MORE COVERAGE

• Comstock's Magazine cover story: "Killer Instincts" (June 2014)
• The Sacramento Bee: "UC Davis Meat Lab teaches about slaughtering, processing" (May 18, 2014)

The UC Davis Meat Lab manager and student employees cut, ground, mixed and stuffed their way to multiple awards in the California Association of Meat Processors’ cured meat show, part of the association’s annual convention, held this year at California State University, Chico.

UC Davis won the Norm Eggin Championship Cup for the second year in a row, for the best three student scores combined.

And no wonder, as the Aggie team — Esteban Aleman, Steven Elliott, Cindy Garcia and Miguel Guillen — took first (grand champion), third, fourth and fifth place in the collegiate competition.

The student contest drew 22 entries of this year’s designated product: fresh pork apple sausage. Each competitor formulated a recipe and carried it through to final production, for judging by commercial meat processors.

With Tempting Apple Sausage, Garcia took grand champion honors for the second year in a row, and UC Davis racked up its sixth consecutive grand champion title. Garcia won last year in the designated category of low-sodium pork sausage, and before that UC Davis students won with fresh pork sausage (2012), smoked summer sausage (2011), chorizo (2010) and linguiça (2009).

Caleb Sehnert, lab manager and team adviser, won a prize of his own: reserve grand champion (second place) in the commercial division, for UC Davis Meat Lab Cheddar Hot Link Sausage. If you’re interested, you can buy some at the Meat Lab during its public sales: 1 to 5:30 p.m. every Thursday and Friday.

More information, including price list and location, is available online.

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