Culinary qualities of Polish beef

Acting towards promoting healthy eating habits, the Sokołów invited food bloggers to its Koło production plant specialising in beef. The guests had an exceptional opportunity to visit production lines and learn many practical things about the qualities of the Polish seasoned beef.

Beef has excellent nutritional value and the range of its uses is very broad. However, it's still not very popular in Poland. The statistics reveal that the Poles eat just 1.5 kg of beef per year, while the European average is 12 kg. The Sokołów, which aim is to develop culinary art and to educate about a proper composition of everyday diet, has organised workshops about Polish beef.

Food bloggers and the editors of the ‘Kukbuk’ magazine have been invited to the Sokołów S.A.’s production plant located in Koło. Before entering the production area, the participants had to meet all sanitary requirements i.e. put on safety clothing and pass through disinfection gates. Strict adherence to these principles by every person entering the plant is essential to maintaining standards of sterility and production safety, as well as high quality of products. The Plant Director Paweł Nowak showed the guests different stages of production, paying special attention to the seasoning of beef i.e. the process of its maturation. During seasoning, taking 10 days even up to 6 weeks, the meat remains in a steady, low temperature, packed in a tight vacuum packaging or — in case of ‘dry’ seasoning — without any packaging at all.

Dominik Moskalenko, culinary advisor and Sokołów chef, told the participants about the importance of seasoning for the taste and quality of beef. Seasoning improves tenderness, juiciness, and tastiness of meat by influencing the change of muscle fibres structure. Dominik Moskalenko encouraged the use of less popular types of beef, such as bavette or flank steak, and argued that a marble-like look of meat is important for the taste.

The guests could discover all qualities of seasoned beef during a culinary culmination of the meeting featuring grilled juicy steaks served with seasonal additions: White and green asparagus.

Culinary inspirations for the use of seasoned Sokołów beef can be found at www.ucztaqulinarna.pl and www.smakidobregozycia.pl as well as on the Sokołów TV YouTube channel.