Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Monday March 3rd 2025.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here in part two today at 430.
We're going to talk to Jacqueline Program Coordinator with Rise Up Central Wisconsin
and talk a little bit about their mural of hope.
Right now we have with us on the phone lines,
Caitlin Kessler from the Wisconsin Beef Council.
Caitlin, great to have you with us.
Well, great to be back with you James.
It feels like it's been too long.
Like it's great to have you here.
We got to talk more often.
It's great to talk to our friends at the beef.
It feels too long.
It does.
It does.
We're going to be talking about getting people ready for a St. Patrick's Day here talking
some corn beef and just a little bit.
But before we do, Caitlin, I don't know if you and I have talked about this or not before,
but I am a bit of a cheeseburger connoisseur, a bacon double cheeseburger that's not only
my favorite, maybe my favorite meal, but my papa and I, whenever we would travel around
the country, I would go to different restaurants and I would have that same meal that never
restaurant because I was on a mission to find who had the best bacon double cheeseburger.
Oh, man.
So, so we're about to get into a topic here about Best Burger Contest.
I may know a little bit of, no, I'm kidding.
I don't know what I'm talking about at all, but I, I like many people out there love
a good cheeseburger, love a good burger, and we're going to talk right now about the
Beef Council announcing their 2025 Wisconsin's Best Burger Contest.
That's right.
So we launched this for the first time last year.
So this is only our second annual contest.
And to be honest, James, we weren't quite sure how it was going to go.
There are folks like you who absolutely love cheeseburgers and going out and trying
to find which one they think is the best, but we hadn't had a contest like this in Wisconsin.
And I still remember when we first opened nominations last year, my executive director called
me that Monday morning and she said, how many nominations did you think that we got
overnight?
And I said, I don't know.
50.
I was going to be happy if we had 50.
And it was 500.
And we're seeing the same excitement this year now.
So within the first weekend of announcing the second Best Burger Contest, we had about
1800 nominations come through.
We had 5,000 people look at the nomination page.
And I think people look at it and they may pause because they don't realize you can only
nominate one.
So I think that they're looking at it and they're saying, hey, you know what?
I'm going to take a break and think about it.
Because the nominations aren't due until March 21.
Now that doesn't mean that we want you to put this on the back burner and forget about
it.
We want to get our top burgers on the map in Wisconsin.
But just some background now that I've drawn down about the history of this, but some
background now as far as the logistics of this competition.
So we have folks submit their nominations, whoever has the top eight nominations across
the state.
So the Wisconsin Beef Council doesn't choose the top eight.
It's you, the consumers, you, the burger lover.
We've selected those, put them on a map, and then we have a secret panel of judges who travel
around with the evaluation sheet and they score the burgers.
And that's how we select our best burger in Wisconsin.
Very cool.
And for those out there that are very into March Madness and filling out brackets, a little
bit similar to that.
Exactly.
That's right.
We're going to go from our elite eight and we're going to avoid the final four just because
then we're probably split in hairs, right?
And that's what we're just going to go straight to your champion, your winner.
Last year, our winner with Pickles, Bar and Grill up in Hazelhurst.
So even further north and where you guys are there in Wisconsin, Rapid, had the pleasure
of traveling up there for our press conference to announce them as the winner.
And I tell you what, it was a fantastic burger, a just a fantastic experience to be up there
in the north woods and hanging out with the folks at Pickles.
And what's really incredible is from the time that they were announced in the elite eight,
so from April 1st until they were announced as a winner in May.
And then through June, their burger sales went up 530%.
Wow.
They had to extend their operating hours.
They had to hire another sous shaft to come on board.
It was a fantastic business opportunity for them.
So that's also a fair warning if you guys are nominating your favorite burger restaurant.
Let them know.
Yes, yes.
It could be prepared to have all hands on deck.
Should they be announced in the elite eight?
That really is a strong point.
First off, it's great to hear this.
Well, this is a fun thing to be doing and kind of a cool thing to be doing, I think.
It certainly shouldn't be lost in that this is all about helping these local businesses,
helping our industry out in our economy out so much.
That part of it is really cool to hear.
It's very rewarding to hear that.
It's also just a lot of fun to be doing this and it is a great no to businesses out there,
especially we know that some businesses are, they have just enough people to get by.
