Hot Chefs, Cool Beats, and a Good Cause with Alberta Pork in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Ode to The Chef

"My happiest place is when I am "in-the-moment". The world can go by when I am in the kitchen. Cooking makes me whole. It is my passion and purpose. It is what I am and what I do.

I am amazed by the chemistry and the intricate processes that take place when food ingredients are combined with energy. My knowledge and skill transform it into culinary perfection. I have no care in the world other than to watch steak grilling, sauce thickening, cake rising, and pork crackling transform into golden crispy bits of sunshine. 

My moments are complete when I witness precise olfactory, taste and visual symphonies of well-plated food. It becomes a magnum opus of culinary glee to see it, an experience that is only topped by the primal moans of pleasure coming from a loyal patron as they bite into a course I carefully prepared. 

This is what I am dedicating my life to. It is my vocation."

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

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Hot Chefs Cool bEats

We recently attended the "Hot Chefs Cool bEats" event in Edmonton, courtesy of our partner Alberta Pork. It featured interactive food stations from Edmonton's top culinary talent. Attendees could also sample wine, beer, & spirits from Canadian wineries, local craft breweries and distilleries. If that wasn't enough, it included performances from DJs, dancers, street performers, and live musicians.

The initiative began in 2011 as a fundraiser for The High School Culinary Challenge's Canadian Culinary Fund, and after a short break, it was back with a new home at Edmonton's Mosaic Centre and a restricted guest list of 200 privileged patrons. It meant that not only was the food top-class, there was also enough so that you didn't go home hungry or thirsty. Most importantly, it introduced you to some of Edmonton's more innovative chefs and their talents. You could sample a variety of the best creations like litchi moose, mini ice cream cone tacos, pork on a bun, and more.

Some of the highlights for the Cowboys were the Pork Coppa and Prosciutto made by the young chefs Peter Keith (himself an alumni beneficiary of the scholarship) and Will Kotowicz of Meuwly's Charcuterie, Sausage and Preserves. They promised us it was only BertaPork! Then there was Scott Downey from the ButternutTree's deep-fried Canadian moss. If we knew that these vegetables were so delectable, we would forage our forests until they are empty! Apparently, the moss was from Back East.

However, the start performance of the evening was Paul Shufelt's (The Workshop Eatery, Edmonton) collaboration on a Wagyu Holstein Beefetta. It wasn't pork. However, it was BertaBeef, and so they were forgiven for rekindling our love for meat on a stick. You just needed a large stick for this one and a massive appetite! They did promise us a suckling pig for next year, to honour their loyal sponsor, Alberta Pork.

All proceeds from ticket sales and silent/live auctions benefitted the Canadian Culinary Fund and its main program, The High School Culinary Challenge, so it was all for a good cause.

Observations

Being a chef is not an easy job, and to venture into the culinary industry requires guts and you to be a little bit crazy. It is a lifestyle and a vocation that continues to draw attention for its opportunity, but also for the harshness, low wages, and extreme physical and mental demands on the individual.

Contrary to the glitz and glee of television programs like MasterChef, it is far from glamorous. Most of what chefs do is monotonously droned behind the scenes, in hot holes, spending long hours with equally weird and crazy people feeding the masses with basic fair. Only a few become "rock star chefs". Even less survive as small businesses and entrepreneurs.

However, the culinary industry provides endless opportunity for creativity, learning and mastery. These are the opportunities that the Canadian Culinary Fund attempts to unlock for young people when they introduce and lure them into the possibilities in preparing food.

We salute them for it and congratulate them on a Hot Chefs Cool bEats event that set the bar high. We look forward to the next one. We travel the world for food, and we are entitled to our opinions. Edmonton's chefs should get more attention. They surprised us. It will get more from the Two Cowboys for sure if this is the standard we can expect.

Now, if only there were more pork...

Hendrik

Alberta Pork's Cowboy

P.S. We thank our partner Alberta Pork for making this work possible. Now, go eat more pork!

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On a Plate

Moss Discovered

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Double Trouble

Epic!

Two Cowboys: Every Cow and Bull Mount Comes With a Story at Longhorns and Leather in Coronation, Alberta

Making Lemonade

If you do something for the love of money, become a banker. For a life with meaning, preferably make something.

