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Great veal burgers and beer created by aspiring chefs?

A group of foodies and food writers attended the beer in a burger challenge put on by Steam Whistle Breweries and Delft Blue Veal.

The event asked young chefs from eight Liaison Culinary Colleges in Ontario to take Delft Blue ground veal, combine it with Steam Whistle Pilsner and any other ingredient they wished to create the ultimate slider.

This included a wonder array of fresh baked buns done on site in a Rational Whitefficiency® Self Cooking Center®.

The Burgers had to be prepared on site and were cooked either in the Rational or on a Barbecue. In total the judges experienced twelve different 2oz. sliders and in the end selected three winners.

The winning burger was the “Japanese Slider” created by Peter Barnes of Liaison College Brampton. You can find this and the other ten creations on www.vealrecipes.com

Guests visiting the Delft Blue Corner Farm were impressed with the way the animals were raised  and most importantly the various sustainability initiatives taken on the farm. They were amazed that there was no manure smell and this was due to the fact that the manure was used in an anaerobic digester to produce enough power to feed 400 to 500 homes and eliminated any environmental risks associated with spreading untreated manure (www.grobergreen.com).

The farming team at Corner Farm are so proud of their animal husbandry standards that tours are welcomed. Please contact rblaine@grober.com should you wish to bring a group out to visit and see.

Having been told for years that the animals are young and malnourished, we were only too happy to learn that, actually, veal comes from the oldest farmed animal next to the cow. If we’re eating chicken, pork, lamb, or duck…they’re all younger. Provimi (Proteins, Vitamins, Minerals) veal is the standard for which the calves here are monitored twice a day in an open concept, temperature and light controlled space, where we watch as they drink fresh milk, and feed on probiotics (no antibiotics), vitamins, and minerals throughout the day. Our biggest surprise is how big these animals are. Some of them grow to over 500 lbs!

The image of a “lone” animal in a small stall is false. We are told that while veal was raised in this manner long ago, and still is on a few U.S. farms (until 2017 when there can be no more individual stalls anywhere in North America), it has long been established that open concept group housing is healthier, cleaner and provides better quality meat. Standing in this warm, environmental space, I just have to ask, “why are they so quiet?” The farmers tell me that the reason we do not hear any mooing, is simply because the animals are content.

We left Delft Blue with a selection of “from gate to plate” meats. The pounded scaloppini was so quick and easy to cook. For the loin chops we just followed their own recipes; simply sprinkled on some herbs, olive oil, lemon and garlic, and sunk our teeth into the most juicy and succulent chops I have ever tasted!

Veal is one of the leanest meats to eat, and has the highest amount of protein of all meats, so it is an ideal protein compliment to us health conscious eaters who do not want to give up meat. Certified homegrown, dairy farm-sourced, Ontario milk and grain fed veal are low in saturated fat, high in dietary iron, calcium, zinc, and B12, which can calm our nerves and sharpen our wit–all the better to dine with.

For more information on veal, check out: www.delftblueveal.com/

Article from Dine Magazine

By Anthea Gerrie  Thursday, 14 July 2011 The Independant

They were the dishes that endeared Italian restaurants to our hearts: crisply crumbed escalope Milanese, sage-laced saltimbocca, saucy osso buco with its succulent pools of marrowbone and piccata, which performed such a seductive dance on the tongue with lemon and capers. Then, in an instant, the zeitgeist changed and it was no longer politically correct to eat veal or offer it to friends.

The succulence of calves’ meat, so delicate by comparison with beef and such a fine foil for complementary flavours, was discredited by the horrible practices carried out to keep an affordable supply going for the Italians, Austrians, Germans – and Britons – who couldn’t imagine life without it. “When I worked at the Ritz in the late Seventies, veal was what you spoiled yourself with when you went out to dinner,” remembers Chris Galvin of London’s Michelin-starred Windows. “Ours was a de luxe product, but a demand arose for cheaper veal, which could be brought to the market ever faster. That led to inhumane production methods, and the result was a flavourless product which rightly became socially unacceptable.”

However, shooting bull calves at birth for lack of a market – a story that recently upset Archers fans – is as disturbing a scenario as exporting them in crates to be raised in darkness, packed too closely to move freely. Happily, a way forward has been found over the past five years as farmers, supermarkets and chefs have worked together ethically to raise veal that is tender, delicate and flavourful, even though it’s pink these days rather than white.

