Recipe: Chef Doreen Prei’s Pork Burger

Summer is in full swing and that mean’s it is full-on burger season. Every second Wednesday all summer long, Kathryn Joel and chef Doreen Prei of Get Cooking Edmonton will be hosting a burger night.

I checked out their inaugural event of the season, where chef Prei was serving up a choice of three burgers, including her legendary fried-egg topped Irvings Farm Fresh Alberta pork burger. Check out their schedule for upcoming dates and menus to try Chef Prei’s original – but in the meantime you can check out her recipe.

Chef Doreen Prei’s Pork Burgers (makes 8 small slider size burgers)
Recipe courtesy of Get Cooking Edmonton

What you’ll need…

400 g ground pork, freshly ground
2 shallot, finely cut
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
2 tablespoon fresh chopped lovage
1/2 bunch chives, finely sliced (or use green onions)
1 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon pork, duck or goose fat

To serve: bun, greens and sriracha mayonnaise

Directions:

In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients, mixing with your hands to combine.

Shape into burgers, about 1 cm thick.

Heat a pan over medium high heat, adding pork, duck or goose fat.

Cook the burgers for about 3-4 minutes a side, until caramelized and cooked through. Enjoy!

Recap: Swine and Dine at The Common – 2018 Edition

For the 4th year in a row, chef Jesse Morrison shared his passion for Alberta pork by creating a Swine and Dine dinner at The Common. The annual event is an opportunity for Jesse and his culinary team at The Common Edmonton to get creative with the one-off menu featuring Alberta pork from appetizer to dessert. The price is always phenomenal, $40 for four courses this year, and each time I leave I find myself saying ‘that was better than the last one!’

When The Common hosts their annual Swine and Dine dinners their regular menu is not available, and the kitchen is fully committed to the all-Alberta pork menu. On Thursday, May 31, 2018, the culinary and service team served up 59 Swine & Dine covers, proving that all-pork menu is hip and desired by The Common’s hip and desirable clientele.

My favourite dish was the 3rd course, but the feedback was split among dinners at my table. There were several votes for the appetizer, but I think the winner may have been for the dessert. As one diner at my table said ‘I think we all need more maple brandy pork fat ice cream in our lives.’

This year’s innovative Swine and Dine menu at The Common featured:

1st course: spring Bouchee a La Reine with asparagus and dried ham


The gluten free option on the first course swapped puff pastry for a crispy baked potato

2nd course: Char Siu pork with pickled schezuan salad & lemongrass milk bread

3rd course:  Pork Shoulder with hominy, jus and shaved green bean salad

Dessert: Maple brandy pork fat ice cream with apricot jelly roll & pork soaked apricots

Chef Jesse Morrison prepping his Swine & Dine dessert – Maple brandy pork fat ice cream with apricot jelly roll & pork soaked apricots

 

Chef Jesse Morrison’s Maple brandy pork fat ice cream with apricot jelly roll & pork soaked apricots

Less than 24 hours after he hosted his 4th Swine and Dine dinner, Chef Morrison told me he was already looking forward to creating next year’s menu.

For those who missed it, but still want a bite, chef Jesse Morrison always has an assortment of pork dishes on his menu at The Common. Check it out:

The Common
Cool, contemporary gastro-lounge offering elevated local comfort food, cocktails, DJs & dancing.
9910 109 St NW, Edmonton, AB T5K 1H5
Menu: thecommon.ca
 (780) 452-7333

RGE RD Bread & Meat Off Sales

Still have people to buy for on your Christmas list? Why not give the gift of meat?

Since January 2016, Chef Blair Lebsack and his culinary team at RGE RD in Edmonton have been letting customers take a piece of the restaurant home each month during their Butchery Off-Sales. The multi-day event features a variety of meat delights for sale including Nature’s Green Acres finest Alberta Pork transformed into rillettes, country style terrines, sausages, pate, mortadella and even pork fat (ideal for roasting veggies or making a flaky pastry crust).

Off-sales were always part of the plan when the restaurant first opened. Holding a monthly event gives chef Lebsack and his team an opportunity to get creative with off-cuts and pieces of pork that may not make it on their regular menu. RGE RD receives their whole Nature’s Green Acres black Tamworth and Berkshire hogs just one day after they are slaughtered, giving the kitchen the control to age, cut, and create a variety of dishes that have regular customers stocking up each month.

