Food Network Stars connect with ranching community

Food Network celebrity chefs spend the day with ranchers and enjoy some great-tasting beef!

Amanda Radke

September 16, 2019

3 Min Read
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South Dakota Beef Industry Council

Move over, Ree Drummond — The Pioneer Woman isn’t the only cooking show on HGTV that’s got the beef! In addition to the Oklahoma ranch wife who serves up great-tasting steak sandwiches on her popular cooking show, there are now other celebrity chefs who want to get in on that action!

In Arizona, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, along with his foodie friends Gino D’Acampo and Fred Sirieix, visited the Cedar Ranch, operated by Rafter S Cattle Co., for a day of food, cattle and rural hospitality.

Naturally, Ramsay brought along his camera crew to film all the action as the trio of chefs spent the day riding horses, learning to rope and enjoying Arizona-raised beef.

As reported by AZ Central, “Ramsay and his team were in town to film an episode for the TV series ‘Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip.’ The episode will air in October in the United Kingdom, but not until next year in the U.S.”

Lori and Emmett Sturgill own Rafter S Cattle Co. and hosted the event for the celebrity chefs.

Additionally, Mike, Danny and Becky Gross helped create a feast for the TV personalities, camera crew and cowboys in attendance.

For dinner, the ranching crew prepared homemade yeast rolls, pinto beans with ham hocks and neck bones, a variety of cookies and salads, mountain oysters, banana nut bread, zucchini brownies and even rattlesnake.

Related:Beef earns prime-time spot on FOX’s MasterChef

According to AZ Central, “On the filming day, Ramsay, D'Acampo and Sirieix rolled up in an EarthRoamer, followed by the TV crew in custom vans. The Sturgills then helped get the TV stars fitted with cowboy hats, chaps and boots before taking them to the horses. D'Acampo had some prior experience, but Ramsay and Sirieix had never ridden before. Once comfortable on their horses, she and the other ranchers took them out to do a cattle drive.”

Read more about this experience by clicking here.

Meanwhile, in South Dakota during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August, the South Dakota Beef Industry Council hosted the third annual Sturgis Beef Throw Down, which pitted 10 area restaurants in a beef cooking competition judged by Food Network celebrity chef Justin Warner.

As the “official meat of the 79th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally,” beef was front and center for the 10-day event, which brings nearly $800 million in revenue to the state as well as hundreds of thousands of tourists.

With the Beef Throw Down, participants traveled throughout the gorgeous Black Hills tasting the various beef entrees created by local restaurants.

Winning the top prize, as determined by Chef Warner and two local ranchers who joined him in the judging portion of the event, was the Alpine Inn’s Steak Diane Sandwich. The dish was created by Alpine Inn’s Chef Clark Bran and featured thinly sliced beef filet tips seared on the grill, served on a Ciabatta bun and topped with mushrooms.

For complete details on the Sturgis Beef Throw Down, click here.

While these events were quite different, I love the connection of Food Network celebrity chefs getting a taste of ranch country. I can’t think of a better way for influencers to really connect to our product. By seeing first-hand how beef is raised and by sitting down for a great-tasting meal with the ranchers who raised it, you can bet that will reflect how they cook, prepare, appreciate and present beef entrees on their popular television shows and at urban cooking events in the future!

The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Farm Progress.

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