PITT BUYS THE WHOLE ANIMAL
Whole animal purchasing at Pitt assures nothing goes to waste
When the University of Pittsburgh brought in Compass Group as its new dining services partner last summer, it was with the promise of more flexible dining plans for students, greater menu diversity and more partnerships with local businesses.
Pittsburgh-based De Fer, Square One Coffee Roasters and The Coffee Tree Roasters soon joined La Prima as coffee suppliers to the campus’ 13 coffee locations, and Mancini’s famed Italian bread is now served on campus. The school also has a standing order of 150 pounds of fresh greens each week with Fifth Season, a vertical farming operation in Braddock.
The British multinational food service company, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., further pledged to advance the dining-related goals of Pitt’s Sustainability Plan. Committed to creating a food system that supports a healthy body and planet while minimizing waste, it calls for spending 25% of the school’s food budget on local, humane, ecologically sound and fair food.
A new partnership with a family farm known for its sustainable farming practices and humanely raised animals is a big step in that direction. Last month, Pitt made Jubilee
Hilltop Ranch its primary beef vendor with this proviso: Instead of individual cuts and mixes of beef, the school will buy and use entire cows.
Jubilee will still process the beef at its facility in Osterburg, Bedford County, said owner Neal Salyards. But it will be broken down according to a “cut sheet” developed by campus
executive chef Danielle Gallaway, a Johnson & Wales University grad who has been cooking professionally for 18 years. She came to Pitt last July from the University of Kentucky.
Every last bit of the animal will be used,
letting nothing go to waste. That includes the bones, offal and fat. In addition, all meat will be halal — permissible according to Islamic law — to accommodate today’s multicultural landscape and religious dietary restrictions.
“Incoming students are more aware of what they’re eating than years ago,” said Ms. Gallaway. “They expect as local and as natural as possible.”
Nose-to-tail cooking, in which every part of an animal is used for food preparation, is a trend on the rise. Because resources that go into creating the animal aren’t wasted, it’s considered more environmentally friendly. It’s also more economical for cooks, because it’s cheaper to buy an entire cow or pig than as individually packaged parts.
It’s also good for the palate. While many people are squeamish about eating the lesser-known parts of a cow, some find these unfamiliar bits delicious when given a chance to taste them. It’s the way our ancestors cooked, after all, and is still commonplace in other cultures.
The bulk of the meat will be used in residential dining, sometimes in ways that are imperceptible. The bones, for example, will be used as the base for bone broth in soups. Oxtail and beef shanks will go into stews and other overlooked cuts will be blended to make barbacoa for tacos, Ms. Gallaway said.
Implementing a “nothing goes to waste” approach to food service took some doing. Pitt’s culinary team is tasked with serving up to 10,000 portions of meat a week.
“We needed a local farm large enough to even start the conversation but also able to process the product so we had flexibility,” said Ms. Gallaway.
Mr. Salyards, who started his 150-acre organic farm in 2012, was initially skeptical. “It seemed like a long shot,”
he said.
In addition to the likely red tape, being willing and able to use the entire animal requires not just cooking skill but also knowledge and intention.
“But I learned pretty quick that Danielle had done this before,” he said.
The university started with just one cow a week over winter break to feed students in athletics; they now are committed to three. Jubilee, which currently raises about 500 head a year but is on track to double that number in 2021, will provide even more when students return to campus this fall.
Whereas conventional beef takes 16-18 months to reach a market weight of about 1,300 pounds, Mr. Salyards’ Angus cattle — raised on organically managed pastures with no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers, and finished on grass — take 28-32 months and are a little lighter.
After the hide, head and some organs have been removed, the “hanging weight” of each carcass is about 650 pounds, he said. Each is broken down into a personalized cutsheet of subprimal cuts —top round, whole tenderloin and rib eye, for example — or turned into stew meat or hamburger. It’s then packaged and labeled for grilling, braising or roasting.
And talk about great flavor: Meat butchered on Wednesday is delivered Thursday.
“The just sheer freshness makes a significant difference in how it tastes,” Mr. Salyard said.
“Kids notice the quality
difference, and do care,” agreed Ms. Gallaway, even if they can’t tell just by looking at it.
Because educational institutions like Pitt feed so many people, they have tremendous purchasing power. Ms. Gallaway thinks it’s important to use those dollars to benefit the local economy, especially when using farms like Jubilee also helps to keep pricing down and provides a better-quality product.
Buying local also makes the university less susceptible to disruptions in the food supply chain. She points to the hammering deep freeze in Texas, which caused temporary food shortages.
Mr. Salyard agreed that going local can help reduce worries about the food supply. When major meatpacking facilities had to close down because of coronavirus outbreaks early on, “my phone was ringing off the hook,” he said.
Ms. Gallaway said she and her staff are hoping to offer even more good and real food on students’ plates going forward. They’re working with the university to bring back and expand a weekly on-campus farmers market that was suspended last fall, and developing even more community partnerships. They’re constantly adjusting menus based on feedback to offer as much variety, flavor and authenticity as possible.
“It’s important for students to know they have a voice,” she said.