced 21 gold medals for Australian entries.
Gold medals were awarded to beef supply chains from 20 countries in this year’s 11th annual competition, aiming to recognise the best quality beef from across the world via blind taste panel testing following an extensive judging process held earlier this month in Amsterdam.
More than 500 steaks were entered, judged by a panel of more than 60 experts from the restaurant industry, food service, meat science and meat trade sectors.
Across three classes for rib-eye (six), sirloin (three) and eye fillet (three), Australia accounted for 12 gold-medal winning steak entries this year.
They included Thomas Foods International, Pardoo Wagyu and Hancock Agriculture’s 2GR brands in the eye fillet division; Jack’s Creek, Pardoo Wagyu and TFI in the sirloin division; and Stanbroke, JBS Australia (Aberdeen Black), 2GR, Jack’s Creek and Pardoo in the ribeye division.
New Wagyu division
This year’s competition also includes a dedicated Wagyu division for the first time. Gold medal results were dominated by Australia, accounting for 14 of the 24 medals awarded.
The Australian gold medallists included Jack’s Creek, Stone Axe Pastoral, Hancock Agriculture’s 2GR, Stockyard and Pardoo Wagyu. Wagyu entries of Japanese origin scored five gold medals.
The ultimate winners in each category will be decided from among the gold medalists at a dinner being held at London’s Smith & Wollensky restaurant on 10 November. One steak will also be named overall winner and World’s Best Steak at the event.
Australia has had disproportionate success in the ten previous World Steak Challenges, winning four Overall World’s Best Steak awards since 2013.
The World Steak Challenge gives red meat supply chains and distributors a platform to showcase product quality, production credentials and processing standards on an international stage. The event is organised by William Reed, publisher of Restaurant magazine and a number of other leading business food and drink publications.
The obsession with marbling is a North American fad. the first photo in this article shows a piece of meat full of fat.
it is becoming very difficult to procure meat suitable to make a tartare - so many cuts are full of fat.
The claim that you need marbling for a good steak is simply false; just try one pan fried in butter and you're likely be a convert.
in Europe 3 months ago, it was a pleasure to see RED meat in butcher shops and supermarkets and proves that good red meat is available over there.
<strong>You're entitled to your opinion, John, but the market has spoken. There's plenty of demand in Australia and overseas for higher marbled meat - especially in the food service sector - and customers are clearly prepared to pay for it. While all of the gold medallists from Australia in this competition were grainfed, there were plenty of golds given to grassfed entries from the other 19 countries on the list. Editor </strong>