“I source rose veal from the Lake District, where a band of farmers are supporting each other to raise calves humanely,” says Stuart Gillies, who gets through 50 kilos a week at the Savoy Grill, where he is chef director. “We’ve got paillards which eat like butter when served medium-rare with an anchovy-caper sauce, or with morels and cream. Calves’ liver and sweetbreads are classics, but because I’m passionate about using the whole animal, I’ve created an all-veal mixed grill. It’ll have a slice of rump or fillet, liver, kidney and sweetbread, and a sausage made from what’s left on the carcass when every possible cut has been taken.”

Using the whole beast is also the aim of the Galvin brothers, who are lucky enough to have a brother-in-law who sends them a carcass from his organic dairy farm in Fletching, East Sussex, every so often. “It’s gone in a day and a half,” says Chris. “We fricassée the chuck and shoulder, make tête de veau for our bistro with the head, and poach and crisp up sweetbreads to serve with morels at La Chapelle. At Windows we’ll serve an assiette, combining loin of veal with sweetbreads and a bit of tongue.”

Galvin is one of relatively few chefs who has not felt obliged to take veal off his menu, supplementing family-produced veal with that from Limoges, which he considers the finest in the world. “It’s made from herds bred specifically for their meat, and I’ve visited the area to satisfy myself the calves are reared in the best possible conditions,” he says. “They’re suckled twice daily by their mothers and given plenty of room to walk around. They reward us with dreamy meat which is a wonderful canvas for herbs, butter, cream and mushrooms. The price is sky-high, but the lesson we should take is to eat less and make what we do eat the highest quality.”

Foodies are taking this fact on board in supermarkets, which have gone back to veal production in a big way. Claire Hodgson, food developer at Marks &Spencer, says the chain can’t get enough veal fillet to satisfy demand in 200 stores, even though it sells for an eye-watering £35.99 per kilo. “After that it’s escalopes, plain or breaded – it fits into the retro comfort-food category, like prawn cocktail – and calves’ liver, with or without sage butter,” she reports. There are also thick chops on the bone among up to 4,000 packs of veal sold by M&S every week, though not yet any osso buco. Lucky shoppers will find osso buco, along with more expensive cuts, on the meat counter at 25 branches of Sainsbury’s, which two years ago pioneered the mass production of ethical British veal in conjunction with dairy farmers.

Veal sales are up by 300 per cent this year at M&S, and a more modest 22 per cent at Waitrose; both chains have made their dairy farmers sign pledges not to shoot or export their bull calves. Waitrose makes a “point of difference” in not selling rose veal, defined by its deeper colour, greater age (eight to 10 months) and hay in the diet. “Our veal is six months old, and mainly milk-fed, with some cereal added, which helps the health of the calf as well as its growth,” says meat buyer Tom Richardson. “We feel it’s a more delicate eat.” While fillet and escalopes make for quick cooking, the finest-flavoured veal comes on the bone. Osso buco is delicious seared, then slowly braised in white wine with tomatoes and a little chicken stock.

But perhaps the finest cut – and one rarely seen in those Italian restaurants of the Sixties and Seventies – is the thick chop, which is considered the king of veal dishes in Italy, where it’s known as a nodino or lombato.

“I have had it on my menu since day one, and people call to make sure it hasn’t run out before making their reservation,” says River Café alumnus Sam Harris, chef-patron of Zucca in Bermondsey. He serves it plainly grilled and dressed with peppery Tuscan olive oil and the juice of Amalfi lemons: “They perfectly showcase the meat.”

Having not seen veal on the menu at the River Café, and being unable to find an adequate source in Britain – “I’d love to use homegrown, but I can’t get hold of enough” – Harris did extensive research into ethical production practices abroad. “I found Dutch calves, which are 25 weeks old, fed by their mothers and reared in spacious, open-sided barns,” he says. “They comply with standards set by Peters Farm, an industry association set up to monitor veal production.” It isn’t cheap, either, but Harris points out that the Italians have developed ways of making the absolute most out of every scrap of veal. “They’ll eat a roast loin for Sunday dinner, then on Mondays slice the leftovers as thin as possible and make a sauce of tinned tuna, anchovies, capers and mayonnaise for that night’s vitello tonnato.”

Even more interesting than all the classic Italian treatments and British mixed grills are ethnic interpretations such as those being fielded by Karam Sethi, head chef at gourmet Indian restaurant Trishna, who encountered it in kitchens in the land of sacred cows. “I first came across it in Stuttgart, as a 15-year-old doing work experience, but it’s imported into many five-star kitchens in India, and we used it at Bukhara in the Sheraton Maurya in New Delhi,” he says. “I prefer milk-fed veal, which I get from the West Country, and it’s the most ethically reared available.”

