The World Steak Challenge came back in Novemeber 2021 after a missed year due to Covid lockdowns. As a judge I was surprised how many countries entered and how fierce the competition remains dispite the obstacles that had to be overcome due to various lockdowns around the world. The gala awards show that wrapped up the 2019 event was sadly missing, but nevertheless the contest was a stunning success and the organisers and hosts should be thanked for all their hard work.
The contest was again held at Dublin’s iconic Fire restaurant and I’d like to pass on a special thanks to Head Chef Richie Wilson who does such a great job to organise his staff to make such a complex event run smoothly.
The Challenge
Entrants to the contest have to follow strict guidelines and send a whole sirloin, fillet or ribeye which is then cut up into steaks the day before and labelled. During the daytime 9.30am-4pm all the steaks are judged and then awarded medals based on their overall score. Each steak is numbered so we judges do not know which country the steak comes from. In the evening time, those medal winning steaks are judged a second time by a different panel of judges to arrive at an overall World Champion.
2021 World Steak Champion
Eventually, the judging process gets done to 3 steaks, 1 sirloin 1 fillet and 1 ribeye. From that, one is judged to be the best in the world for 2021.
The Results
World’s Best Steak, Best Sirloin & Best Grass Fed again goes to a producer in Finland, JN Meat International. who retained the World championship title with their grass and chocolate fed Ayrshire breed raised in Finland.
The best fillet goes to Jack’s Creek, an Australia grain fed fillet and the Best Rib Eye & Grain Fed also goes to Jack’s Creek who consistantly score high in this contest. For the rest of the gold, silver and bronze medal results go here. or you can watch in more detail the video of the contest and study tour.
Chef Kevin Ashton 
👏👏👏👏
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Thank you Marco.
Best Wishes
Kevin 🙂
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Nice post
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Thank you,
You should watch out for my next post, its about lowering farming carbon emissions and using swards mixtures to graze animals rather than rye grass. 🙂
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That must have been exciting to be part of. Watched the video and saw you on there. 🙂 My son raises grass fed beef, but it’s really hard for us to get a nice tender steak. Wish I knew how…
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I’m sure your son will admit there are many different variables in the raising, slaughtering, hanging and then cooking to end up with a tender steak.
Hanging the whole sirloin on the bone in cool place 4-5C with good air circulation, helps to naturally tenderise the meat. this process does make the meat shrink this is why butchers charge more for a matured (hung meat). Hanging time can be from 14 -28 days.
When it comes to cooking steak you really need to have the pan hot and most people don’t, for fear of setting off their smoke detectors. A cast iron pan is great for this, and if you do have smoke detectors anywhere near your kitchen open a kitchen window. Secondly you need to seal all the edges to keep the moisture in. Only season it with salt and pepper once it is in the pan because salt draws the moisture out of food.
Once cooked to your liking, you need to let the steak rest for about 5 minutes on a warm plate so it relaxes before you slice into it.
I hope that helps.
Best Wishes
Kevin
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Thank you 🙂 I’ll pass this info on.
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Congratulations for being chosen as a judge.
For some reason, I’ve never been a fan of steaks since early childhood. Since then I’ve only enjoyed meats and fish that are extremely tender or flaky, never chewy. I realize though that for most meat eaters, steak is held up as the prime cut and choice.
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Thanks Katelon,
I guess what we like food wise depends on what our experiences are with that particular food.
Being a chef I guess exposed me to lots of foods at culinary school which helped me discover lots of things I had never tried or even seen before.
Best Wishes and thanks for taking time to share your thoughts.
Kevin 🙂
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Oh I’ve tried many foods and meats. I remember scallops, turtle soup, duck, steaks, sardines, anchovies and many others. I just had this texture thing since childhood.
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Bad food experiences during childhood can make a strong impression.
Perhaps try finding a good butcher from this article might help?
https://www.foodandwine.com/meat-poultry/best-butcher-shops-in-america
Mass produced beef from a supermarket can be a hit and miss affair.
Best Wishes
Kevin
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I would love to be the judge at this contest!! Meat is so expensive now – my husband buys whatever is on sale, then does his magic to make it tasty! The prices online are no better and often more expensive.
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Buying meat these days has become akin to playing detective. Not only must we deal with rising prices but also we need to investigate how the animals were raised, whether they were given growth hormones and unnecessary antibiotics as a preventative.
Here in the UK before Brexit, things were much better because the EU has strict guidelines, but unfortunately our current government is pushing the country to accept lower standards of meat from Australia (va trade deal) and later the US.
There are good butchers and quality clean meat in the US but it is very hard for organic farmers to compete. The regulations to be certified organic are intentionally tough to keep them out of the market. In 2019 the last time I checked big Agro farming interests spent $100 million lobbying congress in a year. Shame some of that money can’t be used to keep the prices stable and raise quality.
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Wow, it must be a great contest. 👍☺
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It is great to get in a room with different experts and learn more about food, farming and what others are doing around the world.
Best Wishes
Kevin 🙂
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Wow, really! Thanks for sharing Your experiences. It is fun to read uour blogs. Your blogs are interesting and informative. 🙂❤
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Thank you so much. 🙂
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