Well done: alumna Joan Tuaño Rumsey celebrates publication of her new book Steak Simplified

Do you know your entrecôte from your Scotch fillet? Your bavette from your sirloin? If not, a new book from alumna Joan Tuaño Rumsey could be your ideal guidebook.

Appearing on renowned US chef Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street channel to give a virtual steak cooking class in support of her new book: Steak Simplified is now all in a day’s work for class of 2012 alumna Joan Tuaño Rumsey.

With a short promotional tour in her native Philippines – including a visit to Enderun Colleges, the Philippines arm of our sister school Ecole Ducasse – also on the menu, it’s all systems go for the International Hospitality Management graduate.

This busy but relatively low-key publicity drive to promote the book, released in October 2024 by UK-based cookery book specialist Meze Publishing, is due in part to having recently had a baby and being on the point of moving from Abu Dhabi to the UK. It’s a full schedule, but biting off more than most people can chew is something of a theme for Joan.

Mouth-watering opportunities

“I signed the contract to publish the book at the end of 2023,” she says. “Then I got married the following February and found out I was pregnant two months later. So I said to myself: ‘I guess I’m doing everything all at once, then.’

“That’s not out of character. If you ask anyone in my graduation batch, including the staff and faculty, they would know how incredibly active I was at school. I was a student ambassador, I led our yearbook team and I was among the first batch of students doing the events management specialisation, so had to help organise International Day as well.”

True to form, Joan wrote her book – a memoir, handbook and recipe guide – while holding down her role as Chief Marketing Officer for the family business La Carne, a premium retail butchery with presence in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Philippines cities of Cebu and Manila. As the company’s 10-year anniversary was approaching, Joan began to feel the urge to start writing.

“I had already written heaps of content over the years, including our newsletter, our online store and our social media,” she says. “And my mom had the idea a few years ago about putting all my newsletters in one place in a book, which I thought was an extraordinary idea.

“At first, I thought it would be really difficult, but when someone plants a seed like that, it grows. With the 10-year anniversary, me getting married and the fact I won’t be in the meat business forever, I decided it was time to bring the idea into reality.”

In fact, it was during an overseas trip to meet ranchers and beef and lamb producers that Joan was inspired to get started.

“Our trip to Australia and New Zealand was what really clinched it,” she says. “We finally managed to meet the producers whose meat we’d been selling and got to research and see the entire farm-to-table value chain, which was really educational. Getting to connect with some of my favorite producers such as Rangers Valley and Jack’s Creek was really special and it got me thinking about how to share their invaluable knowledge and experience with the younger generation of consumers. When you see meat in a supermarket or butcher, it may say on the label that it’s grass-fed, Angus or Wagyu, but it rarely tells you where it comes from and how it came to you. And I thought: that’s the equivalent of saying ‘leather bag’ and not ‘Gucci’. That’s when I knew I had to write my book.”

Recipe for success

In a nutshell, Steak Simplified is a celebration of 10 years of Joan and her family’s entrepreneurial spirit and it exemplifies La Carne’s philosophy, which is that “everybody can cook great meat”.

“I wanted to demystify steak, especially for those who are scared of messing it up,” says Joan. “So the cover is of me, a woman, grilling a steak on a charcoal BBQ. Many people are really stressed about cooking it, not just because they think they’ll ruin it, but also due to the perceived health and environmental implications. So the idea is to present the facts and the research in a really accessible way.”

As such, the handbook part of Steak Simplified includes a plethora of information on various aspects of steak, including breeds, butcheries, the cuts and the distinct ways they are named in different countries.

“For example, in the UK you may call a certain cut ‘ribeye’, whereas in Australia they say ‘Scotch fillet’,” adds Joan. “So I go into each of the different steaks and their particular qualities with the aim of removing some of the confusion around the subject. There’s a lot of other nerdy things in there too, such as a chart showing the different international measures of marbling.”

Of course, no culinary book would be complete without a few recipes and Steak Simplified has them in abundance, though with a twist.

