MEAT+POULTRY - September 2024 - 18

MEAT SNACK REPORT
Schmidt's Meat Market has competed for
about the past eight years. It was the Grand
Champion in the restructured jerky category in
2023 and 2024.
COMPETITIVE SPIRIT
Winning ACMC
entries, including
Schmidt's jerky, were
quickly picked over
after the judging
process.
ensure the colors are spot on and quality issues
are addressed.
" We bring in products to the competition
that we manufacture, that we sell to our
customer base, " Schmidt said, with the
goal of those meat snacks being a product
that delivers a flavorful and robust eating
experience for the judges.
" When we're developing products and
developing flavor profiles, we do have product
flavor options that are really subtle, but we also
want to offer something that's a bold statement
in your mouth. "
He added that just because Schmidt's
regular restructured jerky is a retail mainstay
and an award winner, doesn't mean the
company's other restructured products that
incorporate inclusions, like its hot pepper
cheese restructured jerky, as well as its honey
barbecue flavored jerky, aren't wildly popular
among customers at its store. The same can be
said for the growing demand for its meat sticks
(regular and flavored).
" We definitely make products that would
fit in both of those categories on the snack
stick side, " Schmidt said, " and we do really,
really well with our snack stick volume that we
produce. But from an ACMC side of things, we
just decided to skip that this year. "
18 MEAT+POULTRY | 09.24 | www.meatpoultry.com
Extra preparation time and a little TLC are
required for some of the other categories of
the ACMC, which Schmidt's also prepares
entries for. This year, for example, it entered
15 products in total, including the restructured
jerky category. Some of those products
required more planning and attention.
" Depending on the product, some of them
are prepared a few weeks ahead of time,
specifically for the bigger, whole-muscle
type products. If you're in a bacon category,
a ham category, a dried beef category, you
want that whole-muscle product to take in
those flavorings and have time for that whole
cure process and flavorings to get distributed
throughout the whole muscle. "
On the other hand, Schmidt said just the
opposite approach is true of products like
meat sticks.
" For those, a week is almost too much
ahead of time, especially if it's got a nice
smoke flavor to it, " he said. " The closer we can
manufacture those to when the actual product
competition is, the better. We've found that
aroma and flavor is much more enhanced the
closer you make it to the competition. "
To create Schmidt's award-winning
restructured jerky, the company starts with
meat blocks supplied by its distributors. The
blocks are first broken down using a mixingand-grinding
process (the plant doesn't own a
bowl chopper) followed by adding ingredients
to the mix. For competitions, Schmidt said it
isn't uncommon to let those ingredients meld
with the meat overnight, a step not typical
of the normal day-to-day production. The
mixture then goes through the typical steps
of proceeding into a stuffer, which extrudes
it onto a screen before going through the
smoking and cooking process.
" There's really not much of a difference
between what we do for our everyday product
versus what we do on the competition side, "
Schmidt said.
The success of a product that is entered
into a competition like the ACMC is always
subjective and some years, the very same
Schmidt's Meat Market
http://www.meatpoultry.com
MEAT+POULTRY - September 2024

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