Two Cowboys are Pulling Some Pork with No Sleep at Porkapalooza in Edmonton, Alberta

Father's Day

You are a Dad. Where would you like to be on Father's Day?

There is a happy place for the Cowboys on any given day. It is right next to a cooking fire, with a cold beverage in hand, surrounded by our favourite people. It doesn't matter what day of the year it is, the weather, or what we are supposed to be cooking and eating. Simply, there is no fun in cooking or drinking alone. We treasure barbecuing, braai or merely preparing and sharing food. This ancient social ritual and tradition come naturally to us. 

When it is Father's Day, the one day we as fathers can choose what it is we want to do, then it is only logical for us to look for the biggest celebration we can find of our primal right of passage. During 24 hours, we want to congregate with well-lubricated bacon and smoke-reeking fellow devotees around open fires, and our favourite cooking machines. These are folks, that know what it takes to patiently savour every moment tenderizing Pork Butts, melting Briskets and crisping Pork Ribs. 

It is a bonus if we can also have our families with us on the day. That is why we salute Alberta Pork and Porkapalooza's organizers for making our Father's Day an extra special day for us this year. We attended our first ever Porkapalooza, which included all the above, and we lived to tell the story.

This is part of the TWO COWBOYS' EPIC GLOBAL TRAVEL & CULINARY EXPERIENCE - 2019! 

Porkapalooza Ep1

Porkapalooza Ep2

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Porkapalooza

The festival was a free two-day event that celebrated all things BBQ with one of Canada's largest KCBS sanctioned BBQ competitions. Porkapalooza is one of four Alberta Cup BBQ competitions taking place year.

Anyone was welcome to attend (even the Vegans), and it included plenty of activities for families and food lovers to enjoy. Guests were invited to check out guided tours of the competition area and cooking demonstrations from professional chefs. While the parents submerged themselves into the BBQ underworld, the kiddies were kept busy in a play area and a Kids’ Zone.

The competition featured over $15,000 in prize money with almost fifty teams vying for the prize money. It also included a chef’s challenge and special young chef event.

The festival is organized by the Porkapalooza BBQ Festival Society, a non-profit organization, with generous financial support from Alberta Pork and other amazing sponsors.

Observations

Everyone in Western Canada BBQ land has their own reasons why Porkapalooza is the highlight on their annual calendar. For many, it is a chance to learn, catch up with friends, hang out with mates, be serious about cooking, have fun, or compete to win. Vendors bring their latest BBQ gadgets to try, and producers showcase their meat, sauces and other ingredients. Teams compete to validate their skills, test their equipment, eat good food, and generally solicit favour with the KCBS gods.

We are glad that we had a chance to be part of Porkapalooza 2019. Even though we've been hanging around the Alberta smokers for a few years now, we could never fit this pinnacle event into the calendar. We are glad we finally did.

We are also glad we got to know more of, and about, the people passionate about BBQ. We are thankful for the new friendships and appreciate the support they've shown for the Cowboys. We feel like we succeeded in getting a seat at the smoker!

Enjoy the highlights of the event as we introduce you to a few of our new BBQ friends and catch up with others. Sincere thanks to Darcy and Porkapalooza that made it possible for us to be there. We look forward to seeing you all back in 2020. Who knows, maybe the Cowboys will compete and win a few prizes next year. Maybe we should also throw a hat in the ring...

Hendrik

Cooking Cowboy

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Hot Hot Hot

Love Affair

Happy Man!

Wors Cowboy

Precision!

Welcome to the Church of Braai with the Two Cowboys in South Africa

Church of Braai

If you want to understand Canadians, you have to understand Ice Hockey. No, not just the game. Everything around the game. The rituals, language, colloquialisms, unspoken precepts, customs, culture and passions that drive the identity and lifestyle around the game of Hockey. It is integrally part of every true ice-blooded Canuck, whether they've ever been directly involved with the game or not.

I guess every nation can point to a sport or an activity that conjures up similarities in its ability to define or reflect their identity and culture. Games that come to mind are Soccer in England, rugby in New Zealand or the ancient Mexican game of Ullamaliztli where the victors were sacrificed to the gods.

There is something similar, even more universal, ancient to the degree that it is primal, that all people have in common. It is buried so deep in the enclaves of traditional culture that we take it for granted. It is what we do.