So if you're going to give them more work, they really need
the heads up.
They really good to use it.
And I do have to say, Caitlin, it seems like every time we talk, I feel like I got into
the wrong industry.
Your job and what you guys get to do over there just seems like I should have go into this.
This is the line of work to do.
It seems like a fun deal.
I'm so spoiled.
I do want to get into a little bit of what it takes to be eligible for this contest.
Absolutely.
And so that's another thing too.
I know we've seen some comments on our Facebook page of folks saying what about burger trucks
or food trucks or our seasonal stands and unfortunately they're not eligible.
We needed to be a restaurant that's open and has this burger on their menu year round.
And a lot of that is because we're giving a lot of excitement and a lot of hype about
this.
And we would hate for folks to once the top eight are announced to get in their car and
drive to a location just to find out that it's not going to be open for a couple of months
there.
So to be eligible, the burger must meet the following guidelines.
It has to be 100% beef.
Now, that doesn't mean that you can't add other ingredients like bacon that we love and
cheese and things like that on top of the burger or spices within the patty itself.
But the burger has to be 100% beef.
All burgers have to be formed in a ground beef patty served on a bun or some other bread
product.
We know people are very creative out there with biscuits or tortillas and they can have
whatever condiments or sauces that they should choose.
But every component of that burger has to be placed between the bun or the bread pieces
or served open-faced on some sort of bread products.
And then, as I said before, the burger has to be available on the nominated restaurants
regular menu and that restaurant has to be open year round.
And another thing too, once the restaurants are the winners, they can only win once.
And so it's been so fun to see last year's winner Pickles, Bar and Grill share the love
and they've even given some open support of another restaurant, too, within the elite
eight last year saying that they're giving them all their votes.
And so that's what's been really fun to see as well as the camaraderie within the restaurant
industry.
I remember among the elite eight last year, they were sharing their support for the
individuals that were selected as the winners and that's just really heartwarming to see
as well.
It's really cool.
It's such a, it's a incredibly competitive business.
And to see this, you know, there's a few people that can understand what the restaurant
industry is like outside of other restaurant people.
So the relatability there that they have and then the camaraderie, the being able to support
each other, a rising tide raises all votes.
Yes, yes, that's right, I love it.
And if people are curious, they want to kind of follow along with this.
Maybe they don't have a recommendation, but they just enjoy the show.
How can they keep up the data on all of this?
Absolutely.
So our website, beeftips.com has all the information about the burger contest.
I would also recommend following us on social media.
So we're pretty much on any platform that you may be on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,
the works.
And we will, once we announce the Elite Eight, that map, then we'll give a little bit
of a deep dive into each of those eight restaurants.
If you missed the Elite Eight last year, we still have that map on our website, beeftips.com.
Just go to that best burger contest page.
If you're curious and maybe want to do a little spring road trip here as our temperatures
are heating up, you might be thinking about firing up the grill, but why not let someone
else do some cooking for you as well and travel to those.
I really want to emphasize that we need some love on the western side of the state.
Last year, we had a lot of those kind of in the South Central, Wisconsin region, the South
East Wisconsin region, and then a couple more northern areas.
But that western side of the state could really use some love this year if there's anyone
who wants to find their favorite burger joint in that region.
And I do also want to say for our restaurant tours out there, we have resources for you
to promote yourself and brag about yourself to get those nominations in.
So we have flyers and postcards, table tens, QR codes, some social media assets, a lot
of those elements for our restaurants to be able to download and promote and share their
own story.
I know some of our restaurants are a little bit too humble, so they might need that
a little bit of a push of encouragement from their favorite customers out there, but
we really want to make this as turnkey as possible to help promote burgers in our local
restaurant scene in Wisconsin.
It's a great point to bring up as Midwesterners, we tend to not put a lot of attention
on ourselves or the customers out there.
It's not surprising to hear them make nominations oftentimes, the business owners, the cooks
not doing it themselves.
And I do want to say good luck to everybody, because boy, this is not going to be it.
It's tough to make these decisions, voting on something like this, there are no, they're
all great entries, they're all great burgers out there.
We have so many great choices out there, so good luck, everybody, and keep along with
this one.
We'll be keeping up the data on it as well and let our audience know how that's going.