Rillette, which Lebsack believes is served best at room temperature with a baguette and a glass of wine, was on the original menu when RGE RD first opened. Lebsack isn’t surprised by the popularity of the Butchery items, but he has been surprised by the increase in quantity they make each month.

When they first started his team was making just 10 kg of sausages; today, the RGE RD Butchery often sells out of 60 kg of sausage at their monthly sales events.

Friday, December 22, from 12pm to 6pm is RGE RD‘s final Bread & Meat Off Sale of the year. The last time I stopped in for a RGE RD off sale they were already sold out of several items, so if you want your choice RGE RD Butchery offerings, be sure to get there early or call 780-447-4577 to preorder.

The assortment of meats from the butchery is an ideal hostess gift and perfect for any charcuterie plate, which pairs beautifully with a French baguette or loaf of mountain bread baked in their wood-burning oven.

If you are looking for suggestions, I’m a big fan of RGE RD’s rillette. Pork shoulder cooked confit style, low and slow in stock and fat is hand-pressed in a mortar and pestle until velvety smooth. And if you are lucky – the mortadella!

RGE RD
10643 123 Street
Edmonton, AB T5N 1P2
(780) 447-4577

Recipe: Chef Michael Stadtländer’s Panfried Alberta Whitefish Wrapped with Smoked Pork Back Fat on Creamed Lentils, Red Beet-Horseradish Sauce

IMG_3752

On Thursday March 12, 2015 I had the pleasure of attending the Chef in Residence luncheon at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s Ernest’s dining room. The chef in residence program provides students in NAIT’s School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts with the opportunity to learn from some of the best chefs in North America.

This year, renowned Canadian chef-farmer Michael Stadtländer, was selected to mentor the next batch of culinary students at NAIT. Originally from Germany, Chef Stadtländer has become synonymous with the sustainable food movement. In 1993, Stadtländer and his family moved to a 100-acre farm near Collingwood, at the top of Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment, where they could live on the land. Eigensinn Farm has become an internationally celebrated destination for gourmets.

Our three-course meal today was packed with local ingredients, incorporating the best of what is available in Alberta. Thankfully, I was able to score the recipe for the first dish we enjoyed. This recipe was written using using pork from the pigs raised on Chef Stadtländer’s farm; however, I am confident this champion of eating local would encourage us all to find and support a local producer of pork speck (fat) and substitute it for this recipe.

Panfried Alberta Whitefish Wrapped with Eigensinn Farm Smoked Pork Back Fat on Creamed Lentils, Red Beet-Horseradish Sauce

Stadtlander 4
Chef Michael Stadtländer

Fish Stock:

all bones from Whitefish no gills (roughly cut)
7 whole onions (small dice)
4 whole carrots (small dice)
2 bunch celery (small dice)
750mL riesling
100mL sunflower oil
1 bunch tarragon
1 bunch thyme
6 bay leaves
40 crushed juniper berries
1 tbsp white peppercorn

Method:

1. sweat vegetables in sunflower oil

2. add fish bones and add white wine

3. add cold water just enough to cover

4. add herbs and spices

5. simmer for 30mins and strain

6. once strained, reduce by half

7. always important to skim as the stock is on simmer

Whitefish:

120g portioned whitefish per person
1.5kg Eigensinn Farm smoked pork back fat (sliced thinly)
150 savoury sprigs

Creamed Lentils:

2kg lentils du Puy style (soaked over night)
400g dijon mustard
3L apple cider
1L 35% cream
4L chicken stock
10 garlic bulbs (finely chopped)
20 whole onions (finely diced)
1kg Eigensinn Farm Speck (finely diced)
150mL maple syrup
1 bunch thyme
8 bay leaves
80 mL apple cider vinegar
salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

1. render speck and add the onions and garlic

2. roast until onions and garlic are caramelized

3. add lentils, thyme, bay leaves, 3L apple cider, 4L chicken stock and cook until tender

4. once most of the liquid is gone, add 400g dijon mustard, 1L of cream, 80mL apple cider vinegar and 150mL maple syrup

5. salt and pepper to taste

Red Beet Glaze:

2L red beet juice
2tbsp apple cider vinegar

Method:

1. reduce beet juice and apple cider vinegar into glaze

Horseradish Sauce:

1.5L reduced fish stock
200g butter
750mL 35% cream
800g fresh horseradish (grated) – depends on how strong the horseradish is

Method:

1. cook fish stock and cream

2. add 200g butter, grated horseradish and blend in thermomixer

3. a la minute, swirl beet glaze in with horseradish sauce