It only comes to the fore when people gather around to cook and share a meal. The food doesn't matter as much as the rituals, customs, precepts, and passions that goes hand-in-hand with eating together. Society developed from this simple ancient act of sharing and reciprocity. It avoided wars because of it and wars we started as a result.

Where we come from, we call it "braai".

Ministry of Braai

Conventional wisdom indicates that it evolved from the word "braden" (Roast in Dutch) into braaivleis (which is Afrikaans for grilled meat) and then into the verb braai which means “to grill”. The word "braai" forms a proud part of South African slang and today it is used by people of all languages.

However, defining the word comes nowhere close to grasping the meaning of the act. The truth is that the act of braai is responsible for more unintended sacrificial destruction of protein than it is for the good practices of proper food preparation. There is a lot more to it.

If one wants to understand the concept of braai you have to get a lot closer and look much, much deeper into the psyche of the culture of its origin,  the Afrikaner. Books have been written, movies have been made and poetry published about the rituals accompanying the braai. For example, some would swear that a braai without fire is not a braai. A braai doesn't have to include meat. Afrikaners can braai anything and people don't need an excuse for a braai to take place. It happens any time of the day and in any weather. Some do it at -28C in Canada and at +51C in the Outback.

There are very specific rules at a braai. For example, you never criticize the person in the act of a braai and never touch his tools. Men tend to keep to themselves and woman do the same until the meal is served. It is an honour to be invited to a braai and it is a disgrace to arrive at a braai without a contribution (never bring chicken!). The following words are forbidden at a braai, "Wanneer gaan ons braai?", which means "When will the grilling of food commence?".

Whichever way you look at a braai, it becomes clear that it is an event that brings people together around the preparation of a meal and the act of sharing food. It is a tradition claimed as part of the identity of Afrikaner. It is their heritage and one of the last bastions of their culture. They will fiercely defend and protect it from outside influence. It is also the first courtesy they will extend to any stranger. "Kom ons braai"loosely translates into "Welcome, pleased to meet you. Let's get to know each other a little better".

Oh, yes! It is also about preparing food. The amount of food at a braai is incredible. It is a testimony to the generosity that comes with a nation that has seen its fair share of trials and setbacks. A hardy group of people that are now spread all over the world armed with this one simple authentic act of cordiality. They are showing the world how to braai.

Pilgrimage to Braai

The Cowboys will be arriving in South Africa at the end of January 2019 to rediscover our braai roots.

As Afrikaner emigrants, we've taken our braai custom all over the world since we left the country almost two decades ago. The movement of braai has evolved back home. We want to rediscover what it is in South Africa and what it means for its local practitioners. We've certainly adapted and incorporated what we've learned along the way in the countries we visited. Low and slow, smoking, grilling, picanha, brisket, barbacoa, shrimp on the barbie, arepa, and rodizio, to name a few.

Braai has and still is playing a role in bringing people together from all corners of South African life and all corners of the world. We want to show the world where it began and we want to show South Africa what we learned in the world.

See you on the road. We are coming to a braai near you!

Hendrik
Braai Cowboy

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May the Wors be With You in the Land of the Long White Cloud, South African Shop, Auckland, NZ

Wors Immigration Proliferation

Warning: "A Boerewors is like no other wors (sausage). Once you've had one, all others fail your expectations." The best Smokie, Bratwurst or Vienna doesn't come close to this South African Boere delicacy.

New Zealanders (Kiwis) are quite liberal and progressive in their outlook. They've generously accommodated immigrants, cultures, dispositions and wors preferences from all walks of life, and corners of the globe.

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They tolerated one group in particular - the South Afrikaners. Despite a fierce and violent (rugby) history between them, this group has been singled out above others to the degree that some may consider it unjustified favouritism. We believe it is for one, and only one reason. It is because of the wors. South Africans came to New Zealand with their Boerewors, and the New Zealand wors palate expanded, never to be the same ever again.

This is where it gets tricky. With its famed history of apartheid and segregation, wors families have taken great care to keep their particular version of wors pure, perfect and dare we say it, segregated. Even today, years after liberation, recipes remain fiercely guarded and kept confidential within families. You have to be part of the inner circle of Afrikanerdom. Even then, you may still end up with inferior wors.

The Boere avoided cultural and culinary contamination to claim wors flavour supremacy. The implication is that while you can get many attempts at the great wors, not all are born equal. Some are, dare we say it, better than others'.