Looking forward to it.
We have Caitlin Kessler joining us from the Wisconsin Beef Council here in Caitlin.
We are getting closer and closer to one of our favorite holidays.
St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner and you can't think of St. Patrick's Day
and not think of corn beef.
That's right.
Have you ever tried making it yourself, like, brining the brisket and everything yourself?
Actually, this might be funny to the audience.
My Italian grandmother, my nana, used to make it every, my, my, my papa or husband loved
it.
So she made it every year.
And where we grew up in, in Chicago, she had a couple of families that were from Ireland
that she was very good friends with.
And she, as far as I knew, she made it the way that they did.
So yeah, I, I've seen it made.
I've made it myself, though.
Oh, wow.
You're probably more of an expert on it than I am.
My goodness.
I was, I was in the kitchen to grab things on the, on high shelves.
That's, that's all that she, that she had me do.
I, I cut up some audience, maybe.
Yeah.
Oh, sweet.
Oh, those are fun memories to be had.
Well, a lot of folks out there are probably like me where you've probably indulged on corn
beef brisket, on St. Patrick's Day, but never quite ventured out to making it yourself.
But it's truly made from that brisket flat house that's the leaner cut of the brisket.
And it's been salt cured in a brine.
And the term corned, it doesn't come from how the animals are finished, but sometimes
I think people assume that if it's corned beef, that means that it was from a cornfed
animal.
It actually comes from those large pieces of rock salt that are used in the brine.
And that helps preserve the meat as well as add additional flavor and moisture.
And you had mentioned that your grandma had those relationships with the folks from Ireland.
And it actually gained its popularity in the United States when those Irish immigrants
were looking for a cheaper alternative to bacon.
So they started brining this beef brisket and now it's used in a lot of different cuisines
throughout the world.
But we especially know that St. Patrick's Day is the time when this really comes out
of the works.
But we do know that there's a lot of ways that corned beef can be used year round.
And so for folks who are looking, who could cook at home, there's a couple of different
cooking methods.
So you could do the classic oven roasted cooking method where you put it in the roasting pan
with the seasonings and cover it with aluminum foil.
When you purchase your corned beef brisket in the store, they'll often have that seasoning
packet right in there with it.
And I will say too, if you're going and buying the brisket and have questions, are folks
whether you're going to a supermarket and you're talking to the folks at the meat counter
or maybe you're going to your local butcher or meat processor, they love answering questions.
This is their passion.
And so we don't hesitate to ask them if you have any questions about the best way to prepare
it or cook it.
If you know you're not going to have time to oven roast it, maybe you want to go low
and slow in the slow cooker.
You can put that in the slow cooker and top of that seasoning packet, add in some water
or some cider, cover it, and that's one of those where you could head out, cooking it
on high for about seven hours or in low for about 10 hours until it's fork tender.
And really just dive in with the classic brisket, potatoes or cabbage, whichever you want
in your St. Patrick's Day menu for that night.
Now, this one, I have some familiarity with corn beef and everything, but I've never heard
of it for breakfast.
I know.
There's a lot of ways that we can have those planned overs and repurpose it.
Of course, we have the breakfast hash.
That's a great method of doing it where you can take your shredded or cubed corn beef,
mix it with some potatoes.
That you might also have leftover, maybe you want to shut up some hash browns, mix it
with onions, some leeks, green peppers.
It can also be substituted with your ham.
So if you want a new take on your Denver Omelet, you can use that in place of canned ham
for those different breakfast preparation.
Of course, if you have a lot of corn beef leftover, you can have it for breakfast and lunch.
We have corn beef rumin and other sandwiches that you thinly slice corn beef, and you
can also chop it or shred it to use it as a topper or a mix in.
We have a really fun recipe on our YouTube channel where it's a soup made with a corn
beef brisket, a leftover recipe.
So if you're curious about how to prepare that, top over for our YouTube channel.
We have quite a few in our corn beef brisket collections.
I will say our official beef lady, Andy Horkin, their family is very, very Irish.
And so they take St. Patrick's Day pretty seriously, and it's never a joke whenever she comes
in.
And I swear every day she walks in the office during March, because it's March's corn
beef season, and they get really excited about it.
So they have a lot of fantastic recipes there.
