Celebrate Oktoberfest With Some Unique Pork Dishes

Oktoberfest usually means beer and sausage so Alberta Pork is thrilled to be working with gastropubs and restaurants in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver to celebrate this wonderful festival! Pork is THE MEAT during this season so make sure you get to taste its unique flavour when you’re washing it down with some great Bavarian beer! Check out the following restaurants/gastropubs Sept. 28-Oct. 4 that will all offer great tasting Alberta and BC Pork Oktoberfest dishes: Edmonton – CRAFT Beer Market,The Marc, Culina, Ampersand 27, Provincial Pub, TZIN, the Royal Glenora, and Daravara; CRAFT Beer Market, The Libertine Pub, Pig & Duke in Calgary and finally CRAFT Beer Market, El Camino’s, Charlie’s Little Italian, The Union and Cascade in Vancouver. Mmmmmm….oktoberfest_food schnitzel…

Oktoberfest is All About the Pig (oh and the Beer)

Alberta Pork are thrilled to be working with gastropubs and restaurants in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver to celebrate Oktoberfest! Pork is THE MEAT during this season and we want to make sure the public gets to taste its wonderfulness (is that a word?) when they're washing it down with some great Bavarian beer! We'll keep you up to date on who's participating but so far we have CRAFT Beer Markets in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver plus The Marc, Culina, Ampersand 27, Provincial Pub, TZIN and Daravara in Edmonton and The Block, Libertine Pub, Pig & Duke and Oak Tree Tavern in Calgary. You can taste the schnitzel now...

Recipe: Chef Cam Dobranski’s Simple Pork Schnitzel

Pork Schnitzel

June 1st marks the beginning of Alberta Pork Month, so if you didn’t grab some chops, ribs or at the very least some bacon on your latest grocery shop, than you better plan another trip to the store this weekend.

As I mentioned last week, we have 10 great restaurant chefs who have shared some of their favourite pork recipes with us for the month. You can pick up Alberta Pork recipe cards at any of the 10 participating restaurants starting Monday, June 2nd. Until then, here’s a straight forward (and delicious) schnitzel recipe from Wine Bar Kensington and Brasserie Chef/Owner, Cam Dobranski.

You even get to hammer some meat with a mallet in this recipe. Just try and tell me that doesn’t sound fun!

What you’ll need…

1 local pork loin (1.5-2lb)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

½  teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 large eggs

½ cup water

2 cups bread crumbs (or panko breading)

canola oil (enough to fry, about ½ cup)

½ cup, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 lemon (cut into wedges)

Directions:

Slice pork loin against the grain into 1’’ slices.

Place cutlets on a cutting board, cover with plastic wrap and hit with a mallet until each piece is approximately ¼’’.

Next, make a basic breading station by stirring together flour, and spices in 1 bowl, eggs and water whisked together in another and one filled with bread crumbs.

Lightly dredge each cutlet in the flour mixture, transfer to the egg wash (mae sure to wet the whole cutlet) then transfer into the bread crumbs. Place on a baking sheet or large plate until ready to fry.

Take a large frying pan, place an oil of your choice in it with a tablespoon of butter and heat on medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches, place the cutlets in the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 minutes per side.

Transfer to paper towel to absorb any excess grease.

Brown remaining butter in a pan on low heat. Let cook until the milk solids turn golden brown, then remove from heat, about 5 minutes.

To serve, place the schnitzel on a plate, pour brown butter on top, sprinkle some fleur de sel on top and serve with a slice of lemon!

Serves 4

Total cook time…20 min