Many students pass by this hidden gem on campus, and with a plethora of cuts of beef, lamb, beef jerky, sausage, steaks, pork, jerky and gift boxes for purchase, the Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center is a must-try for any meat-lover.
The Rosenthal Center is both a retail and teaching area with just under 30,000 square feet of space to work with, according to their website. Inside the building, which is located north of Reed Arena by Lot 74, you’ll find a retail store, harvesting facility, processing and packaging area, two cutting rooms and three smokehouses — not to mention a classroom.
Their recipe for beef jerky was created in class 40 years ago, around the same time the Rosenthal Center began using the facility. The jerky process takes about a week to brine and smoke, according to Rosenthal’s Manager Ray Riley, Class of 1979 and 1981, who has been at Texas A&M for almost 50 years.
“We still do it the old fashioned way,” Riley says. “The beef rounds come from choice and select beef. We slice them with the grain, then they’re soaked in a special seasoned brine for five to seven days. We sprinkle them with black pepper, and then they're heavily smoked using hickory. As they're going through the smoking process, they're also dried.”
Beef jerky is one of their best-sellers and can be purchased individually or in gift boxes, but many customers like to purchase it in the half-pound quantity.
“We sell all types of cured and smoked products and we have some snack items like a snack sticks and beef jerky,” Riley says. “All the products are a byproduct from our teaching, research and extension programs.”
On the center’s retail side, they sell beef, lamb and pork, and students run much of the retail center. For different teaching extension research or events, different
livestock will be harvested.
“We do so much more than just beef jerky,” Riley says, “We have bacon, we have hams, we have all types of sausage products. We also offer a number of gift boxes, we have one that's very popular: our beef jerky snack stick and TAMU steak seasoning. So we've pretty much got anything that anybody would want.”
Riley says that the center’s top three best-selling items are whole beef sides, pre-cooked prime ribroasts and beef jerky. For barbeque lovers, they carry beef, back, chuck and plate ribs along with inside and outside skirt steaks for fajitas.
“The outside skirt is one that you generally won't find retail-wise, but we offer that,” Riley says. “We also have some Brazilian cuts that people are interested in like the picanha and the sirloin flap.”
Teaching is a central part of the facility, since many cuts of meat are generated from students. Around 10-15 student workers are involved in processing and sales of the product, Riley says.
“We have students that participate in the harvest, the fabrication, and manufacturing,” Riley says. “We teach students from harvest to retail. They learn how to package it, distribute it and sell.”
For students wanting to experience all the Rosenthal Center has to offer, official Texas A&M courses are available for registration. Community members have the option to register for their January Camp Brisket or Barbecue Summer Camp, Riley says. Registration and membership is handled through Texas Food ways.
“I think it was about 12 years ago, we started teaching a freshman seminar barbeque class,” Riley says. “That expanded into our TAMU barbecue program.”
Food safety is one of the top priorities when it comes to the processing they do there. All of the harvesting and processing is done under state meat inspection, Riley says.
“We’re looking at different ways to reduce microbial growth on meat products,” Riley says. “We also do a lot of research on packaging and storage, cut ability, comparing different grades and comparing different aging times.”
Customers can take advantage of shorter lines in the summer before their busiest time of year when the fall hits. The center is also open on football weekends for hungry tailgaters.
“Without a doubt our biggest sales are during the fall with the home football games, tailgating, all of that,” Riley says. “Thanksgiving and Christmas — those are really the big times that we have most of our customers' largest sales. With Thanksgiving, customers are selecting a lot of hams and pre-cooked prime rib to serve for their holiday occasions. Christmas, we've got people buying all types of gift boxes, pre-cooked prime ribs [and] hams.”
The center’s different boxes include gifts that are dependent on the season, one of their first popular ones being a summer sausage shaped like a football.
“That's something that's been very popular during football season,” Riley says. “The year that we sold the most of those was the year that Johnny Manziel won the Heisman trophy. Normally, if Jimbo does well, Rosenthal’s does well in sales of footballs.”
The center was dedicated to E.M. “Manny” Rosenthal in 1983, who helped the Department of Animal Science tremendously in getting the program started, according to Standard Meat.
Riley invites members of the community to come shop and get a feel for the store. Any questions can be directed towards their salesclerks, or to the Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center website. Store hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“Once people find us, they have a tendency to come back because of our delicious products,” Riley says.
Rosenthal Meat Center is located at 488 Olsen Blvd on the Texas A&M campus and is open Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information or online orders visit, agrilife.org/rosenthal or call (979) 845-5651.
