AFTER winning the "triple crown" in the feedlot section of the Ekka's Paddock to Palate competition, Yugilbar can now also rightly lay claim to having some of the nation's best tasting beef.
Served at the Regatta Hotel in Toowong, chef Lachlan Alexander and his team served up a superb selection of three steaks from Yugilbar's award winning steers at a special evening hosted by JBS Australia.
Tuesday night's dinner preceded the official Paddock to Palate carcase results, which will be announced at the Ekka from 6pm tonight.
Table favourite was the dry-aged rump cap, which had spend 20 days in 1.5 degree Celcius, zero per cent humidity cabinet located in the Regatta's popular Boatshed Restaurant.
Also on the shared platters presented to the team from Yugilbar were superb striploin and rib fillet steaks.
The steaks came from a 100 day grain fed Santa/Hereford-cross, which was one of the pen of six, which recorded a daily gain of 3.262kg. One steer in the pen put on an amazing 3.59kg/day.
Yulgilbar also took top honours in the 70 day section, with purebred Santa steers delivering a daily gain of 3.186kg at the Beef City feedlot.
Regatta Hotel chef Lachlan Alexander said the Royal 100 branded steaks were likely to be on the menu for about two weeks, or for as long as the product was available.
"Royal 100 is always a very popular promotion because people are always curious to try a new steak on the menu, especially when it is linked to the Ekka," Mr Alexander said.
"Knowing how this tastes, I wouldn't be surprised if it was gone in the first week."
Yugilbar manager Brett Ellem said Paddock to Palate was an extremely effective way of benchmarking the performance of a cattle breeding operation.
"What we really like about Paddock to Palate is that it allows us to compare what we are doing in our operation with other producers," Mr Ellem said.
"It gives us - and the users of Yulgibar genetics - a lot of confidence that we are on the right track with our breeding programs.
"This competition really allows us to put our genetics on show."
Yugilbar run about 5000 cattle on about 14,000 hectares on the Clarence River, west of Casino. Well known for its outstanding Santa cattle, the operation also has a crossbreeding program involving Hereford, Angus and Charolais genetics.
Denis Conroy from JBS Australia said Royal 100 branded beef sourced from the cattle in this year's Paddock to Palate competition had been supplied to 38 hotels and 15 butcher shops, mainly in regional Queensland.
"It's a great opportunity for the people in the regions to taste this exceptional beef," Mr Conroy said.
"The Paddock to Palate competition really shows us that producers are always striving to produce better beef and also with the Royal 100 brand, it shows consumers are responding."
Beef sourced from cattle in the domestic, 70 day fed section of the competition was sold under JBS's long-standing Queenslander brand during a marketing campaign coinciding with the third State of Origin.
Mr Alexander said steak sales had been on the increase, despite increasing costs. A steak meal at the Regatta averaged about $45, he said. Interestingly, he estimated about 20pc of the diners at the Regatta were either vegetarian or vegan.
"We have a very popular pulled mushroom burger for them," Mr Alexander said.
