twrama 1841_august_2.. - AMA WA

FOOD
Your little kitchen helper:
My beef is ibeef
A cut above: Beef Essentials takes the guesswork out of cooking with beef.
With so many televisions shows on what we can cook and
how we can cook it, our culinary expectations have
never been higher. However, as all foodies know, expectations
often exceed skill, and there are few things in this world
sadder than a beautiful succulent piece of Australian beef
reduced to boot leather.
So it is good news that Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA)
has come to the rescue with Beef Essentials: Your practical
guide to Australian beef. No, this is not the latest in a long line
of cookbooks; it is in fact an award-winning iOS app.
Wanting to help consumers get the best out of good Aussie
beef, the MLA developed Beef Essentials, often referred to
as iBeef. Born out of the realisation there was a significant
“gap between beef products and cooking knowledge among
customers – particularly the younger, tech-savvy generation”
– this free app is a worthy kitchen helper.
MLA has kept it simple, making it easy to find what you
want quickly. iBeef has been broken up into four main areas –
Beef Cuts, Cooking Methods, Favourites and Cook.
As the name suggests the Beef Cuts section is an
alphabetical listing of the various cuts of meat with a
brief description. Methods provides a list of the various
ways beef can be cooked with step-by-step, easy-to-follow
instructions on this cooking technique. Favourites allows
you to collate the details of your preferred cuts and recipes
for quick referencing.
However, the real gem of this app is Cook. Cook is where
information meets practical application and this section is a
true little-kitchen-helper. By adding the cut you are using,
the desired cooking method,
the ‘doneness’ of the meat (e.g.
well-done) and its thickness,
Cook provides the required
cooking time. But unlike your
average timer, Cook alerts you
at each stage action is required
and what this action is, like “flip
your steak” or “stir and reduce heat
to…”.
Beef Essentials takes the guesswork
out of cooking with beef and helps you
choose the right cut and then cook it to
perfection. This easy-to-use, informationpacked
app was awarded the Lifestyle Mobile Apps Webby
earlier this year. The American-based Webby Awards are
the leading international honour for the world’s best websites
and digital projects.
This is amazing recognition for an app from Down Under.
The only downside of iBeef is it is just available for iOS
and it has been designed specifically for an iPhone. This
iPhone-specific approach means it does not take advantage
of the extra screen real estate of an iPad – displaying at the
native iPhone screen size, it hovers in the middle of the
screen surrounded by black nothingness.
However, regardless of these two nuances, if you have ever
found yourself wondering which cut of beef to use or what to
do with it, then Beef Essentials is for you and it being free is
an added bonus.
56 MEDICUS August