“I wanted to inject a bit of my own culture and personality into the book,” says Joan. “Everyone’s seen a recipe for Beef Wellington, so I wanted to do something different, which is why I’ve incorporated my Filipino heritage. And around 90% of the recipes have a QR code that links to a video of me actually preparing the dish, again to help make cooking steak more accessible to all.”

All the right ingredients

So how did Joan develop the knowledge and expertise necessary to produce such a wide-ranging, engaging and comprehensive guide to cooking beef and lamb steaks? It’s a combination of factors, including lifelong passion, family history and education.

“I began my graduate studies at Enderun Colleges in the Philippines, which has an association with Ecole Ducasse,” explains Joan. “So a lot of my basic culinary knowledge comes from the courses that bear the Alain Ducasse name. After the first year and a half, the school offered us the opportunity to finish off our studies in Switzerland at Les Roches, which is how I ended up there.

“But in truth, my love of food began long before then. When I would get home from school, I used to watch Ready, Steady, Cook with Ainsley Harriott and Nigella Lawson’s program too. I love the fact she says she’s a cook and not a chef, because that’s how I see myself too. I’m certainly not planning on getting a Michelin star.”

Post-graduation, Joan set about building on that passion and educational background by trying to inspire La Carne’s customers to cook at home.

“I started making videos as a way of selling meat for the family business,” she says. “Obviously, it was a marketing strategy in essence, but it was all about educating and demonstrating how much easier, cheaper and tastier it is to cook at home than it is to grab takeaway meals. I think that ultimately paved the way for me writing the book.”

A taste of the high life

A career in meat and writing about it was not the only option on the menu for Joan after graduating from Les Roches. In fact, like many of the school’s alumni, she chose a more traditional hospitality career path at first.

Joan spent a year in the rooms division at the Ritz Carlton, St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, having taken the option to do her final internship after graduation.

“I did everything from the club lounge to recreation and more general housekeeping,” she says. “I’d already done F&B and sales in my other internships, so for me this was the final piece of the jigsaw. From there, I joined Aman Resorts in Turks and Caicos as assistant guest relations manager. That was a fantastic experience, but the work-life balance wasn’t great and, when I realised the family business needed my help, I decided to head back. It was just for six months to start with, but that turned into eight years!”

Joining the family business meant Joan could indulge one of the passions she realised she had while studying at Les Roches: marketing.

“When I was at school, I didn’t really get what marketing was about,” she says. “But over time, I realised I really enjoyed learning about the strategies companies use and how they can differentiate from others to nurture communities.

“I realised I needed to specialise a bit more in that area, so I supplemented the general marketing knowledge I’d learned at Les Roches with a diploma in professional marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in Cambridge, UK. And I basically used the family business as a case study, which is why we have a loyalty program, a ‘why?’ statement and carry out strategic marketing plans.”

Perfect preparation

A taste for marketing was not all Joan developed while at Les Roches. Along with the academic hospitality background and culinary know-how, she also made lasting connections with her peers.

“I believe Les Roches has always been about international exposure and connections,” she says. “And the friends I made during my studies are some of my closest today – we have a bond that’s truly priceless. Some became long-term customers at La Carne, have supported my book and even came along to the book launch. I honestly believe my Les Roches education gave me the perfect foundation to do anything – especially being an author.”

Now the book is out in the open and the move to the UK is in the pipeline, what’s next for this career-hopping alumna?

“People have talked to me about getting a channel on YouTube, but that would take a lot of investment,” she says. “I believe the journey of being a mom is severely underrated, so I’d like to take the opportunity to focus on my son Archie for the time being.

“That said, I would love to do a book tour in the UK. And after years living in Abu Dhabi where the climate makes growing plants challenging, I’m looking forward to being able to plant a garden. Further ahead, who knows? The entrepreneurial spirit is strong in my family, so I don’t think it will be too long before I embark on another project. I have always liked the idea of opening a restaurant. But first of all, I’m focusing on what I have at the moment and trying to ignore the temptation to get involved with another exciting project.”