Enjoy what you do and get better at it, so that it adds value to your and other people's lives. When the world gives you lemons, make lemonade. Love lemons so much that you are vested in making the world's best lemonade. Then, make sure thirsty people everywhere can get it on hot summer days.

The golden rule that budding entrepreneurs often miss is that you have to absolutely love and value what you do. When you are successful, you are going to do a lot of it. The second valuable lesson is to seek out people that value and benefit from what you do. Because these are the people vested in your success. Work hard. Become the best so that more people can have what you create.

It all starts with a love and passion for making something. For Dexter Dedora, in Coronation Alberta, it began with his passion for farming and the few remaining Longhorn cattle of Alberta. He mounts horns.

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In the early part of the 20th century, Longhorns neared extinction. However, the breed was kept alive because a few Texas ranchers and some in Southern Saskatchewan and Eastern Alberta, Canada, held onto small herds for mostly sentimental reasons.

Now, Longhorns are making a fantastic comeback as a breed. They are not just surviving symbols of the Old West but are cattle that are more and more in demand. They are attractive to breeders today for the same reasons they were successful a century ago. Their resistance to disease, ease of calving, longevity, and ability to thrive on poor pasture makes them unique. They also provide health-conscious Americans of the 21st century with lean and great-tasting beef.

Most of all, they are beautiful animals. The fashionable colours of their hides and those recognizable long horns make it a particular breed that serves as a talisman for what the Old-West was and still is all about. These are the symbols of a hardy folk - the people that succeeded with tenacity and perseverance and above all a love for their animals that made a particular type of life possible in a harsh and unforgiving land. The Longhorn had a significant part in it all. It is no wonder that there is an incentive to try and preserve some of the memory of a particular bull or cow that played a role in the survival and success of a family or a ranch.

If not the memory of a particular animal, then the reminder of more straightforward, harder, and somehow a more rewarding time in the West when hard work was rewarded, honesty and integrity valued, and where people still took care of each other.

Observations

Dexter's Longhorn mounts are not trophies. They are stories that he cajoles from, and share with every one of the masterpieces he lovingly creates in his shed. In some cases, the stories date back decades as he performs his lazarushian magic to bring the horns of an old bull or cow back from the brink of oblivion.

His polished masterpieces have travelled as far as Europe. All across Canada, they are treasured as reminders of a grandfather, a ranch, home or a specific animal. Above all, they are reminders of a lifestyle, culture and outlook of a pioneering people. People that know that there is fulfilment in making something of value, and in sharing it with people that you love and that are vested in your success.

That is why we will proudly display a Longhorn mount from Dexter's Longhorns and Leather. It reminds us every day to invest our time and energy in the people that care about us and value what we do in the same way as the Longhorn from which it came was once vested in the survival and success of its owner.

We are telling the stories of our makers to the world because celebrating these people is desperately needed. The time is coming when we will need them more than ever before.

Hendrik van Wyk

Longhorn Cowboy

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Gold

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Two Cowboys & Ranch

Eastern Alberta - 2018

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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Two Cowboys: In-depth Investigation Into Custom BBQ Use at the Annual BBQ on the Bow Competition in Calgary, AB

Custom Big

We are told that people can't find the tools they need to become prize-winning BBQ pitmasters.

That is why we did an in-depth investigation into the phenomenon of custom BBQ design and constructions at this year's 25th annual KCBS BBQ competition, hosted by Alberta's (possibly, even Canada's) oldest BBQ Society.

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BBQ on the Bow is an annually occurring Kansas City BBQ Society (KCBS) sanctioned BBQ Competition and outdoor festival.

It takes place at the Montgomery Community Association (Shouldice Park) during Labour Day long weekend. Their mission is to spread the love, passion, and joy for “southern style” BBQ while simultaneously celebrating and promoting local products, businesses, and musicians. Now you know why the Two Cowboys took an interest. They had us already at BBQ. We also share a similar passion for products, the people that make them and the people that sing about them.

The association was founded in 1993 which, according to Bernie Kenney (VP of the Association) makes it one of the first of its kind in Canada. The BBQ on the Bow was created to jointly promote “Southern BBQ” and Alberta agricultural products of pork, beef, and chicken.