He creates a paste of dry-roast spices added to mustard oil and yogurt to apply to a rack before grilling slowly over charcoal, and marinates fillet in turmeric, salt and lime juice before pan-frying in coconut oil with green chillis, curry leaves and aromatic seeds.

Neglected cuts also have their champions now: Sethi’s supplier has a slow-braise recipe combining diced veal with sun-dried tomatoes, red onions and olives, and ethical veal farmer Roger Mason is supplying forequarter to the online luxury ready-meal supplier Look What We Found, which combines the meat with five kinds of wild mushrooms to make a creamy, ready-to-heat stroganoff.

While it may take a chef to make the most of sweetbreads and other offal, we all need to do our bit to use as much as possible of the animal if we want to keep the young and thriving ethical veal industry afloat, suppliers warn.

“Veal has gone from strength to strength now people understand it that instead of being shot at three days old, bull calves are being given a wonderful life for five or six months,” says Dan Austin of Lake District Farmers, which has seen its business multiply threefold in two years. “But it does depend on knowing how to braise a shoulder and cook a veal breast. We rely on restaurants like the Savoy and Marcus Wareing who can commit to using every part of the animal. It’s got to be about more than pan-frying an escalope or a slice of calves’ liver.”

How to make a meal of it

• At The Garrison, Gerald Mirey slow-braises shin of veal and serves with a pearl barley risotto, flavoured with kale in winter or fresh green and broad beans in summer.
• Antonin Bonnet garnishes grilled veal chops with wild dandelion leaves and chive flowers at The Greenhouse.
• Massimo Mioli of Dego, a Soho wine bar specialising in the cuisine of north-east Italy, stuffs rabbit with veal and garnishes with summer truffle.
• Angela Hartnett likes to roast whole veal fillet medium-rare and serve with bacon and breadcrumb-stuffed artichokes and potato gnocchi.
• Michael Caines pan-fries medallions of veal and surrounds them with wild mushrooms, wild garlic and a creamy sherry sauce.
• Heston Blumenthal has created veal and tartare sauce burgers for the supermarket chain Waitrose, punching up the meat with tarragon, shallots and the lemon, capers and anchovies, which make classic partners for veal.

Finding a source of British veal a decade ago was like looking for red squirrels. Just a handful of farmers felt brave enough to produce a meat that had the worst possible reputation. The sight of doe-eyed calves travelling in trucks to British ports and onward to their final destination was too much for animal lovers. These young cattle were the unwanted ”bobby’’ bulls from dairy herds; good only for cruel, European appetites, said protesters.

Yet walk into a gastropub and you will see that veal is back, its welfare-friendly credentials writ large on the blackboard. But veal’s comeback has hardly been an easy one. Diners and shoppers need convincing on a number of levels. Why, many ask, eat veal at all? The answer is threefold. First, because if we don’t, farmers will have unwanted male calves destroyed a day or two after they are born, which seems, at the very least, a waste.

Secondly, the changes in husbandry are dramatic. In the modern conventional system, farmers must rear calves in small groups in open barns, with straw bedding and all mod cons.

The third reason is that if we don’t, exports of live veal calves to Europe will increase. While the practice of rearing veal in crates has been banned across the EU, long journeys for livestock remain questionable in welfare terms.

There are two main types of veal: milk-fed (with some straw roughage) and killed at about 20 weeks; or grain-fed and killed up to about 35 weeks. Milk-fed veal has a rich, buttery taste while grain-fed veal, often called rose veal, has darker pink meat and a clean, beefier flavour.

A third system whereby calves are kept with, and nursed by, their mothers, on pasture. so eat milk and grass, is favoured by organic farmers.

From a purely gastronomic viewpoint, milk-fed stands out. It is less common than rose veal, but I have been buying Bocaddon Veal from Cornwall for nearly seven years, since my mother, a Cornish resident and veal enthusiast, discovered its meat at a farmers’ market in Liskeard. Produced on a farm near Looe by the daughter and son-in-law of dairy farmers, it began as a project to use the unwanted calves. The meat is excellent – even the cheap cuts are tender when fried, unlike beef, and that silky, dairy flavour is always upfront. John and Vicky Brown sell the meat online; ”selection boxes’’ begin at £58.61.

An innovative farm on the Isle of Bute has also begun selling veal via home delivery. The Lyon family has been farming at Drumachloy Farm for six generations and has now diversified into rose veal. When I heard of this farm faraway on the west coast of Scotland, I shivered for the calves, but am reassured to discover that the Gulf Stream passing by the Isle of Bute adds enough warmth for contentment of livestock. The calves are fed grain with a delicious-sounding malt mash from the local brewery, then killed at six to seven months. The meat is tender and pink, worthy of its floral name, and cuts are mainly the continental ones – osso buco (shin) and escalopes.