And maybe you're going to St. Patrick's Day and you aren't the one in charge of the
brisket itself.
You can always whip together an appetizer.
I will say, James, I'm not a cook.
And so the one that really stands out to me is a corn beef pickle dip.
It reminds me of, I don't know if you guys ever enjoyed like Ham Salad as kids, and that's
what this reminds me of where you can find corn beef with mayonnaise and diced dill pickles,
and it's just a really simple and delicious option for an appetizer.
And especially for families out there that you've had this every year, it sounds like
not just this, but what we're going to talk about coming up are some different options
for corn beef.
It's still a way of keeping the tradition, but maybe trying something different.
That's right, and that's what it's all about.
You never know until you try it, what might be your next big favorite thing.
And that's one of the pleasures you talk before about how you maybe went into the wrong
line of business.
That's one of the perks of my job, as I feel like every day I come in, and I think
a new way, you know, I grew up on a dairy farm.
Now you raise beef cattle.
You think they too know all the different ways of cooking and preparing beef, but I swear
each and every day I learn, I learn a new way of doing it, and so that's a lot of the
fun.
And doing it together with family, having those memories, you know, like you said, even
if you're just reaching in the top shelf of the cupboard or chopping up those onions,
being there of family and having those memories I think is even better than the flavor.
Well said, very well said.
And as we're getting close to the end of our time here, we did want to mention as well
that this is really good for small plates and dinner.
Can you touch on that a little bit, Caitlin?
Absolutely.
So one of those fun, small plate options that you might have would be to slice your corn
beef into small pieces and you can braise them, tenderize them, and this is a really fun
alternative to bacon or pork belly.
And that can be featured and a lot of your small plate dishes.
And just like how we have those brisket burnt ends at restaurants, that's one of my favorite
go tos to order.
You can take that corn beef and use it as smoked burnt ends for that barbecue feature.
You can smoke cubed corn beef pieces and toss them with a barbecue sauce for that really
unique and fun taste.
We've talked about the dinner, the classic corn beef and cabbage that can have a place
on your plate and St. Patrick's Day.
But there's a lot of experimenting that you can do year round.
So you don't only have to buy your corn beef brisket in March.
You can participate in this celebration all year round and you can use corn beef for
different ingredients like for topping pasta, adding stews, even mixing it in with ground
beef or meatloaf.
And one option that even said on beef it's what's for dinner.com was to sear a braised
piece and serve it as a not so traditional center of the plate steak.
So have a corn beef version of a steak on your plate and there's just a lot of different
options to make corn beef versatile that I don't think a lot of us have considered.
So once again, check out those websites beeftips.com or beef it's what's for dinner.com to learn
more about corn beef and try to find some fun and unique ways to incorporate it, whether
it's St. Patrick's Day or you're just looking for something fun to do in these summer months
coming up.
To your point, Caitlin, part of the reason I brought up that story earlier is because I've
been around corn beef and hash and corn beef my whole life really.
And I had no idea how versatile it was.
I had no idea all these things that we talked about today until I got your notes and was
able to look into it and I asked my mom about a little of it and she's like, oh yeah,
this and this.
It was just really fun to hear about this and to go into this dive into some more of
this topic.
A great conversation as always, Caitlin.
We appreciate the time.
We got to talk again real soon.
If people have follow up questions, they would like to know more about some what we talked
about today.
How can they get in touch with Caitlin?
They can check out the about us tab at beeftips.com and there you can shoot us an email, give
us a call.
We would love to be able to connect or as always feel free to send us a message on social
media and please keep following along as we count down to finding our best burger in Wisconsin.
And encourage you to follow along with that and do your, you know, look into the Wisconsin
beef council as well.
This is a strong, not-and-profit that does some amazing work for our ag industry, for
our farmers out there and also gives us a lot of really fun topics and fun things like
the burger contest and stuff.
Really can't thank you enough for the time, Caitlin.
Thank you.
Thanks, James.
We'll talk again real soon.
Remember, you can find more out at beeftips.com, beeftips.com.
Be sure to follow along with the best burger contest at beeftips.com slash events slash
best burger contest.
We'll be back with more show coming up here on Midday Magazine, a 97.5 FM 13.20 AM.
WFHR, we are locally grown radio.