This year it celebrated its 25th year. The event has endured everything mother nature threw at it over the years, be it floods, snow, winds and other storms. It has evolved from a small competition with a  handful of teams to one of Canada’s premier competitions with over 35 teams competing annually.

Forty-five teams competed this year, in spite of a Province wide fire ban, which makes it an event for the record books. It may also be because of the fire ban that so many teams grabbed the opportunity to do some BBQing in a controlled and permissible environment before BBQ withdrawal sets in.

Observations

We are amazed at every competition to see the number of home-grown, self-built BBQ's that make it to competition. The people that take the plunge into constructing a custom smoker machine are seasoned pitmasters or very adventurous engineers.

Big brand name smokers, which are usually in ample supply in such a competition, are often associated with newbies or with teams that managed to get that all elusive sponsorship from a well-known brand or manufacturer. We've heard that some teams are even bribed into merely displaying a big brand name smoker (not necessarily cooking with it) for a small fee. You know who they are because the smokers are all clean, shimmering in the sun and brand new.

The more salted pitmasters have their go-to smokers customized and seasoned over time to meet their particular need or style of cooking. We are told that these smokers have personality. "She's like a woman. If you treat her well, with respect, she will make a BBQ champion of you", a pitmaster proclaimed, which will remain nameless.

One way you know that custom machines are worth their weight in smoke and iron is that they are the tools that show years of wear and tear. These smokers worked and will continue to do so. The meat-fat, grease, and caked on carbon from weeks, months and years of use serve as one-of-kind seasoning that provides a unique and unduplicatable taste to the fare. That is why these smokers end up with names and their teams with the medals.

What makes a BBQ Smoker, good?

If you listen to the champions, some like even heat in the cooker. Others want different temperature profiles on the same machine so that the machine becomes multi-purpose. Some smokers are suited to the purists that cook and smoke with wood. Others are "cheaters" with computer controlled pellet feeders and convection fans.

One fact above all distinguishes a champion pitmaster and his team. It doesn't matter what tools they use. The machine helps, but it is their experience and finely tuned palate that separates them from the rest. They are also the ones busy cooking while the rest are looking.

Hendrik van Wyk

Smoker Cowboy

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o-CNN: Big Sky BBQ Beef Brisket 101 - Starting it Right by Trimming and Injecting in Okotoks, Alberta

Step 1: Trim Your Brisket

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Most things in life work better when you start it right.

It is not to say it won't work in the end. It is just an easier way to learn from others, instead of paying your school fees. Take time to prepare. Learn by observing and listening to the experts. It will shorten the learning time and cost you less. Once you have the basic covered, then the real adventure starts. Then you have a license to break the rules.

Come with us as we learn how to do amazing Brisket in a smoker with Rob at Big Sky BBQ.

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We wanted to know what the secret is to Big Sky BBQ's succulent Brisket. They do an amazingly good, soft, flavourful smoked Brisket. Rob Bolton, the owner and chief BBQ Pitmaster gave us some guidance on how to start a Brisket smoking endeavour the right way. It will be the first in a series of suggestion on how you can improve the way you treat your meat.

Big Sky BBQ is an authentic Texas-style BBQ pit (barn) just outside Okotoks, Alberta. Alberta is beef country. If you want to play with the "big-dog-bbq-boys" in this part of the world, you better know your Brisket from your Ribeye. All the Big Sky dishes are from locally sourced ingredients and done in a Backwoods Smoker on-premise with real wood. They cook it fresh every day. Believe me when I say that they run out. It is that good.

You cannot get more authentic unless you park your Harley on the lawn outside (which you can do once the snow clears this Spring). If you are grounded by your domestic government and have to stay home to watch the kids, you can order your Brisket online from Big Sky BBQ's Online and Mobile Menu and pick it up on your way home, or get it delivered.

The only problem is that will have to be around the South Calgary - Okotoks area to get a taste of this Brisket. It is a huge problem that we are working on with Rob. Maybe you will be able to get it in the Bow Valley as well. Later...

