With Poetic Tweet, Dennis Larimer of Fallow Lane, Minn. Turns to Verse to Take Top Prize in Coast Packing’s ‘Tweet-to-Win’ Contest; Beef Tallow Fan Alicia Brown of Edgerton, Kansas Claims 2nd Place

In a testament to the inspirational powers of #BeefTallowFrenchFries, two Midwesterners have taken top honors in Coast Packing Company’s Second Annual “Tweet-to-Win” Contest, a celebration tied to the July 13 observance of #NationalBeefTallowDay (and, as it happens, #NationalFrenchFryDay).

On its second quest for the public’s most engaging tweets proclaiming their hankering for beef fat French fries, Coast — the largest supplier of animal fat shortenings in the West — attracted the passionate and the poetic.  And for the second year in a row, verse carried the day, as top prize winner Dennis Larimer (@DennisLarimer49), of Fallow Lane, Minn., served up this Twitter ditty:

Strings of Potato, Fried Crisp in Beef Tallow./Your Taste I Adore, I Always Want More./For a Special Treat, I Desire to Eat/At Stillwater Eagles 94.

For his creativity and abundant good taste, Larimer can now outfit his kitchen with a new All-Clad EZ Clean Pro Deep Fryer (retail value $300), the better to make beef tallow French fries at home.

“That’s great!  It was fun thinking that one up,” Larimer said when he got the news.  His Twitter profile: “Retired and living the good life.  Living on Lake Osakis in the summer and Florida in the winter.  I love to fish, ride my Harley and eat my wife’s home cooking.”

Second place winner Alicia Brown (@perfectalicia) of Edgerton, Kansas, will receive a $100 gift certificate to Buffalo Wild Wings in Olathe, a favorite restaurant that features beef tallow fries.  Her tweet nicely connects parenting to delectable food: “I make the best #BeefTallowFrenchFries in my neck of the woods!  My kids are always asking me to make them.  I use them to bribe them to clean their rooms.”

Drawing twice as many entrants as last year’s tweet-off, this year’s contest attracted these tweets of note:

• @prismperfect: “French fries fried in beef tallow are so freakin’ good they overshadow even this big sandwich.”
• @dawncoker72: “While taking a nice candlelit bubble bath because nothing is better than French fries in beef tallow with a glass of champagne.”
•  @GrandmaSezSo: “I asked the waitress at La Cabana Mexican Restaurant what kind of oil they used to make French fries. She said, “The kind in a jug.” Ok then… I will continue my search for the best #BeefTallowFrenchFries It is a tough job but someone has to do it!
• @bayourunners: “My oh My!! How I wish that our local place Harry’s Poboys, would get off of the vegetable oil bandwagon, and move into the year 2019 and fry their fries in Beef Tallow!! It would make their fries so awesome and better!!! COME ON HARRY!!”
• @curlyqaa: “I L❤️VE #BeefTallowFrenchFries from Dusek’s in Chicago. Changed the way I think about French Fries!”

In addition to Eagles 94 in Stillwater, Minn. and Michelin-starred Dusek’s, participants gave shout-outs to Bull and Bear in Orlando, Clove and Hoof in Oakland, Calif., Buffalo Wild Wings in Savoy, Ill., and the national chains Portillo’s and Outback Steakhouse.

“For consumers, the message of our ‘Tweet-to-Win’ contest is, ‘capture the deliciousness in 280 characters and you can fry in style – at home,’” said Eric R. Gustafson, Coast Packing CEO.  “Back in the day, beef fat fries were what made a certain major burger chain famous.

“In terms of freshness, flavor and texture, there really is no comparison to beef tallow French fries, which is exactly why we’re so delighted when consumers can taste for themselves,” Gustafson said.  “Toward that end, we at Coast Packing are continuing our efforts to demonstrate that animal fats like tallow are tasty, traditional and amazingly palate-pleasing.  We encourage everyone to tweet their love for French fries fried in beef tallow far and wide.”

To participate, entrants cited out their favorite place to get French fries fried in beef tallow by including the hashtag #BeefTallowFrenchFries and tag @CoastPackingCo.  Participants were encouraged to include a picture of the French fries along with the tweet. Coast Packing selected the winning tweet based on originality and creativity.

An initiative of The Healthy Fats Coalition, #NationalBeefTallowDay is a celebration of a traditional animal fat – pure beef tallow shortening – that is now enjoying a resurgence within America’s food culture, in restaurants, fast food operations and home kitchens.

About Coast Packing Company

Now marking its 100th year in business, Coast Packing Company (www.coastpacking.com), a closely held corporation, is the number one supplier of animal fat shortenings – particularly lard and beef tallow — in the Western United States. The company sells to major manufacturers, distributors, retailers, smaller food service operations and leading bakeries. The company participates actively in diverse ethnic markets – from Hispanic retail chains, with its VIVA brand, to various Asian specialty markets. Based in Vernon, Calif., Coast Packing Company is regional, national and, increasingly, global. In some cases, supplier relationships are multigenerational, extending back 50 years and more. Coast is a founding member of the Healthy Fats Coalition (https://www.healthyfatscoalition.org/).

For more information about Coast Packing Company, visit: www.coastpacking.com. Follow us via social media on Facebook at www.facebook.com/coastpackingco, Twitter @coastpackingco and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/coastpackingco.