Pioneer Meats in the News.

Articles credit to The Pioneer

By Al Knauber  April 2 2009
Pioneer staff writer
If you think that the bacon Brian Engle and his crew at Pioneer Meats prepare is good, you're right.
Engle returned from Northwest Meat Processors Association's competition in March with awards for a variety of meat products his shop produces. And he's already got about a dozen plaques from palate-pleasing products from competitions in Montana.
But the award he said he is proudest of from the Moscow, Idaho, show last month is that for best of show. That's the one for his bacon.
"It's the most coveted award in any contest," he said. "That means you're the best of the best."
Judges at the competition said they hadn't tasted bacon like that "in a long, long time," Engle said.
"It's the same bacon we've always made," he said. "We didn't do anything different or special."
Jerry Haun, who has a meat business in Walla Walla, Wash., was in charge of the cured meats room at the competition and joined the discussion on picking the best of show.
All three of the products in the running for best of show were from Pioneer Meats, Haun said. In addition to the bacon entry, Engle's summer sausage and chorizo sausage were in the running.
It's not so much one product against another but how each is prepared, Haun explained, adding, "you're always looking for that flavor."
In judging bacon, flavor is the most important component, but judges are also looking at the fat to lean ratio as bacon that is too lean will be tough once it is cooked.
And color----"you're looking for a mahogany, light brown colors," Haun said------as well as how the entry appear are also important. A nice tidy entry fares better than one that looks ragged, according to Haun.
The Pioneer Meats bacon "just had that nice blend of sweetness and saltiness," Haun said.
The meat products were auctioned off after the competition to support the association's scholarship fund. The top bid for his slab of bacon was $625 and came from a group of four bidders. Two of those bidders, Engle said, were with large meat processors who wanted more than just a taste of Engle's recipe.
They took their portions of the bacon slab not for breakfast but to have a laboratory analyze in hopes of discovering Engle's formula.
And this too pleases him, he said.
"It was pretty cool."
Oh, and the other awards Pioneer Meats garnered from Northwest Meat Processors Association's competition that drew entries from Washington, Oregon and Idaho?
There were six first-place awards that Engle has hanging on the wall as you walk into the shop. Pioneer Meats received first place for its northwest jerky, fermented summer sausage, plain summer sausage, bacon, cooked summer sausage and tangy pepper stick.
Pioneer Meats took second place for its boneless ham, chili-cheese hot dog, and for a tiger meat entry. Tiger meat? That's steak tatar, Engle explained.
Engle, 43, has had a meat shop here since October 2004. He started out at home cutting meat, he said. And in the 21 years he's been in the profession he's worked at a variety of shops.
He said much of his success can be traced his family for their work there and for the family time they give up for the business to be successful.
"Without them, you're nothing," he said.
And Engle is quick to note that those who work at Pioneer Meats are also vital to the business' success.
"I have a crew that is second to none," Engle said.
His trade secret to his profession is to find those who are really good meat processors and "learn from them anything they will teach you."
Engle's mentor is a friend of his brother-in-law in South Dakota who invited Engle to come to his shop while there for a visit. That was three years ago, about the time Engle went to his first contest in Polson where he took a fourth place for a linguisa sausage. At the next year's competition in Montana saw him receive awards for Pioneer Meat's bacon, salami and northwest jerky.
"I was bitten by the bug," Engle said and grinned. "After you win one, I couldn't resist trying to win more."
Contests provide more than a chance to win plaques to hang on the walls of his shop, Engle said, explaining that the judges' critiques of winning and losing products is valuable.
"So you learn by that. You learn by your mistakes and you learn by others' mistakes," Engle said.
While family and employees and a mentor that he doesn't name are part of what has made Pioneer Meats successful, he will say what goes into his award winning bacon but don't ask how much of one ingredient or how much of another.
Being a success at what he does is due to many factors, he explains during the interview.
"You have your vision and never lose sight of your vision," he said.
His vision has been to "do the best I'm possibly capable of doing," he said. "And to do it right."

By Al Knauber May 7 2009
Pioneer staff writer
When it comes to palate pleasing flavors, Pioneer Meats continues to prove its proficiency.
Brian Engle and his crew of the Big Timber business placed with 10 of their entries in the Montana Meat Processors Association convention at the end of April and took the award for best of show for their efforts.
"That's the granddaddy------best of show-----that everyone tries to win," Engle said Friday.
He smiles and points to the wooden plaque cut in the shape of the state with its purple metal plate inscribed with "Overall Grand Champion." It sits on a wall near the retail case of bacon, bratwursts, ham and other of the products that have won Pioneer Meats awards in this and other competitions.
Pioneer Meats won the coveted best of show in late march at the Northwest meat Processors Association competition in Moscow, Idaho, for the shop's bacon----the same recipe that it uses for the bacon it sells at the shop and now at Big T IGA. Hot dogs and brats from Pioneer Meats are also available there.
Engle said the competition at the Montana event was close and that he won by one point. The person whose entries earned a third place was one point below that of second place.
Why the narrow spread for the top finishers could be because Montana has several meat shops that are good at making sausages, Engle said, and that the statewide association is willing to help its members is another reason.
"That's the biggest benefit of belonging to the association, going to the conventions," Engle said.
The chance to learn from other successful meat processors in Montana is a plus for Engle who said he enjoys the camaraderie; "And the plaques are a little added bonus."
Pioneer Meats took top honors----that's grand champion in the lingo of the competition----for two jerky recipes and for boneless ham. Reserve grand champion was given to a tangy summer sausage and a pepper stick. Lesser honors went to a dried beef entry and to those for Italian bulk and link sausage and a Polish sausage entry.
After being in business for less than five years and entering the Montana contest for four years, Engle is at the pinnacle achievement for the state.
"Not many people win it in just four years," he said of the award for overall grand champion. But, he said, he isn't complacent.
"You can't quit trying to make things better," Engle said.
So, what's his secret of success?
"I don't know," he said then explained that his family's support, the dedication of his crew, and his customers are likely at the heart of what makes the business flourish.
He refines his recipes based on how they're received. "That's why you listen to your customers," he said.
The staff at Pioneer Meats will make trial batches of products based on what Engle and others have seen in other states that they liked and then subject the creations to taste tests.
Suzie Gilbert developed a bacon-wrapped stuffed poor man's tenderloin steak, Engle said adding he had seen something similar to it at a trade show in Minnesota.
"We ate them for five days here," he said and chuckled, adding that everyone was probably getting tired of the tasting in their effort to get the flavor just right.
Between bites, the conversation might include thoughts on whether the recipe needs a little more black pepper, a bit more onion or perhaps a different type of onion, Engle said.
No, it's not yet ready for the display case but, Engle said, it should be popular this summer when people shift into the grilling season.
What makes his ham the best in Montana is, he said with a grin, a trade secret but the smoking process includes hickory.
He strives to produce a ham with a flavor that is unique but still traditional, one that is mild and not salty. "You don't want too much sweetness, you don't want too many cloves in there."
Perhaps it's no surprise that his ham was judged highly as he sold out of hams for Easter.
"You want complex flavor profiles," Engle said. "Once again, you're confusing your taste buds and every bite makes you want to eat more."
 

We are located 1 Mile East of Big Timber turn left on the top of the hill or 4/10 of a mile West of exit 370 off of highway I90, if you go past the golf course you have gone to far.

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Brian Engle

Address

Pioneer Meats
PO Box 100
31 Pioneer Trail
Big Timber Montana
 

Phone
(406)-932-4555

Fax
(406)-932-4555
 

Email
Brian@pioneermeatsmt.com