Passion for Pork www.PassionforPork.com

Saturday YEG pork week Crawl – 2nd Stop – Moriarty`s Bistro

Sharman - Thursday, October 18, 2012
Pork week at Moriarty`s Bistro with Chef Welsch

For the second stop on our girls night pork night pub crawl, Kim and I swept over to Moriarty`s Bistro and Wine Bar. Chef Cory Welsch had tweeted me earlier in the day that he had a pork chop with my name on it… so how could I resist.

Moriarty`s had a mix of patrons on a Saturday evening,  so we parked ourselves at the bar and got ready to pork out.

Chef Welsch was featuring three exciting dishes for pork week in Edmonton:

 

Restaurant Week Special Items:

  • Country fried pork belly, aged cheddar grits, lemon rocket, poached farm eggs, sour cherry ketchup
  • Pembina natural 12 oz pork chop, wild mushroom bread pudding, roasted white asparagus, peach chutney and natural jus
  • Cinnamon maple bacon ice cream

 

Chef Welsch`s YEG Pork Week features at Moriarty`s Bistro & Wine Bar

I had the pleasure of tasting Chef Welsch`s Cinnamon Maple Bacon Ice Cream at lunch earlier in the week, and was looking forward to the rest.

Unfortunately the starter was gluten filled, so I left it up to Kim to give it a try in its original form (which she said was delicious). I`ve been on a pork belly mission the last few months and this was the first time I have seen someone doing a Southwest twist.

I think the dish was the envy of every one at the bar, but we made friends with a few of our Saturday night dining patrons and they were big fans of the Chef Welsch`s pork belly starter.

Country fried pork belly, aged cheddar grits, lemon rocket, poached farm eggs, sour cherry ketchup

Ordering a 12 oz pork chop should have been an indicator of how big the serving size would be, but I was shocked when a two-inch-thick chop arrived at the bar. I`ve heard from chefs that pork chops don`t always sell well on a menu (probably due the fear of a dried out chop that your mother used to overcook).

 

Chef Welsch`s 12 oz pork chop

Thankfully Chef Welsch is helping to change the perception of pork chops one bite at a time, with what I can only describe as one of the juiciest pork chops I can ever remember having. The trick to serving a succulent chop – it`s all in the brine.

A brine is salt water solution. Soaking pork or other meats in a salt-water brine increases  the water it can store so that it can stay moist and tender while the meat cooks.

A brine can also add some kick ass flavour to your pork chops, and Chef Cory Welsch was kind enough to share his salt-water secrets with me.

 

This is not your mother`s pork chop

Chef Welsch Brine

2 Litres of hot water
1 cup coarse salt
10 garlic cloves
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp dry thyme

Add all ingredients. Soak pork chops, loin, shoulder, or belly (basically any part of the pig)  in the brine and let it sit for at least 4 hours.

Chef Welsch recommends soaking your pork for 24 hours. And DON`T DON`T DONT, cook it like your mother. Cook until  140F and don`t be afraid of a little pink in the middle.

All in all – some pork belly and a massive chop was a great stop on our YEG pork week, Saturday night pork crawl.