The Chamber of Agriculture, is of course present at Expogast, the world gastronomy event in Luxembourg, which is being held until 30 November at LuxExpo, and in partnership with VATEL Luxembourg, has the honour of highlighting one of the Grand Duchy’s flagship products: its beef. The Chamber asked some of the international teams competing in the World Culinary Cup what they thought of this local product. Here is the opinion of an expert: Tobia Ciarulli, Team Manager of the Swiss national team.
Tobia Ciarulli has been working as a chef for over forty years. He has been a member of the Swiss Cooks’ Association since 1982 and has been working as manager of the Swiss national cooking teams for seven years. On Monday, he supervised the Swiss team competing in the Culinary World Cup at Expogast.
How would you rate the quality of beef, a product of Luxembourg’s terroir?
We found it to be of very good quality. It’s a nice meat. We had a nice piece of rump steak as well as some chuck.
Does the origin of beef in Switzerland play a particular role for butchers and consumers?
We, Swiss cooks, only work with Swiss meat. For thirty years now, the policy of chefs in our country has been to buy local products, and we work hand in hand with our butchers. And we have beautiful Simmental cows.
Can you tell us your little secret for preparing meat that is tender and melts in the mouth?
You have to let it mature beforehand. When we order meat, we always want it to have matured for at least four weeks on the bone. Then we cut and select our cuts. The secret is to choose a piece that has fat, which gives it flavour. For example, if you choose a fillet, it will always be accompanied by a sauce or butter! But when you have a piece like a rib steak, it’s perfect on its own.
What is your favourite piece of beef and why?
Personally, I like several of them: all the cuts to be braised (such as the chuck served for the competition, editor’s note), but also the offals, such as the tongue, the cheeks… These are pieces that have a lot of taste and flavour.
How did you stage the pieces of Luxembourgish beef you were given for this Culinary World Cup?
We started cooking on Saturday. We braised the beef chuck and shredded it, mixed it with sauce and then we made a kind of stuffing with veal and put the shredded meat in. Then we steamed this stuffing and it was glazed in sauce. The rump steak was cooked at low temperature. We served this with a dried fruit crumble, herb bread and fried shallots.
