Recipe: Chef Brochu’s Porchetta with Black Pepper Relish

MILKCRATE PORCHETTA with RED PEPPER RELISH

Chef Steve Brochu has shared his passion for Alberta Pork with us on several occasions, and at the Taste Alberta food stage at this year’s Porkapalooza BBQ Festival, he handed out tips on tricks on how to season and roll a slab of pork belly into beautiful porchetta. Chef Brochu sliced and served his porchetta on the food stage with a sweet and sour black pepper relish and locally baked fresh bread, but the base porchetta recipe can be topped with your favourite homemade jam, jelly, mustard or relish.

Chef Brochu, who recently opened MilkCrate coffee and sandwich shop in EPCOR tower, serves MilkCrates’s signature porchetta sandwich weekdays along with several rotating daily features. Pop in weekdays for a taste of the original:

MilkCrate – EPCOR TOWER
10423 101 Street NW, EDMONTON AB
MONDAY – FRIDAY 6:30AM – 4:30 PM
CLOSED WEEKENDS

MILKCRATE PORCHETTA
What you’ll need…

Porchetta stuffing  / rub
Pork Belly – skin on 
3 tbsp thyme leaves
3 tbsp rosemary leaves
6 tbsp parsley, chopped roughly
1 cup sliced red onion
150ml Saskatoon berries, pureed
4 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup Chopped Garlic
Salt / Pepper

Directions:

  1. Combine everything but salt and pepper in a bowl.
  2. Season the inside for the pork belly with Salt and Pepper. Spread the rub all over the inside of belly.
  3. Roll the belly tightly on itself , and using butchers twine, tie off the belly so it looks like a tightly wrapped log or sleeping bag.
  4. Place Porchetta in 250F oven for 8 hours or until the skin is golden and breaks apart easily.
  5. Slice and pile on top of a fresh crusty roll and accent with red pepper relish. Enjoy.

 

MILKCRATE RED PEPPER RELISH
What you’ll need…

5 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup minced garlic
3/4 cup minced ginger
30 green onion
20 button mushrooms chopped
2 tbsp crushed black pepper
3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 cup  granulated sugar
1/3 cup lime juice fresh
1 cup Saskatoon berry
1 tbsp salt

Directions:

  1. In a pan over medium-high heat, get oil hot but not smoking. Sauté garlic, ginger, onion until they are golden.
  2. Add pepper and mix until you can smell pepper.
  3. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 10 min or until it is thick enough to cover the back of a spoon.
  4. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a blender, and blend till smooth in texture. Once completely cool, store in a jar and refrigerate until use.

Recipe: London Local’s Pork and Beans

Fresh off her win on Food Network Canada’s first season of Fire MastersLondon Local co-owner and executive chef Lindsay Porter entertained the crowd on the Taste Alberta food stage at this year’s Porkapalooza BBQ Festival. In between stories of what Guy Fieri was like during the filming of her two Guy’s Grocery Games appearances, chef Porter shared how to turn leftover pulled pork into a sticky sweet pork and beans recipe. Perfect over the campfire, as a BBQ side dish, or served at breakfast with a sunny side up egg – this simple recipe is sure to become a summer favourite.

What you’ll need…

4 cups of cooked pulses (such as lentils, chickpeas and/or white beans)
¼ cup worchestershire
½ white or purple onion diced
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple cider (* the rest can be used to drink)
2 Tbsp molasses
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp butter
salt pepper
500 grams pork shoulder (for pulled pork)
2 pork sausages, cooked and sliced into bite-sized pieces

 

Directions:

1 . To make the pulled pork from scratch, season with salt and pepper and any preferred spices and slow cook in a slow cooker with half the amount of apple cider vinegar and half the amount of cider and half the brown sugar until fall apart tender (approximately 4-8 hours depending on your slow cooker setting. This can be done a day ahead).

2. Sauté the onion in a heavy bottom pot with the butter until soft.

3. Add the beans and sauté for approximately 5 minutes and add the remaining ingredients including any liquid from the pulled pork and cook until cooked down by half and slightly sticky. Serve warm and enjoy.

* If using pulled pork leftovers, reduce the apple cider vinegar, cider, and brown sugar by half in step three of the recipe.

** London Local uses their house-made sausage for this recipe. If you don’t make your own Alberta pork sausage meat, pick up some from a local butcher or your favourite farmer’s market vendor.

 

Porkapalooza BBQ Festival June 15 – 16, 2009 at Edmonton Expo Centre

Porkapalooza BBQ Festival is back for another Father’s Day Weekend in Edmonton. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, June 15 to Sunday, June 16, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., the Edmonton Expo Centre will play host to the annual event, showcasing the culture of BBQ.  Cheer on your favourite competitors and enjoy that great BBQ smell as teams from western Canada compete for over $16,000 in prizes.

At its heart, it is a BBQ competition, but it encompasses all the components of a festival: good BBQ eatin’, a beer garden, the Taste Alberta food demonstration stage, a Kids’ Zone and plenty of entertainment.

 

The festival is free for anyone to attend and includes plenty of activities for families and food lovers to enjoy. Guests are invited to check out guided tours of the competition area, cooking demonstrations from professional chefs at our food stage and a play area and craft station in our Kids’ Zone.

 

 

Do you have a dad who loves to grill? Pack up the family and head down to Porkapalooza for taste of BBQ. Stay for a bite of fall-off-the-bone pork ribs or a bite from this year’s line up of food vendors including:

RETAIL VENDORS

Porkapalooza BBQ Festival – June 16-17, 2018

Its finally here! The Porkapalooza BBQ Festival is on this Father’s Day weekend, June 16-17, 2018 at Northlands.

Saturday 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 7:00 pm

2018 marks the 5th year for Edmonton’s annual Porkapalooza BBQ Festival. This weekend, Northlands Park Racetrack & Casino will play host to the two-day community event showcasing the art and culture of BBQ.

Let your nose lead the way to the mouth-watering smell of smoked meat and charcoal.  BBQ teams from across Canada will be competing for $16,000 in prize money, and variety of food vendors (including Boss Hog’s BBQFat FranksGator BBQMisty Mountain BBQ, and Smokehouse BBQ) will be serving up meat, meat and more meat.

There are plenty of activities for the whole family, from the Kids Zone to the Entertainment Stage. And don’t forget the opportunity to learn more about BBQ at the Food Demonstration Stage.

This year’s lineup includes:

Stu Whyte of Original Redhead Condiments

Saturday, June 16

Sunday, June 17

 

The Father’s Day weekend event is organized by the Porkapalooza BBQ Festival Society with generous financial support from Alberta Pork and other sponsors. This year, Porkapalooza will support three local charities:

So grab your family and friends and get your Porkapalooza on!

Brian Misko, award-winning BBQ sauce and spice creator, BBQ teacher, and public speaker with House of Q, based in Vancouver.