A charcuterie board made by Neil Malik, head production chef for the Concord Group in Calgary.TODD KOROL/The Globe and Mail
As much as plant-based creations command the limelight, the world of charcuterie is alive and well (and thriving) in the Prairies. Of course, there are plenty of decades-old butcher shops making their own fresh- and cured-meat products in-house, and more recent local favourites such as Calgary’s Empire Provisions and Edmonton’s Meuwly’s, but there is always room for more creative individuals in this corner of the food service industry.
Take Neil Malik for example. The industry veteran has worn a variety of hats in his hospitality career over the past 20-odd years. From owning his own bar in Saskatoon in the mid-2000s to working at a mix of popular restaurants after relocating to Calgary in 2013, he has now found his perfect match: making charcuterie.
After completing Southern Alberta Institute of Technology’s butchery and charcuterie management program in 2018, Mr. Malik became the head production chef for one of Alberta’s largest hospitality companies. At Concorde Group his skills are being utilized for a wide range of creations that find their way onto various restaurant and bar menus across the city. He and his team make fresh sausages used in signature dishes such as Lulu Bar’s char siu hot dogs to cured-meat pepperoni that grace the tops of pizzas at the National Beer Hall and also in Major Tom’s popular pepperoni jam.
This kind of in-house job is uncommon, although essential for a hospitality group that operates some of the city’s top restaurants, to maintain the chef-driven edge most are known for.
“My team and I are the producers of most sausages and cured meats that you’ll find on Concorde menus, so we are constantly making consistent-quality items at a very high volume,” Mr. Malik says. “Since things like salami need to ferment and dry for certain amounts of time, I always need to be thinking one month out.”
Mr. Malik’s day-to-day operations take place in the former Mill Street Brewery space at the tail-end of 17th Avenue SW. Here, he works on the meaty items that are essential for current menus while experimenting with concepts brought to him by a variety of chefs, including the group’s VP of culinary, JP Pedhirney.
“The chef had an idea to try out a 100-day-aged bacon that I cured in a mix of tamari and mirin. It turned out really well,” Mr. Malik says. “Since fermentation is a huge part of the charcuterie-making process, and past lockdowns allowed me plenty of time to test things out, I have also had success with making things like yellow pea miso, which is now a component of a dish at Bridgette Bar.”
He goes says he is lucky to have such a unique role in the restaurant industry and notes that a great quality life has resulted from his cured-meat-forward position, working daytime hours from Monday to Friday.
Winnipeg’s Tyrone Welchinski is another hospitality vet who has changed the course of his career in the past two years. After being a mainstay in Winnipeg’s restaurant scene for many years as a chef at popular spots such as King & Bannatyne and Nonsuch Brewing Co., Mr. Welchinski left the cooking sector of the industry to focus on the art of cured meats.
Before he bid adieu to being on the cooking line, he was also well-known for his ability to create dynamic cured meats. Today, he operates a namesake meat business, Welchinski’s, which produces anything from free-range bison pepperoni to mushroom salami (made with locally foraged fungi).
Neil Malik works on a charcuterie board.TODD KOROL/The Globe and Mail
The chef’s venture debuted in 2021 and has seen fast popularity. You can find his products in many shops around town such as Mottola Grocery at the Hargrave St. Market, among others.
“It’s a privilege to have access to [locally raised or grown ingredients] in Manitoba. … Among these producers are a handful of farmers raising free-range heritage-breed animals, growing their own organic feed and restoring nutrients to the earth through regenerative farming practices. These are the animals that we like to source,” Mr. Welchinski says.
While a butcher shop isn’t in his immediate future, the chef is happy to be contributing to Winnipeg’s electric and ever-growing food scene in his own noteworthy way.
Headed west, Jordan Lohneis is highly regarded as one of the best charcuterie makers in Saskatchewan. Originally launched in 2015, The Pig and Pantry in Saskatoon had slow and steady growth until transforming into a full-service butcher shop and deli in the fall of 2019. He had just enough time to get his bearings with the bricks and mortar before the pandemic started presenting hurdles in 2020.
He largely attributes the quality of his products, which include items such as jowl bacon and roast garlic salami, to the impassioned farmers that he acquires his animals from. The phrase “know where you food comes from” is buzzworthy, but for Mr. Lohneis, it’s a state of mind.
“Many Saskatchewan farmers do a great job, you just have to find them, make friends with them, and pay them fairly,” Mr. Lohneis says. “Pastured animals are not only an environmentally sustainable [meat option], when raised well, they also taste better.”
Though his offerings have become much more expansive since his humble launch nearly seven years ago, Mr. Lohneis’s mantra of working with whole animals and creating everything from scratch has never wavered. While cured meats are just one component of his shop’s business these days, he says the “start-to-finish” process he and his team takes at Pig and Pantry resonates with Saskatoonians.
“There is a lot of work, and literally heavy lifting, that goes on behind the scenes to make sure your food gets to your plate. Many hard-working people, like delivery drivers, abattoir staff, farmers and our great staff,” Mr. Lohneis says. “Maybe we have the human touch? Some things just can’t quite be replicated by machines. … Not yet anyway.”
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