Observations

The way to start any good Brisket is to ensure you get the best Brisket you can buy. You can tenderise the saddle of a horse, but it is not going to taste as nice. Best is to get your meat from your local butcher. His business is to get you come back for more. He's a professional. Let him sell you a nice dry-aged cut that will cook with a lot of flavours. Trust your local butcher.

Some people smoke or cook the two muscles of a beef Brisket separately. They take great care to painstakingly separate the two parts without messing it up (Yes, I know there are more parts to a Brisket, but for purposes here we will keep it simple). You have the flap which tends to be dryer with less fat and the point muscle with a beautiful layer of fat underneath and some marbling.

We recommend you keep them together they way they were intended to be. By not separating it, you save yourself a lot of time, and you are doing a good thing by protecting the fat under the point. Let the fat slowly melt into the flap. It will tenderise the dryer part of the cut and give you a beautiful, flavorful and succulent outcome.

You have to trim your Brisket. This is when you cut off the silver tendons and unwanted fat on top of the cut that won't render and won't melt away during the cooking process. It will also keep your rub from penetrating the meat. Rob calls it your "grandma's underwear" (No offence intended. It is just a descriptive figure of speech). Get rid of it. It should not be on your Brisket.

You can use the parts you cut off to make a reduction of beef broth with red wine and other good stuff. You will use it to inject more flavour into the meat and braise it further before the finishing stage. Inject the beef reduction into the Brisket with the grain. It will ensure it stays inside and delivers maximum flavour. Apply your Brisket rub and let it cure overnight in the fridge before smoking or cooking it the following day. The flavouring needs time to do their job.

Rob was very secretive about his beef reduction and his brisket rub. Apparently, he is working on a plan to market these later as condiments you can buy directly from Big Sky BBQ's online store. Most BBQ professionals guard these recipes with their lives. It is the single biggest flavour differentiator between Brisket smoking experts that are championship winners and those that are "just having a go".

Stay tuned for more tips and tricks on how to treat your meat.

Hendrik van Wyk
Brisket Cowboy

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o-CNN: Cowboy News Network - Serious BBQ Lynwood Ranch, AB

Real Southern Barbeque in Southern Alberta. 

Lynwood Ranch, just South of Calgary hosted the first of three events for the Kansas City Barbeque Society's (KCBS) Alberta Cup Competition, 2016.

It was one of three sanctioned events in Alberta that agreed to offer BBQ teams an extra chance at winning some special prizes with their smoked brisket, pork ribs, pulled pork and chicken. It all happened at Lynwood ranch on 14 and 15 May, 2016, and we were there.

This was Lynnwood Ranch’s second annual KCBS sanctioned BBQ competition and BBQ Feast. The KCBS BBQ Competition “Smokin Q” was started in 2015 after a friend, Bernie Kenny of BBQ on the Bow paid a visit to Gus & Wendy LeDuc at Lynwood Ranch. Bernie spoke of the need for more BBQ competitions in Alberta, and naturally this well known ranch came up as the perfect location to kick off the tour. (Bernie is on the lookout for more venues to have more competitions for his 150 qualified BBQ judges. It is a great idea to get the community involved, do some fundraising, and have a major tourism event with awesome food. Get in touch with him here.)

We, the Two Cowboys were ready to get on a plane to New Zealand for some prior commitments. But, we just couldn't pass on Gus' invitation to attend the event before the big day. There is no way we can leave without getting a taste of Alberta's legendary Barley fed pork at the BBQ Bash “Feast & Frolic”. This event preceded the competition the next day. With the help of the BBQ teams that were competing, Lynwood Ranch put on an amazing feast for almost 300 people attending.

Impressions

I've learned one important thing from attending this amazing event: "This is serious business!" 

As born and raised South Africans we can probably write the book on barbecue. We "braai" at least three times a week since birth. However, nothing could prepare us for what we were to experience. 

The food flavours, sophistication and complexity we tasted could rival items from any menu in a five star restaurant establishment, anywhere in the world. Some of the meat smoking technology were space-age computer contraptions with minute tolerances and titanium precision. It was amazing to see the care and commitment that went into the most exquisite byte of flesh, jalapeño or burned-end. In contrast, the purists relied on perfect ingredients, traditional flavours, simple smokers and a lot of love and care for their art.