Observations

We have our favourites because we don't have time to make our own (yeah, right). When we are in New Zealand, we get our Boerewors from Oom Kallie at the South African Shop in Howick. Until we find something better, Oom Kallie will be assured of our undivided loyalty and devotion. We forgave him for inbreeding sosatie. As long as he keeps our wors separate and fresh, we will be back for more wors supremacy, every time we are in Auckland New Zealand.

Long may the good wors live in the land of the white (cloud) and may the wors be with you.

Hendrik
Beer Cowboy

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Boerewors!

Springbok

Traveling Cowboys: The Finer Nuances of a Boere Braai with the Two Cowboys in New Zealand

Die Boere Braai

South Africa is a funny place. Literally, if there is any disaster or depression at the Southern point of Africa, then the people of the country find a way to joke about it. One group notably developed comedy as a coping mechanism for their trials and tribulations. They are the Boere. The best place and time for their comedy is when they braai.

Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans noun for "farmer". In the South African contexts, it also denotes the descendants of the then Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th and much of the 19th century. A braai is their outside cooking event that brings people together. If you are a Boer, it is a daily sanctimonious ceremony of wisdom and ritual, closely tied to cultural identity.

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The Boere of South Africa has a thirty-year head start on being marginalized in the country of their birth. The rest of Europe and the Western world is now slowly realizing the likelihood of it becoming their destiny as well. Today, the last part of the Boere nation's identity is under threat as the South African government moved to disown them from the farmland they've developed through generations, and owned and cultivated for centuries. It follows a decades-long systematic breakdown and distortion of their sovereignty, history, culture and unique language.

While this was happening, millions of Boere had no choice but to leave South Africa for safer shores and more secure future. Today, they are scattered throughout the world with Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada the main enclaves where they've settled. Here, they committed to the futures and successes of their new hosts while building a future for their families. Their children are integrating to become Kiwi's, Aussies and Canucks and their language is heard less and less around the dinner table. However, one part of their culture remains. The continuation of the braai!

The Boere continues to braai and is more than willing to impart the ritual and wisdom to anyone keen on joining in. A few pre-requisites apply. Firstly, something needs to be cooked, preferably meat. Steak and chops are preferred. Beef and Lamb is the staple with Pork and Chicken as the vegetables. It can be done on a gas BBQ, however wood and coals are preferred.

Secondly, there need to be lots of beer. The more adventurous lubricate themselves with a drink commonly referred to as "spook & diesel" (Brandy and Coke). For the uninitiated, you will need training wheels before you dance with this devil. One thing is sure, bring your sense of humour. You will need it.

Observations

There are some unwritten and commonly agreed rules when embarking or joining in on a braai with Boere. Our video above shares some of this. For example, whoever has the tongs is in charge of cooking the meat. His reputation is at stake, and he takes the responsibility very seriously. No one else is allowed to touch it. If someone does, they immediately assume all responsibility for the food, which can become overbearing. Everyone else at the braai will instantly become an expert critic observing and commenting on your every move.

Over the next few weeks, we will impart a few more wisdom about the braai culture. We are heading to South Africa after a sixteen-year hiatus to see how it developed and to be schooled in some of the new customs and finer nuances of the braai nation.

Stay tuned for more.

Hendrik van Wyk

Boere Cowboy

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Chops

Crate

On the Road

Carft! Beer 

Hungry Boer

Two Cowboys: Connecting with Our Food at the Olds College National Meat Training Centre in Olds, Alberta

Where's the Beef?

What we eat and drink determines who we are. It is a big part of us and integral to what we do each day. Throughout our evolutionary journey, as it is for every other animal on earth, our food ultimately determined and enabled our species, homo sapiens, to claim its place and standing on this planet.

For humans, our involvement with food goes a little further. It also plays a large part in determining our identity. It defines our relationships with our environment and our fellow man. One can deduce a level of cultural and moral sophistication from civilization's connection with its food. It plays a pivotal role in defining a society.

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For a person, food is nourishment. Without food, famine is inevitable. If we don't eat well, we face disease. For a group, it is also a source of expression that influences and displays cultural convention, ritual, and perception. Families come together for celebration meals, heads of state dine together, and a nation's geopolitical and economic welfare is determined by its food production abilities. Food is security. Competition for resources to produce food is the principal source of revolution and of war. For eons, individual, tribal and national identities have been recognized through uniquely crafted dishes, ingredients, and meal preparations. It is fair to say that as humans, we have a fascinating love affair with what we eat.