The London-based chef Mark Hix has thrown his support behind a veal enterprise in his West Country homeland, Dorset. The brand is Brookfield Farm. This is a good rose veal producer, sourcing calves from a wide area of dairy farms. Veal is available online from Gribbles Butchers in Ivybridge, Devon.

Straight from SoHo, where it earned the coveted Three Star designation from The New York Times, Fiamma presents traditional Italian cuisine in sleek, sexy surroundings. Enjoy cocktails fireside before or after dinner. But it’s the food that is the star here.

Chef Michael White brings authentic Italian fare from Sicily and Milan to your table, including braised Veal Osso Bucco, ricotta cheese tortelli and Bolognese rigatoni.

Veal is produced in the Netherlands according to stringent regulations.

In 2008 the existing IKB quality scheme for veal calves was updated. IKB stands for Integrale Keten Beheersing – total surveillance of animal production. There are two separate schemes for veal calves: one for animals producing white meat and one for those yielding rosé meat.

Almost all the Dutch calf farmers comply with the IKB regulations. Through these schemes, the veal-calf sector provides guarantees for animal welfare and animal health, food safety, and meat quality. Compliance with IKB also implies compliance with the European hygiene regulations for food and feed.

IKB calf farmers have a contract with a single veterinarian and have a medical treatment plan. Important aspects of the IKB programme are careful and rational use of antibiotics and their registration.

Animal welfare has always been a key concern in the Dutch calf farming sector. The Netherlands was the first country in Europe where the calf sector introduced group housing of its own accord. Since 2009 all veal sold in Dutch supermarkets is awarded a ‘star’ by the ‘ Beter Leven’ (Better Life) quality mark of the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals. Veal granted this quality mark complies with extra high demands placed on animal welfare.

Higher Veal production

Production of veal in the Netherlands increased last year. According to provisional figures, production reached 233,000 tonnes. That is two per cent more than in 2008. The majority of Dutch production originates from animals younger than eight months old. The share accounted for by this category in the total production volume was 74 per cent last year. The remaining 26 per cent originates from calves aged between eight and twelve months. More new born calves imported More new born calves were imported last year too. In total more than 830,000 calves were imported; an increase of almost eight per cent relative to 2008. More calves were imported from Ireland and Poland in particular. Germany remained the most important supplier of calves with a share of 46 per cent. Imports from the United Kingdom ceased as the Dutch veal sector decided to stop importing calves from the UK because of the presence of tuberculosis in British herds.

Rise in veal exports

The Netherlands is the major exporter of veal in the world. Veal exports increased marginally last year compared to the previous year. Approximately 207,000 tonnes of veal was exported. That is 2.5 per cent more than in 2008.

For decades, the vast majority of the meat has been exported to the same three countries – Italy, Germany and France. More than 80 per cent of the total export is destined for these markets. The main importer remained Italy with a share of 40 per cent, followed by Germany and France each with a share of 20 per cent in Dutch exports of veal. However, the veal sector is making efforts to serve as many markets as possible worldwide. A positive point was gaining access again to markets in several countries in the Middle East.

Stable veal calf prices, but less fluctuation

Prices for veal calves in 2009 were at about the same level as in 2008. However, the fluctuations were far smaller than in that year. In 2008 the reference price fell from € 5.50 at the beginning of the year to € 3.30 in the early autumn. In 2009 the reference price (a weighted average of the prices for red and white and black and white animals) was between € 4.00 and € 4.50 for the majority of the year. The price of new born calves last year was at a far higher level than in 2008. The average reference price increased by 17 per cent. This was set off by lower feed prices, including for skimmed milk powder, than in 2008.

Slight increase in veal consumption

Total domestic consumption of veal showed a slight increase in 2009. Per capita, consumption of veal remained stable at 1.7 kg

Veal

More than any other animal rights campaign, the demonization of veal farmers over the past few decades – with images of helpless calves crammed into tiny crates, tethered to prevent them from moving – has been incredibly pervasive.

Back in 1944, the average North American consumer was eating 8.6 pounds of veal each year; in 2004, it dropped to 0.41 pounds, where it remains today. Regardless of how many farmers actually raise calves in such despicable conditions, the stigma has stuck.

But does this mean there’s less of it? Hardly.

What most people don’t realize is that the production of veal doesn’t occur due to consumer demand, but as a byproduct of the dairy industry.

The more cheese, butter, yogourt and ice cream we consume, the more we rely on Holstein heifers (female cows) to produce milk.

