Classes Educate Korean Bloggers, Students on Attributes of U.S. Pork and Beef

USMEF wrapped up its series of 12 special cooking classes that afforded influential food bloggers and culinary students in South Korea an opportunity to prepare and taste U.S. pork and beef. Funding support for the classes was provided by the USDA Market Access Program, the Pork Checkoff and the Beef Checkoff Program. The agenda included lessons on how to prepare dishes featuring processed pork, generating restaurant menu ideas for U.S. red meat, information on dry-aged U.S. beef and a look at the U.S. meat cookbook titled “U.S meat table for four seasons.”

Students at the Korea Culinary Arts Science (KCAS) High School study U.S. pork and beef at a class organized by USMEF

“We took a different approach in this round of classes in order to give our participants more firsthand experience,” explained Jihae Yang, USMEF director in Korea. “By seeing and tasting the product in the restaurants – and meeting the chefs who create the menus – they were able to gain insight into how these menu choices are made. They also learned how a cut of meat is selected and how they add quality and diversity to these trendy and refined menus. Most importantly, both the students and instructors learned quickly why U.S. pork and beef are chosen by so many leading restaurants in the marketplace.”

Two of the most popular classes conducted by USMEF were at the Korea Culinary Arts Science (KCAS) High School and at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Seoul.

KCAS is the top culinary high school in Korea and students there are eager to learn more about U.S. red meat. After providing product information and samples, USMEF gave students hands-on experience presenting U.S. pork and beef through an outdoor cooking class and in various restaurant settings. The class was called “U.S. Pork and Beef Road,” as participants visited three different restaurants across the city.

The final list of participants was selected through a bacon recipe contest targeting 240 second-year students. A total of 70 semi-finalists were chosen and given a pack of U.S. pork bacon to sample and create a recipe. The 20 finalists were then invited to the cooking class, where they were given a farm-to-table introduction to U.S. pork and beef.

The class at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse was aimed at food bloggers, who are very influential in Korea. Wolfgang’s uses only chilled U.S. beef that is graded USDA Prime. The Seoul location also dry ages the beef at its own in-store aging room. This focus on quality has made Wolfgang’s extremely popular with Korea’s steak-eating consumers – a category that is rapidly growing.

A chef offers samples of U.S. pork and beef to students at a restaurant visit in Seoul

The USMEF class featured 11 bloggers and three managers from “Wine and Travel,” which is Korea’s largest online wine community. The first half of the class included lessons on dry aging, an introduction to the USDA grading system and proper cooking techniques. This was followed by U.S. beef steak tastings and wine pairings.

“In Korea right now, it is incredible to see the increasing flow of food-related programs in both traditional and social media,” said Yang. “In the midst of such trends, Korean students’ enthusiasm and passion to learn more about the culinary industry are inspiring.”

A poster at Wolfgang’s in Seoul details the USMEF class aimed at educating Korea’s most popular food bloggers