Menus already chock-full of details about the soil quality in the area the salad spinach was grown and the
precise variety of vanilla in the crème brule are soon going to have another detail: the sire of the steak.
Always looking to be on the cutting edge of dining trends, some chefs are getting involved in animal husbandry to
custom breed specific, and often rare, varieties of meat for their restaurants. They feel that this gives them an edge
over companies that contract with well-known high-end producers. Whether or not there is any truth to the belief that
things which are rarer are necessarily better or higher quality, chefs like David Burke are beginning to do things like buy bulls and find farmers to
raise what will be a future meal, according to an article (subscription required to read it online) in the Wall Street Journal.
Chefs have been seeking out individual farms and specialty produce, dairy and spices for several years now, but this is the first time that they are beginning to commission the production of a specific food. Some farmers have a problem with this practice, as they can make the most money by breeding the most popular animals, not by enabling chefs like Parker Bosley to put page-long rants about the state of American agriculture into their menus. Burke says that not only will this practice ensure him higher-quality meat, but it will enable him to offer prices at his new, high-end Chicago location, Burke's Steakhouse, which are lower than competitors' prices.
Do diners want to have their eating habits questioned so specifically when they dine out? Do they want to know that the name of their roast was "Bessie"? Many chefs do not want to continue to see this level of detail on menus, but as the trend continues to spread we are left to assume that consumers are interested. Fortunately for anyone tired of the trend, once the meat has been defined there isn't anywhere else left to go - until the restaurateurs grow tired of rare red wattle pork and miniature bourbon red turkeys and begin to crossbreed their own truly "unique" flavors. Let's just hope they don't have four legs, feathers and a curly tail.
