Dubuque G&CC’s Executive Chef Chad Myers sources quality ingredients (that are also local).

Sourcing high-quality ingredients is one of the most important things we as chefs do for our members and guests—and for ourselves. And as the movement to source local and hyperlocal ingredients continues to grow, it’s our job to pay attention and apply the trend in the best, most useful ways.

At the 2016 Chef to Chef Conference in San Diego, Executive Chef Jason McClain of the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles talked in his super charismatic way about getting the best ingredients and sourcing locally.  His club has an extensive rooftop garden that provides for many of the needs of his club. You can’t beat the freshness of something picked less than a day before it is served. McClain’s garden, like many other gardens at clubs across the country, are a definite added attraction and value.

While we don’t have a chef’s garden here a Dubuque G&CC yet, I was able to recently partner with a local hydroponics grower that has a small inventory of items I can utilize on our menus. I also have the luxury of sourcing from Chef’s Garden in Ohio. And while Chef’s Garden doesn’t hit the local trend, it definitely offers the best in quality produce and is a perfect example of quality over locality.

In Iowa, I’m fortunate to have access to some of the best products in the world. Iowa ranks in the top ten states for beef production, first for pork production, and first for egg production in the country.  You may think that we have a bunch of cornfields—but we’re so much more than that!

Recently Sysco started the Iowa Premium beef program. They bought a meat-packing plant in Tama and they source family farm-raised Black Angus beef from within a 120-mile radius of Tama.  For my club, this is close and it makes sense for me to leverage this program.  But I have to note that not only is the quality fantastic, but the price is excellent, too. Their standards for Certified Angus Beef are so high they’re almost Prime.  At first, I thought it was just a sales pitch, but eating it is delicious! They also have a fantastic dry-aging program, which leads me into my dish.

Here we have a 33-day dry-aged eye of ribeye that has been seared and basted with some nutty brown butter. It is nestled on a bed of Rare Tea Cellar’s truffled celery root puree. The vegetables include some gorgeous Chef’s Garden grilled asparagus, baby carrots, and charred Cipollini onions. I have made a savory caramel sauce with mae ploy sweet chili, apple juice, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and bourbon barrel aged fish sauce, which gives the dish a nice umami flavor to go with the sweetness of the caramel, the earthiness of the truffle and asparagus. It’s balanced by the multitude of spices in the spice rub.

I have traveled all over the country and I have eaten food prepared by some of the most amazing restaurants and chefs. That said, this beef is one of the tastiest ingredients I have ever eaten, not to mention worked with. It doesn’t matter that I made the dish. It matters that I’m in the epicenter of some of the most premium, ingredients this country has to offer and that I’m proud to use these them to their fullest potential. They inspire me. To incorrectly use this beef would be a crime! And being able to showcase this local resource is helping me stay tapped-in to the passion and drive to succeed and satisfy my members.