Each year, these cows require a break from milking and their udders dry up. To get the milk flowing again, they must be impregnated, which means giving birth to a calf that probably isn’t needed at the farm. If it’s a female, it has the potential to be used for milk production, but chances are its mother won’t be ready to retire as Holsteins are good for about six years of service. If it’s a male, it serves no purpose at all.

In most cases, the calf ends up with three possible fates: It either goes to a veal farm, where it will live for another five to six months; gets slaughtered after two weeks and is marketed as “bob” veal; or is killed almost immediately, with its meat going into pet food.

While vegans may react to this by arguing we should consume less dairy, others believe the solution lies in re-evaluating both the dairy and veal industries to encourage more holistic farming practices.

Mario Fiorucci, owner of The Healthy Butcher in Toronto, insists there’s nothing morally reprehensible about eating meat from a young animal (chickens are typically slaughtered at five to nine weeks, pigs at 22 weeks, veal at six months), as long as it’s raised in a humane environment.

“We should be slaughtering at the age that will create the most value out of that animal,” he says. “Not in a monetary sense, but a holistic one, so we don’t have this glut in the market.”

Fortunately, the notion of sustainable veal is catching on: Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck now only serves humanely raised meat in his restaurants, including veal wiener schnitzel, and New York supermarket chain D’Agostino reports sales of its veal jumped 35% when it began carrying a “certified humane” brand.

In the small town of Paisley, Ont., farmers David and Ellen Weber are raising grass-fed veal on their local pastures. The cows naturally give birth during the spring, with calves suckling throughout the summer and fall before getting butchered in the early winter.

“A lot of people don’t want to buy veal for ethical reasons,” David Weber says, “so we’re trying to eliminate those reasons. But we have to feed our calves for an entire year, which costs more money.”

As well, the cows here are all Black Angus – a breed known for producing top-quality steaks, not milk. Eating the Webers’ veal may be sustainable, but it doesn’t ease the excess supply of Holstein calves.

“With our herd, there’s no connection with the dairy sector,” he says. “We used to raise Holstein heifers conventionally, caring for them until they were ready to be milking cows, but then the [Canada-U.S.] border closed in 2003 with a case of mad cow. We lost so much money that time was right for going in a different direction.”

Weber explains that most dairy farmers aren’t interested in raising their leftover Holstein calves for veal, sustainable or otherwise, because they don’t make great steaks.

Thanks to years of careful breeding, these cows convert almost all of their food energy into milk, not muscle, which is why they tend to have large udders and bony behinds. The reasoning behind force-fed milk diets and confinement stalls is that these methods help transform the lean, tough muscle of a young Holstein into something more tender, and therefore more marketable to the consumer.

But while it may seem as though sustainable veal production is limited to what the Webers are doing with their Black Angus cows, farmers such as Bill Scheurman are proving otherwise.

At first, Scheurman ran a conventional dairy farm, but switched to organic. Now, he runs his operation out of Norwich, Ont., and has also started selling veal to Fiorucci – the meat comes from a calf that’s either a Holstein or an Ayrshire, a breed predominantly suited to dairy production but which can also be used for beef.

“It yielded quite well,” Fiorucci says. “I know another farmer, too, who’s converted his entire farm to cross-breeds from France called Montbeliard. So there’s a potential for dual-purpose breeds that may not be exceptional at beef or exceptional at dairy production, but do fairly well in both, so still have good value.”

Scheurman was willing to take a risk in raising organic veal from his Holstein herd partly because he’d had success years ago making the switch from conventional to organic.

“As farmers, we’re being force-fed in the wrong direction,” he says. “I used to put lots of chemicals on the land because I was told it’s the only way to do things. But then I learned that you can do things naturally, raise animals (veal calves ) more safely and healthily. That’s important because my animals are more than just a number to me.”

And yet, despite Scheurman’s veal getting picked up by The Healthy Butcher, numerous barriers prevent other dairy farmers from following this model – economic circumstances don’t help, nor does the industrial agriculture system, which tends to value quantity over quality. This means dairy farmers have no financial incentive to experiment with other breeds or to use a Holstein for any purpose besides milk.

Part of the solution, therefore, involves the dairy industry re-evaluating its business model and working with veal farmers to create a more sustainable product. But it also comes down to consumers, who must be willing to pay more for humanely raised meat and pay closer attention to their food – and this goes beyond checking for labels that say “natural” or “organic,” or making a sweeping decision to never eat veal again.

“It’s an ongoing process of re-education,” Fiorucci says. “It’s great that more people are drinking organic milk, but they should realize that those cows are having calves once a year, and those calves are almost always dealt with in a very conventional, unsustainable way.”

So maybe there is virtue in Veal !