Humanity now produces more food than ever before in history. Unfortunately, we are also more disconnected from our food now, than we've ever been.  Food manufacturing and industrialized levels of production have slowly been eroding our link with, understanding, and the role of our food, beyond the simple provisioning of sustenance. As a result, we may also be losing our sense of who we are, and in large part, of our societal identity.

We are also losing our ability to recognize and work with our food.  The art and production of food through baking, butchering, brewing and cheese making are falling by the wayside as our butchers, bakers, and cheesemakers depart, to be replaced by corporations with large processing facilities and factories focussed on a uniform, compliant output contributing to the bottom-line.

Even our chefs are spoiled by these companies, with pre-prepared manufactured products that merely requires heating and plating. The elementary art of cooking is under threat in the average meal preparation facility in North America. Fast Food is not food in the true sense of what it could and ultimately should be.

To illustrate my point further, we should only take a look at the degree of effort we put into making food unrecognizable. Celebrity chefs are beating a path to creating mouses, gels, pearls, pills, and pellets that is entirely void of resembling source ingredients. Meals come ready-made. Molecular Gastronomy, which should have remained a fascinating experiment, now trailblazes a departure from the familiar in favor of concepts such as multi-sensory cooking, modernist cuisine, culinary physics, and experimental cuisine.

The result is that we can now eat a perfectly looking, uniform, sterile, mostly synthetic, manufactured sandwiches containing the resemblance of meat, bread, and condiments, that is morally and culturally acceptable and available to the masses, across the planet. This is now our idea of "food"!

Should we be loving it?

Because food has always been closely linked with who we are, losing its origins and our linkages to what we eat have the inevitable result that we just succumb to also losing our sense of identity.  We mistakenly claim a false pretense of cultural "progress" and moral high ground when misguidedly people succumb to disorders, become vegan, or allow vegetarianism to take hold.

Human evolution did not result in equipping people to only eat plants, and unfortunately, no amount of moral or spiritual convention will change our biology in the short term. Maybe it is time again that our children know that milk comes from cow's teets? Chickens lay eggs. Renin and bacteria make cheese and meat come from dead and butchered animals. Substances like blood make for great sausage!

When we rediscover food, we may find our true primal selves again void of pretense, and stripped from our delusions of civility. When we have the pleasure of eating what we always ate, the way we did, with the people we treasure, we may then also have the joy of re-discovering who we truly are.

That is why we seek out great food, places to find it, and why we celebrate the stories of the people and producers connecting us with ourselves - with our true primal being - homo puretus!

The Last Butcher School

The Olds College Meat Processing Program is one of only two remaining in North America that offers an educational certificate in the whole process stream of meat, from slaughter, processing, preserving to retail. Where big plants once dominated the industry, we are glad to say that the revival of the art is back in Alberta!

Olds College teaches hands-on practical techniques and age-old science of meat processing for the highest premium quality cuts. Successful graduates gain the experience needed to start their own entrepreneurial business ventures or take their skills to Canada’s third largest industry.

Olds College is the National Meat Training Centre for Canada. Three times a year its program takes in a wide range of students from all over North America and as far away as Africa. They teach techniques for professional meat cutting, trimming, boning, breaking, wrapping, sausage-making and curing with professional sanitation and food safety applications, including HACCP. It is Alberta’s training site for humane handling and stunning, and the only program in North America that teaches slaughter skills and techniques such as skinning, eviscerating and carcass preparation.

The College boasts an extensive multi-purpose facility that is fully equipped to teach the value-added skill sets and knowledge for the meat industry. Its services are expanded to cater to large and small industry, from sausage making and dried, cured hams to the installation of an industrial canner. It also boasts a favorite retail counter where students learn applied retail merchandising and customer service skills in explaining the attributes and benefits of various products and cuts.

Observations

We are saddened by the fact that Olds College is one of only two remaining programs of its kind in North America. On the other hand, we are encouraged that it still exists, is more popular than ever, and a mere hour's drive from our home base in the Rocky Mountains. The retail shop is a favorite stop for our monthly meat purchases.

