While on your burger journey, visit Jamaica, where you’ll find the spicy jerk flavours native to this beautiful island. Maple syrup adds a unique, sticky sweetness, while fresh lime juice highlights the fresh, tangy flavours of the Caribbean. Try making your own jerk seasoning or purchase store-bought for an easy shortcut.
For tangy slaw, into medium-sized mixing bowl, add finely shredded cabbage and set aside.
In smaller bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, yogurt, vinegar, lime juice, celery seeds, and maple syrup. Add to shredded cabbage and mix together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in fridge to marinate while burger is cooking.
For sliders, combine ground pork, egg, and jerk seasoning and mix together. Form 8 patties approximately 1/2 in (1.25 cm) thick. Place in fridge or freezer for 15 to 30 minutes (optional).
Over medium-high heat on barbecue grill, place pork patties and pineapple rings. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until internal temperature of pork is 160 F (71 C).
Cut pineapple rings to a size that fits sliders. (Don’t forget to cut out the fibrous middle core.)
To build sliders, start with your choice of mini bun. Add a pork patty and sliced grilled pineapple, and top with marinated slaw. Feel free to add sauces or condiments such as honey mustard for additional flavour.
Tourtière is, for me, the dish that best represents Québec. It can be traced back to the 1600s, and there’s no master recipe; every family has their own twist. Originally, it was made with game birds or game meat, like rabbit, pheasant, or moose; that’s one of the reasons why I prefer it with venison instead of beef or pork. Variation: If you prefer to make single servings, follow our lead at the restaurant, where we make individual tourtières in the form of a dome (pithivier) and fill them with 5 ounces (160 g) of the ground venison mixture. Variation: You can also use a food processor to make the dough. Place the flour, salt, and butter in the food processor and pulse about ten times, until the butter is incorporated—don’t overmix. It should look like wet sand, and a few little pieces of butter here and there is okay. With the motor running, through the feed tube, slowly add ice water until the dough forms a ball—again don’t overmix. Wrap, chill, and roll out as directed above.
My love of artichokes continues with this classic recipe, one of the best ways to eat this interesting, underrated, and strange vegetable. Frozen artichoke hearts are a time-saving substitute, though the flavour and texture of fresh artichokes are, by far, much superior and definitely preferred.
Cervelle de canut is basically the Boursin of France, an herbed fresh farmer’s cheese spread that’s a speciality of Lyon. The name is kind of weird, as it literally means “silk worker’s brain,” named after nineteenth-century Lyonnaise silk workers, who were called canuts. Sadly, the name reflects the low opinion of the people towards these workers. Happily for us, though, it’s delicious—creamy, fragrant, and fresh at the same time. Cervelle de canut is one of my family’s favourite dishes. It’s a great make-ahead appetizer that you can pop out of the fridge once your guests arrive. Use a full-fat cream cheese for the dish, or it will be too runny and less delicious.