As lawmakers tried to name an official steak, Texas students learned how to find the best beef

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LUBBOCK — Steaks are serious business in Texas. If you need proof of that, just count the meat judging trophies at Texas Tech University.

“Texans love to compete, it doesn’t matter what it is,” said Mark Miller, a professor of meat science at Texas Tech. “It’s no different when you get into the agricultural world and meat judging.”

It’s right up there with football, Miller said.

Nearly 400 miles from Lubbock, there was a different sort of meat competition at the Texas Capitol this year.

State Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, sought to designate the tomahawk ribeye as the official steak of Texas. He did this after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on the Senate to rename the New York strip steak to the Texas strip and designate it as the state’s official steak.

The success of the beef industry has energized meat judging in the state over the decades. Along with Texas Tech, Texas A&M, West Texas A&M, and Clarendon College are just a few Texas schools with accomplished meat judging teams and full trophy cases. While lawmakers didn’t designate an official steak, teams around Texas are preparing for the next season of competition. And in Texas, where beef is considered king, meat judging has become just as big of a point of pride.

Lawmakers had fun with the debate. Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican, had a cookout at the Capitol. Patrick posted a photo of the “first ever” Texas Strip with “Gulf of America” shrimp, inspired by President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. On the House floor, King ribbed his colleagues in the upper chamber, saying they were trying to do “Senate things” with an inferior cut of meat.

Neither Mexico nor other international organizations recognize the Gulf name change.  Similarly, New Yorkers did not take the rebrand attempt lightly. One “power publicist” threatened to file a $1 million lawsuit.

Some Texans left public comments voicing their annoyance with the legislation, but King contended there was a bigger meaning — to honor the generations of Texans who built up the cattle industry that adds $15.5 billion to the economy. Beef production has always been central to Texas life, he said.

Part of the beef industry is the need for quality control, which has evolved into the highly competitive sport of college meat judging. Students who are trained to evaluate the best cuts of meat — lamb, pork, and of course, beef. The students rank the meat by several factors, including the fat thickness and how lean it is. They examine the marbling of the cut, its size and weight.

“The competition level between Texas universities is at the highest level,” Miller said. “There’s a lot of priority put on being highly successful in meat judging.”

Since Texas Tech University won its first national championship for meat judging in 1989, teams from the school have won 15 national championships. The school’s meat laboratory has several rooms dedicated to different purposes. This includes cooler rooms to store the meat, and one to hang meat while it ages. Students can use an X-ray machine in another room to examine the composition of muscles and other details.

The meat doesn’t go to waste.

Raider Red Meats, which began in 2008, is a student-run store that sells all the meat that is prepared, cut, and packaged in-house. It sells a variety of products, including steaks, green chile and cheese sausage, thick-cut bacon, and chunks of fat for beef tallow. Blake Foraker, a coach for the meat judging team, said the storefront is used to provide scholarships to students involved in the Meat Science program.

“This helps to offset some of those costs so that students can be afforded these opportunities,” said Foraker, an assistant professor at Texas Tech. “Whether it’s on the judging team, working in the meat lab, or pursuing meat science education in general.”

Raider Red Meats provided the steaks for Burrows’ function in March, where members from both chambers were invited to taste the differences between the strip and the tomahawk ribeye. Zach Buckley, production manager at Raider Red Meats, said they cut the steaks fresh that day and sent them to the Capitol.

According to Buckley, Raider Red Meats is one of the few stores in the area that cuts a full tomahawk. Buckley likes strips, but said he prefers the tomahawk. He admits it’s partially because of the presentation.

“Part of it is pride: you have a full rib and then a thick steak,” Buckley said. “Then, if you do it right, you can get that bone and go caveman-style, eat right off the bone.”

The team is starting their slow season since classes are out, but is expecting steady business this summer.

“We went from having a little shop to a business that ships to all 50 states,” said Abigail Sleep, one of the students working at the shop. “We’re the only college that’s inspected by the USDA. We want to do this to the best of our ability.”

While Texas lawmakers did not settle their debate, meat judging at Texas Tech and other state universities is helping settle arguments about which cuts of steak are the best Texas has to offer. Texas Tech’s team will host their annual BBQ and Ribeye Championship on Aug. 15 and 16.

Disclosure: Texas Tech University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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