Alberta is famous for the quality of its agricultural produce and its rich heritage in producing quality feed for animal husbandry. We are convinced that Alberta boasts the best tasting beef, pork and, dare we say it, lamb (sorry, New Zealand)!

What we need now, is a supportive regulatory food production climate and consumers that invite our producers back to rearing fantastic animals and our butchers again into our towns. The Old-World fostered an appreciation for its producers, and the food that resulted for our ancestors were just incredible. In the New-World, we have the opportunity not only to re-rediscover this rich food heritage but cherish it more than ever. It is where we come from, what we can do, and who we ultimately are.

We are meat-loving Cowboys.

Hendrik van Wyk

Cowboy

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o-CNN: Getting New Zealand Lamb at One of Auckland's Original Family Owned Butcheries in Swanson, NZ

Family

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There are not many companies around after a hundred years. There are even fewer small businesses that make it to generation three and four.

Destination butchers are struggling, and those surviving are doing so because of their hard-earned reputation.

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We've found one in West Auckland that is our go-to place for the best New Zealand lamb when we are in that part of the world. Part of their story is that nothing much has changed for the last century except that it is passed on from one generation to the next.

Calvert's Butchery has been in the same spot and the same building since 1924 (70 Swanson Rd, Swanson, Auckland 0612). The business is older than the building. Brad Calvert is generation four that took over from his father, John. John himself spent more than fifty years at the company's well-worn butcher's block.

Young Matt knows his way around deboning and butterflying a lamb shoulder. He has done it for the last fifteen years, and he is not a Calvert. He just looks like he is family.

Observations

You are greeted by name when you step in the door. The Calverts remember the names of the Two Cowboys from Canada and is always inquiring about the welfare of Henry (our Camera).

There is surprisingly little on display except for their sharp wit and dry Kiwi humour. You have to ask for what you want. Brad or Matt will cut rump steak, lamb shoulder, pork roast right there for you. It is the way it used to be done, and how they still do it today. You are getting your meat from the best produce New Zealand has on offer. Every carcass is personally selected for their customers. It is not supermarket quality meat. Much, much better.

There is no make-believe in this business. It is as authentic as it comes. If you are out of place, it is probably because it feels like you have stepped into the twilight zone at Calvert's Butchery. You have. Places like these don't exist anymore. Calvert's is in a timeless spot that hasn't changed in a hundred years, while the world around it moved on.

I will bet that they will be there in another one hundred years doing the same thing, in the same way. Why mess with it when it works? If we are around, it will be our preferred stop for our New Zealand lamb fix.

Hendrik van Wyk
Kiwi Cowboy

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Lamb!

Two Cowboys: Adding Some Sophisticated Sauce and Missing Link Seasoning With Bow Valley BBQ in Canmore, Alberta

Boere Braai

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In our unique, little-known and often misunderstood Boere culture we take our meat and meat preparation, very seriously. If you know anything about South Africa's Boere identity and heritage, you will be aware of a right of passage called a "braai". If you don't, let me introduce you to this fantastic way of life.

This is a short promotional clip...

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The word braai (pronounced “bry”, rhyming with the word “cry”; plural "braais") is Afrikaans for “barbeque” or “roast” and is a social custom in South Africa. “The word braaivleis is Afrikaans for “roasted meat.”

Only trusted friends are ever invited to a Boere braai. If you manage to get an invitation, then be aware that you are allowed into the inner sanctum of culinary privilege. A braai is our happy place. With a beer in hand, an open fire, good company, and something slowly roasting away we savour life. This is living.

When you ever make it to a braai with the Two Cowboys or any other South African Boer, then there is some important advice you should heed. Whatever you do, never ever criticise the way the meat is cooked. There is no bigger insult to a Boer than interfering with this sacred rite. Ever! Here's another piece of valuable advice. Never recommend sauce for the meat. It shows you are self-destructive or even suicidal. There is a good chance you won't live to tell about it.

It is highly irregular and unlikely to find any store bought sauce worthy of a Two Cowboys Boere braai. However, without admitting it too publicly, I think we've found one that we may tolerate. Jamie Ayles from Bow Valley BBQ told us more about it.

In 2013, Jamie and Bow Valley BBQ was accepted into the Self Employment government program for new entrepreneurs through Community Futures Centre West. In utilising the network and resources made available through the program, Jamie and Marie, his partner received a Growing Forward Government Grant to scale up and develop five products.

