The Struggle Between Brand and Origin
Original-Synonyms: origin, inception, source, root1
These nouns signify the point at which something originates. Origin is the point at which something comes into existence.
These nouns signify the point at which something originates. Origin is the point at which something comes into existence.
Brand -A commodity, service, or a process of having a trade name.
"We cannot escape our origins, however hard we try" (James Baldwin).The current crisis in Japan is a most recent reminder that as complex as this world has grown to be; home should and will always be our primary source of sustenance. The current contamination scare should not only remain in context with the ongoing crisis but also affect our daily perception of goods and food stuff produced and manufactured from outside our shores as compared to what we can source fresh from a controlled local agricultural environment. It’s about time we did the homework and segregate our choice of daily grub: Which is more sulit, when it comes to the food we put on our tables: the leading imported brand or taking a back track to what’s already originally ours?
At Miss B’s Tuckshop, since its days of inception the main focus has been on increasing the utilizing local sources for quality produce. We are a restaurant that uses an estimated 93% of locally bred or produced items. The reason for our choice is simple: freshness. Imported Roma tomatoes for instance, are picked before they ripen; this is to cover for the amount of time it takes to transport the fruits and package them for leading exporters. This is done to ensure that when it gets onto the grocery shelves, most remain intact and visually pleasing; the same goes for California strawberries. So when one picks up an imported item, notice that it lacks flavor as compared to when you pick it up from its local origin.
Beef and The process of Aging
Traditional dry aging of beef is an old school process of bringing out the natural full bodied flavor of beef. The key effect of dry aging is the concentration and saturation of the natural flavor. The process changes beef by two means. First, moisture is evaporated from the muscle. This creates a greater concentration of beef flavor and taste. Second, the beef’s natural enzymes break down the connective tissue in the muscle, which leads to more tender beef. For example, BLT in New York City, sources out local meat and age their meat in a salt cured room with humidity and temperature controlled environment, in order to bring out the best in its meat. The modern way of aging meat however, is called wet aging (this are so common that you would think of it as a norm). Meat are now pre packed into vacuum food packs and sealed, surplus are usually kept frozen and thawed before sale - this is done for all imported beef, for the prevention of rotting during transportation. Once kept in a bag and sealed shut from oxygen.
Meat sourced locally, skips all the above mentioned processes. Beef sold here in the Philippines are freshly slaughtered and sold within the day itself, not vacuum packed, not frozen, not aged. This freshness is our determining factor for the exceptional quality for our breed of cattle. To bring out the maximum flavor of this beef, it is the onus of the restaurant chefs, owners, caterers and hoteliers. The care and attention placed into the cut of meat before it is cooked and plated; can help you determine the quality of the restaurant if it best brings out the potential of the local cattle.
At Miss B’s Tuckshop, we celebrate the flavor of local beef by using the traditional way of dry aging as well as serving our cooked beef items as natural as possible, unmasked by rich sauces, extenders, artificial flavor enhancers, MSG or the like. Our Beef comes from a local source which farms grass-fed Australian breed of cattle, raised in Batangas.