The biggest impression on us was seeing how much fun people were having. It was a weekend family affair for the teams, and also for the spectators. Folks travelled together, ate together and drank together. Everyone was made to feel welcome.

Hopefully, this is the first of many instalments we get to bring you of Alberta's barbecue underworld. It is definitely something people should know more about. 

Lynwood Ranch is the place where you can lose your barbecue virginity. Gus and his team has a first class venue. He himself knows a thing or two about southern style barbecue. He is famous for his prime rib roast. Don't pass on an opportunity to taste one of the best. Gus, thank you for giving people a chance to cook great food.

The Two Cowboys bring you Canada's Cowboy News Network (o-CNN). We support communities by covering real people, real events at real locations. You should see them!!

Hendrik van Wyk
The Prime Rib

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Two Cowboys on a Journey: Swiss Family Making Prosciutto in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta at Valbella Gourmet Foods in Canmore

Valbella Gourmet Foods 

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The business was established in 1978 by Walter and Leonie von Rotz in beautiful downtown Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

What began as a small 1,000 square foot plant has progressed over the last 30 years into a 25,000 square feet production plant overlooking Canmore’s Three Sister Mountains. The European style sausages, hams and air dried meats quickly found their way into Banff’s famous Hotels and Restaurants, and can now be found at gourmet dining establishments, fine hotels and first rate food markets throughout Alberta.

My experience with Valbella started in 2008 when I arrived in Canmore as a new immigrant in Canada. It is my favourite place to get an outstanding pork belly for a special barbecue. Valbella's beef jerky is an all time favourite with my sons. The bacon... well you have to come and taste it to know what I am talking about.

What I didn't know, was just how good their grilled cheese sandwiches are. You will see it in the video below. We are closing with the scene where I am enjoying it with a bowl of tomato cream soup. It is simply outstanding!  It is a sought after hearty lunchtime meal for locals in the industrial area of Canmore.  (A little secret not shared with many tourists.)

Impressions

The von Rotz family family story in Canmore is a typical, and not so typical story of new immigrants landing in a country, seeing an opportunity, and setting out to build a future for themselves and their children. Inevitably over 30 years, they've also materially contributed to the community and character of the town of Canmore. It is a successful business that stands out.

Valbella's next generation is starting to take over. Daughter, Chantal (featured in the video) and Son, Jeff (still to come in our training videos) both pursued other interests at first, only to return to the familiar tables and counters of the family's business a short while ago. They've grown up up working side by side with their parents, and today is preparing to continue the legacy with similar values and commitment to make outstanding products. The business is clearly a family affair. Not just blood family, but people that's been part of the business for decades. This includes people in the community, and those that followed from their home country of Switzerland.

Young people have the opportunity to learn the old ways and traditions of butchery, cured meats and timeless delicacies. Valbella's doors are open to show you what they do, and the invitation is there to also learn from them, how it used to be, and still is done.

It is fitting that we made this video as Walter is stepping back from day-to-day involvement in the business, and slowly letting the new blood run with it. The video is a short look back at what was achieved by a family as landed immigrants, makers, entrepreneurs, parents, mentors, and masters of their trade. It is also a look forward as Chantal and Jeff recruit new "family" into the business and grow it with new ideas such as their food truck at the Canmore Mountain Market.

Several elements stood out for me during the visit with Valbella. Walter's passion for the trade, the products and the people. The young butcher from Quebec that is using his skills to travel from country to country. The role family plays in continuing a tradition and building a legacy. The authentic and outstanding products that are amazing. Who would have known that Valbella is the only large scale prosciutto maker in Western Canada?

The thing that stood out most: Every person we've met was making something. They were working hard and long hours, but they were all proud of their achievements and eager to share their passion. The values of producer clearly drives the business.

It was therefore no surprise to see the phenomenal staff lunch everyone enjoyed. What else can you expect from Felix the resident red seal chef!! More about this later...

We will be back. There is a lot more to tell about Valbella and its people.

Facebook Page for Valbella.

Hendrik van Wyk

Producer. 

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Photos

Valbella is the first of a new beginning for us Cowboys. This picture says it all. 

Hanging on... 

Six Millimetres of pork fat heaven.

I'm a bad-cher!

My place...