They then moved their production from a modest commercial kitchen setting in Olds and began producing 400 kg formulations at the Alberta Food Processing and Development Centre in Leduc, AB.  Bow Valley BBQ is now providing federally inspected HACCP certified products for both retail and food service.

Currently, Bow Valley BBQ Inc. products can be found in over 20 Restaurants and Retailers throughout Alberta and B.C. with more to come. They have since grown their monthly production demands to 2,400kg batches and a storage facility in Canmore is housing their inventories from where they ship it nationwide.

Observations

Most commercially manufactured barbeque sauces are molasses laden, fake smoke-induced, MSG-enhanced bottled concoctions. It is what you put on meat if you don't know what you are doing or when you have the in-laws over for dinner. If you do put it on your meat, you end up with a sugary, charcoal resembled, burned bitterness that serves no purpose other than make you look mean and stupid.

With the Boq Valley BBQ Blueberry Merlot Steak Sauce, we've found something much different. It enhanced our work. We used it as a basting sauce, and it made the meat flavour better, instead of destroying or masking it. We used it in combination with the Missing Link Spice Blend on sirloin, pork ribs, prime rib, and so far just could not fault it. It left us enough room for our own flavour additions.

We keep a high standard when we braai. There are reputations to protect. Jamie and his creations are helping us take it to the next level. We are glad we gave it a try. It is now a regular condiment in our arsenal of gourmet braai secrets.

P.S. Jamie is in the process of launching the Canmore Co-Packing Collective. He promised to work with the Two Cowboys to help package and bottle our own famous Monkey Gland Sauce. More about that later...

Hendrik van Wyk

Boere Cowboy

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o-CNN: Big Sky BBQ Smoked Meat and Beer With Friends in Okotoks, Alberta

BBQ With Friends

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Rob Bolton has a lot of friends. Believe me. A lot of them!

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It is not just because he does amazing BBQ and serve cold beer. It is because he is a community guy, an entrepreneur at heart and he knows what his customers want. We are a fan of whatever Rob is cooking up next. That is why we cannot wait to get the word out about his latest adventure.

We checked in with Rob on the opening weekend of his new venture: Big Sky BBQ.

It is a BBQ Pit, Barn, Drive-Through, Drive-By, Patio, Drive-in, Biker Yard, Lawn, Bar, Hangout. Call it whatever you will. One thing is for sure. It is going to be the meeting place on the 22A into Okotoks, Alberta. The place where women will come looking for their husbands.

What we didn't expect is Rob's plan to make it an Okotokian Breakfast stop on your way to work in Calgary. He assured us that the app is in development. We checked with the developer in new Zealand. It is on schedule. The plan is for all breakfast to be eatable one-handed and that you will have it within 30 seconds from pulling up to the window. How you clean your hands in the car is your problem.

I guess a sticky steering wheel will just serve as the ideal reminder to pick something up for dinner on your way home.

Rob, you have a winner. You had us at BBQ and Beer. We are glad to be friends. Now we have one more excuse to make the trip to Okotoks.

Guess where it will be?

Hendrik van Wyk
BBQ Cowboy

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o-CNN: Authentic Rodizio and Caipirinha at Gaucho Brazilian Restaurant in Canmore and Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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This is not the "Mexican all inclusive" beach variety. It is the real Caipirinha that requires a designated driver. Marry it with Alberta's finest beef and great Brazilian friends, and you've found a new home away from home. It is an amazing dining experience, guaranteed. I didn't know how much I love Brazil until I met Ede and his team.

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If you would ask my boys where they want to go for a family celebration, there is only one place they come back to time and again: Ede and Rosina's Gaucho Brazilian Barbecue in Canmore (with a location in Calgary as well). Henry and Jan invents occasions that take us to Gaucho! This is where Ede introduced us to the "Rodízio" and my other lovely girlfriend Caipirinha (please don't tell Margarita).

Rodízio

Rodízio is an all-you-can-eat style of restaurant service in Brazilian restaurants. In most areas of the world outside of Brazil, a rodízio restaurant refers to a Brazilian style steakhouse restaurant. Customers pay a fixed price (preço fixo) and the waiters bring samples of food to each customer at several times throughout the meal, until the customers signal that they have had enough. Pace yourself. Come early. It is a huge meal. 

