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This past Saturday, we took a trip out to Elk Island National Park (about 45km East of Edmonton for those of you unfamiliar with the park) for their first ever Bison Festival. What a beautiful day it was! The sun was shining, a cool breeze coming off Astotin Lake, and the aroma of bison on the grill was in the air. A fantastic day to celebrate the conservation, culture, and cuisine of bison in Alberta and beyond! The main stage featured musical performances, traditional dancing, and even Canada’s Bison Musical, Bison Will Rise Again.
As a partnership with the festival, Chef Shane Chartrand of Sage Restaurant and Chef Tyler Youzwa of Fort Edmonton Park joined us to perform a few cooking demos, and to do some sampling of the amazing recipes you can create with bison. Throughout the day, they prepped while chatting with park visitors about cooking techniques, recipes, and useful tips when working with bison. To see the recipes that the chefs prepared, click here.
Chef Tyler Youzwa of the Hotel Selkirk at Fort Edmonton Park cooked up a beautiful dish of Cocoa-dusted Bison with Salmon Berry and Scarlet Frills, that was equally beautiful as it was delicious! The young chef’s dish ran out quickly, as guests devoured the samples and even a few returned in hopes of getting a second helping!
Chef Shane Chartrand of Sage at River Cree Resort & Casino cooked up two different dishes, appealing to both the conservative and adventurous tasters. On one side, there was the Wild Sage & Bay Leaf Crusted Bison Tenderloin with Confit Beets & Cat Tail Pesto. On the other, Pulled Bison Tongue with Ramps, Sauternes Reduction, Cabbage Crema and Chantrelles. A charismatic presenter, Chef Chartrand did a wonderful job encouraging everyone to try the tongue, which was extremely well received by even the most skeptical of tasters (myself included, having never tasted bison tongue before).
A wonderful time was had by all, and a big thanks to our chefs, their assistants, Sage, Fort Edmonton Park, and of course to Elk Island National Park for allowing us to be a part of such a fantastic event!
This article was posted in Event Recap and tagged: bison bison will rise again elk elk island festival fort edmonton fort edmonton park sage youwza