Steak-umm is a brand of thin-sliced frozen meat manufactured by The Steak-Umm Company, LLC. Steak-umms are sold in supermarkets throughout the United States and are used for making homemade Philadelphia-style cheesesteaks.[1] The company claims to be "the best-known sandwich steak brand in America" and to have "helped turn the regional 'Philly Cheese Steak' Sandwich into standard fare on America's dinner tables over four decades ago".[2] The company also produces ready-to-cook hamburger patties that are available in "Original" and "Sweet Onion" varieties.
Steak-Umm was previously owned by Gagliardi Bros., H.J. Heinz, and Pomfret, Connecticut-based TriFoods International. In 2006, Reading-based Quaker Maid Meats acquired the rights to the Steak-Umm brand name and associated intellectual property.[3] The purchase of the Steak-Umm brand by TriFoods is cited in a formative business judgment rule judgement of a Delaware Chancery Court.[4]
History
The product was invented in 1968 by food technologist Eugene Gagliardi, who is also credited with inventing popcorn chicken. Gagliardi, who at the time worked at his family's meat-distributing company, Gagliardi Brothers, in West Philadelphia, created the meat as a softer alternative to steak sandwiches of the time.[5][6][7] In 1975, the Steak-umm company was started, operating out of a meat-processing plant in West Chester, Pennsylvania, with the name coined by a friend of Gagliardi.[5][8] The company was sold to H.J. Heinz in 1980 for $20 million, and marketed under its Ore-Ida frozen foods brand.[8]
Product description
According to inventor Gene Gagliardi, Steak-umm was created after putting beef through a grinder multiple times, mixing and molding it, freezing it, softening it, then ultimately slicing it.[6]
In the 2012 lawsuit, Judge Lawrence Stengel described the product as "chopped and formed meat product that is comprisedof [sic] beef trimmings left over after an animal is slaughtered and all of the primary cuts, such as tenderloin, filet, and rib eye, are removed. . . . The chopped and formed meat is pressed into a loaf and sliced, frozen and packaged."[13]
It is sometimes used as a substitute for chipped beef.[14]
Twitter account
In 2017, Steak-umm started a campaign to have its Twitter account, @steak_umm, verified with a blue check with the hashtag #VerifySteakUmm. They acquired verified account status on January 15, 2018.[15][16]
The Twitter account gained even more notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the growing popularity of brands assuming casual, self-aware Twitter personas.[17] The Steak-Umm account started posting inspirational tweets, jokes, and even getting into some controversy with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.[18] The exact reasons for the account's growth in popularity have been the subject of an academic study and dialogue between researchers.[19][20]
See also
- Frozen food
- Steak sandwich
- Submarine sandwich
External links
References
- Frozen Meat Retail Sales Hit $837 Million In USA Market Quick Frozen Foods International, July 1, 2000, retrieved July 12, 2009^
- About Steak-umm retrieved July 12, 2009^
- ^