In churrascarias or the traditional Brazilian-style steakhouse restaurants, servers come to the table with knives and a skewer, on which are speared various kinds of quality cuts of meat, most commonly local cuts of beef, pork, chicken and sometimes exotic meats. At Gaucho, rodízio courses are served right off the cooking spit, and are sliced or plated right at the table. Sometimes they are accompanied with fried potatoes, fried bananas, collard greens, black beans, and rice (served buffet style). Salad is not what you come for at Gaucho, but my wife assures me they are awesome companions to the other vegetables that are also served, like the chicken. 

At Gaucho, as is traditional in many restaurants, the diner is provided with a coloured card, red on one side and green on the other. The servers will only bring more meat if the card is flipped to the green side. Our card usually gets lost somewhere during the meal courtesy of my eldest. He is a big fan.

Caipirinha

Caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail, made with cachaça, sugar and lime. Cachaça, also known as Pinga or Caninha, is Brazil's most common distilled alcoholic beverage. Although both rum and cachaça are made from sugarcane-derived products, in cachaça the alcohol results from the fermentation of fresh sugarcane juice (that wasn't burned, and in most cases is hand cut) that is then distilled, while rum is usually made from refinery by-products such as molasses. The drink is prepared by muddling the fruit and the sugar together, and adding the liquor. 

Although the real origins of caipirinha, as it is known today, are unknown, according to one account it began around 1918 in the state of São Paulo with a popular recipe made with lime, garlic and honey, indicated for patients with the Spanish flu. Today it is still being used as a remedy for the common cold. As it was quite common to add some distilled spirits to home remedies, in order to expedite the therapeutic effect, rum was commonly used. "Until one day someone decided to remove the garlic and honey (good decision, maybe?). Then added a few tablespoons sugar to reduce the acidity of lime. The ice came next, to ward off the heat," explains Carlos Lima, executive director of IBRAC (Brazilian Institute of Cachaça).

If you are keen on an authentic Caipirinha experience, you don't have many choices in Alberta. Cachaça is nearly impossible to get here, which is hard to believe considering it is the second most consumed spirit in the world next to Bourbon (...according to experts). Ede's restaurants is where you can get your fix, else you have to get a smuggler from Brazil to bring it in for you. There is also one Liqueur store in Calgary that stocks it. It has a Brazilian owner, and that is as much as I am going to say, because it is nearly almost sold out when I get there.

Enjoy our video about Ede and Rosina's Gaucho Brazilian Barbeque. It is a favourite place for us, and we hope it will become yours too.

Hendrik van Wyk

... and the lovely Caipirinha.

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o-CNN: Gourmet at the Market - Valbella Gourmet Foods, Alberta

Yes Chef!

Farmers' and Outdoor Markets play a significant role in bringing communities together. Its role is even more prevalent when large Producers lend their support to a local market to interact with customers. It brings people together. 

Valbella’s commitment to excellence paired with its European tradition, and simple love for fine food has done it again. They've snagged one of the Bow Valley's finest Swiss chefs to deliver gourmet creations with a farmers' market twist. Valbella stands out as one of Western Canada’s most recognized meat processors. 

The founder, Walter’s constant product innovation and keen market sense keeps customers and top chefs awaiting new and tantalizing products, whether they be for a gourmet menu, or simply for a backyard BBQ party. Where else can you zip in for a Beef Wellington, Turducken or double smoked bacon? Soon these will be available at the market too.

We caught up with the next generation, Chantal his daughter, at their new Canmore Mountain Market Food Trailer. How does Pork-belly Kimchi, or Bison Rhubarb Burger sound for your Thursday lunch hour. Come and get these and similar creation at your simple market in downtown Canmore over your Thursday lunch hour. Everyone else is there anyway...

Don't forget to join our mailing list for special offers and experiences from our Producers. You can join here for special offers from Valbella.

Hendrik van Wyk

Building a Valbelly

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We are a content company. We earn our livelihood from producing great content about inspiring people and their stories. We use Patreon to help us earn from our work. It allows us to have a closer relationship with our collaborators and grow our audience. If you Sponsor us on Patreon: http://www.travelingcowboys.com or Donate to our cause on GoFundMe: http://www.forwardthefavour.com we can do a lot more for you, your business, event or community.

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