Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 14, 1995 TAG: 9507060089
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JILL WENDHOLT SILVA KANSAS CITY STAR
DATELINE: KANSAS CITY, MO. LENGTH: Long
To the contrary, ostrich is a red meat. Similar to beef in texture and flavor but with 40 percent less fat, this gangly, flightless bird is landing on the menu at a handful of Kansas City's upscale restaurants.
At the American Restaurant, co-executive chefs Michael Smith and Debbie Gold admit they at first were reluctant to put the exotic game meat on the menu.
``It's kind of scary to put on something that no one knows,'' Gold says.
``Heck, we can't even sell rabbit or venison or antelope,'' Smith adds. ``We can't sell squab or quail. And now they're buying ostrich!''
Go figure.
The chefs put ostrich on the menu in early April. Initial customer reaction has been positive - despite a price that is competitive with lobster.
Depending on whether it is a prime or select cut, ostrich meat ranges from $17 to $27 per pound. The American Restaurant is serving a 4-ounce pan-seared fan fillet in a veal reduction sauce with a sprinkling of hazelnuts. The entree is served with oyster mushrooms, wild leeks, carrots and garnished with an asparagus flan. Priced at $32, it is the most expensive entree since Gold and Smith took over the kitchen just over a year ago.
``I wouldn't say it's half of our sales, but, say out of 110 customers on a Sunday night, we're going to sell 16 or 17,'' Smith says.
It's not uncommon for motorists to pass Doris Linneman's truck on I-70 only to slow down so that she will pass them again. The game allows the curious to gawk at the long-necked critters riding in the back of her converted horse trailer.
Linneman and her three grown sons, Jason, Steven and Damon, raise ostrich at Sky Vu Ostrich Ranch, an 830-acre spread of bottomland in Blackwater, Mo. The operation supplies meat to three Kansas City area restaurants, including the American.
``My [late] husband decided we needed some other alternative source of income,'' Doris Linneman says. ``We considered sod farming, elk and some other things, but ostrich seemed to hold the best promise.''
The Linnemans, who also raise cattle, bought their first adult breeders in 1989 for $35,000. Today a breeder pair that has not yet reproduced costs between $20,000 and $25,000. Sky Vu is home to 80 yearling and adult African-black birds, of which 12 are producing pairs. They are slaughtering five to seven birds a week under USDA inspection.
The American Ostrich Association, based in Fort Worth, Texas, claims more than 3,000 breeders, processors, researchers and marketers nationwide.
The ostrich is a ratite, a family of birds that cannot fly. Initially raised for commercial purposes in Cape Colony, South Africa, a century ago, they are adaptable to many climates.
A full-grown ostrich grows to be 7 or 8 feet tall and weighs 250 to 350 pounds. The male bird reaches maturity at 21/2, the female at 2 years. Most females produce an average of 30 to 50 eggs, although some can produce up to 100. Laying season runs roughly from March to October, depending on locale.
It is the male's job to guard the clutch. This requires snatching the egg while they are distracted. Fertile eggs weigh 3 to 5 pounds and look amazingly like a fossilized remnant from prehistoric times. Incubation is 42 to 43 days. An ostrich chick weighs about 2 pounds at birth and stands 10 inches tall.
An ostrich is ready for slaughter at 12 to 14 months. The average bird yields 80 to 100 pounds of lean red meat. About one-third of the meat is designated as prime cut, according to John Goodman, an ostrich breeder and owner of a USDA-approved ostrich meat processing plant in Jasper, Mo.
The ostrich also yields other marketable by-products: leather for the boot industry, feathers for the fashion and computer industries, and egg shells for the craft industry. The toenails are used as an abrasive in the jewelry industry.
Although ostriches have been clocked at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour and are reputed to be able to disembowel a lion, breeders say the birds generally are good natured and curious, if dimwitted.
``They're not vicious,'' says George Papp, owner of Rainbow Ostrich Ranch in De Soto in Johnson County. ``You just have to remember they're not pets; they're livestock.''
``I like the health side of it,'' says Jimmy Frantze of J.J.'s Restaurant in Kansas City. ``They don't have the hormones and the by-products of the beef industry.''
Studies by the agricultural extension service at Texas A&M University have found that 100 grams of ostrich has 2.74 grams of fat, 127 calories, 25.5 grams protein and 2.87 milligrams of iron. Compare that with beef, which has 4.7 grams of fat, 166 calories, 29 grams of protein and 1.95 milligrams of iron.
Ostrich has 10 major muscles or cuts that range in weight from 2 to 10 pounds. The prime cuts can be used for steaks, roasts, cubes and stir-frys. The remaining meat from the thigh and leg area ends up in processed and cured meat products, including ostrich pastrami, hams and summer sausage.
Most chefs recommend grilling ostrich - although it is important not to overcook the meat. It should be cooked rare to medium rare to avoid a ``liver-y'' or ``metallic'' taste.
``The percent of restaurants that serve ostrich is probably not trackable,'' says Wendy Webster, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, based in Washington. ``When compared with 5.2 billion hamburgers sold annually, it just doesn't measure.''
In many respects, the ostrich industry is where the turkey industry was in the 1930s. As executive director of the American Ostrich Association, Chuck Ball is working on such issues as standardization of cuts of meat and uniform USDA certification (ostrich doesn't fit neatly into the typical meat or poultry categories).
But perhaps the biggest hurdle facing the industry is making the meat more affordable to more chefs and, ultimately, the home cook.
``I think you're going to see it go down to the level of veal [which] is the very high end of the beef level,'' agrees George Papp of Rainbow Ostrich Ranch in De Soto, Kan. ``But the truth is, right now, the average-income person isn't going to be able to buy ostrich.''
by CNB