SHOWCASING ALBERTA BEEF
Let It Snow a movable feast
Here in Alberta, we pretty much take our beef for granted. It’s always available, fresh, tender and delicious.
As we’re popping a roast into the oven or flipping burgers on the grill, we don’t much think about where it comes from, who raises it, why it’s so prized internationally and how it can be elevated to gourmet fare.
All of these points were on the table at an event called Let It Snow, in which Canada Beef and Fairmont partnered to host a series of events showcasing Canadian products for the country’s 150th birthday. Fairmont chefs across Canada collaborated with top culinary masters from Mexico, China and the Philippines.
The last event in the series, held in December, brought together chefs, ranchers, beef industry folks and media in a movable feast that took us from cooking demonstrations in Calgary, to a ranch visit near Cochrane, to fine dining at Lake Louise.
NO POUNDING REQUIRED
In the Philippines, beef is tough stuff.
“It has to be marinated and pounded to break down the fibres,” says chef Anton Amoncio, adding with a grin that this requisite pounding is a useful way to expel some frustration and anger in the kitchen.
“Here, your beef is so tender, so fantastic,” he says, noting there’s no pounding required. “Maybe you Canadians are just not so angry, eh?”
The fresh-faced chef opened his first restaurant in Manila at the age of 24 and earned kudos for his modern spin on Filipino dishes. He won the Asian Food Channel/Food Network’s food hero competition in 2016. Now a host with the Asian Food Channel, he’s got a new restaurant in the works.
Clearly at ease in front of a crowd, the guest chef puts together an appetizer of briefly marinated beef strip loin with charred fennel and onion jam on green onion blinis in the sleek demonstration kitchen at the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence in northeast Calgary. It’s the western headquarters of Canada Beef, an organization that markets its product around the world.
Amoncio’s appetizer is brilliantly paired with Grumpy Bear Honey Wheat ale from Canmore’s Grizzly Paw Brewing Company.
Joining him are chef Mathieu Paré, executive director at the centre, and chef Jean-François Fortin, executive chef at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Paré whips up a “wagon wheel” appetizer with braised beef short ribs, blue cheese and horseradish cream in puff pastry. Fortin’s small bites feature roasted parsnips wrapped with slices of sirloin and adorned with Canadian maple syrup and Calgary’s own Brassica mustard.
Paré also treats us to a classic beef and barley soup, made sub- lime by drizzling it with coldpressed organic canola oil from High River’s Highwood Crossing for a subtle, citrusy kick.
HERITAGE MEETS MODERN
In case we lose sight of where Alberta’s beefy deliciousness comes from, we visit a cattle ranch southwest of Cochrane.
Nestled in the Jumping Pound Creek valley, with the stream lazily winding by and the rough fescue grasslands of the Rocky Mountain foothills surrounding it, historic WineGlass Ranch could be the poster child for “Alberta ranch.”
Founded in 1885 by his greatgreat grandfather, Travis Eklund says the unusual name was registered in 1889 but its origins are unknown. Along with his dad from the LJ Ranch, they run about 300 cows, 20 bulls and about 150 calves on 2,600 acres. (The average head per farm in Alberta is 255, according to Canada Beef.)
They produce all-natural beef from hearty Angus-cross cattle that are grass-fed on that nutrientrich fescue. About 10 per cent of WineGlass beef is grain-finished and sold directly to consumers, helping to even out income fluctuations, Eklund says.
The animals are handled as gently as possible, using horses instead of noisy ATVs. That’s the heritage side. But WineGlass is also modern, with computerized tracking of vaccinations, feed and genetics. And it complies with the highest standards for food safety, animal care and environmental stewardship set by a verified beef production program.
Eklund holds a diploma in electrical engineering while his wife Kara, who was raised on a mixed farm in Alberta, has a degree in environmental science. The couple say they took an 80 per cent cut in pay when they assumed the ranch’s operations eight years ago.
“We’re not in it for the money,” says Eklund, whose two children represent the ranch’s sixth generation. “It’s for the lifestyle.”
RANCH TO RESTAURANT
After giving us a glimpse of ranch life’s realities, the Eklunds join the Let It Snow event as it moves to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.
Here, chef Fortin leads us on a rare behind-the-scenes tour of the hotel’s massive kitchens. He oversees 110 other chefs, seven food and dining outlets and 36,000 square feet of banquet space in the hotel. The hot, frenetic operation is an eye-opener for some of the ranchers, no strangers to hard work, and one comments that he’ll never look at a restaurant meal the same way again.
For dinner, Fortin and Amoncio face off in a friendly east-meets-west kitchen competition to showcase Alberta beef.
Up first, Amoncio does a modern deconstruction of sinigang, a traditional sour and savoury Filipino soup or stew. (See accompanying recipe.) His meltingly tender beef short ribs are placed on a bed of tart green mango purée and plated with charred tomatoes, crisp-fried spinach and green beans.
Fortin does Canada proud with a main course of beef flat iron (a.k.a. top blade steak) that’s been braised in butter for 24 hours and is served alongside a small, seared beef tenderloin, polenta and beets.
The meal satisfies one and all — those of us removed from our province’s food production and those who are up close to it every day.