San Francisco Cochon 555 2010
Staffan Terje, chef at Perbacco, won top honors last night at the local edition of Cochon 555, working with a heritage breed called the Swabian Hall pig dating to 1821 Germany, which was created by mating the world's fattest pig with the leanest. As Food Gal reports, other competitors Thomas McNaughton, Dennis Lee, Anthony Strong, and Morgan Maki all had strong showings as well, but Terje went home with the trophy and a trip to Aspen. Also in the good news column: no fistfights.
COCHON 555 is a competition featuring 5 CHEFS, 5 PIGS and 5 WINEMAKERS. The event serves as a link to preserving heritage breed pigs by promoting breed diversity in the national community. In 2010, the coast-to-coast tour connected ranchers raising heritage breeds with top chefs known for whole animal utilization. Guests poured into each event, bringing their adoration for pig and taking heritage pork love back to the dinner table.
BRADY LOWE creator of COCHON 555, and his team carefully select each participant to the event. The chefs are selected based upon their support of local agriculture and heritage species. The pigs are sourced from local ranches devoted to sustaining heritage breeds. Participating wineries are all family owned. The Chefs each prepare an entire heritage breed pig from head to toe for the competition. Twenty notable judges and guests taste the chef creations and vote on a winner. Winners are known as "Prince or Princess of Porc"
THE WINNERS of each city will have the opportunity to compete at Grand Cochon during the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen June 18-22. The winner of that event will be celebrated as the "King or Queen of Porc".
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Swabian Hall Wins Cochon San Francisco
Last night in San Francisco, it was all about pig, pig and more pig.
Cochon 555, which pits five top San Francisco chefs against one another in a pork-off, rolled into the Fairmont San Francisco on Sunday night to a sell-out crowd of 450 carnivores.
Each of the chefs had to prepare a 140-pound heritage breed hog from head to toe. A panel of judges, as well as the public, got to taste the dishes to determine one winner who will go on to compete with nine others selected from around the country at the Grand Cochon at the Food & Wine Classic at Aspen, June 18-20.
In one corner, Anthony Strong of Pizzeria Delfina, whose weapon of choice was a Glouster Old Spot, known for its distinctive layer of back fat. In a second corner, Dennis Lee of Namu, dueling with a Yorkshire pig, known for its muscularity. In the third corner, Thomas McNaughton of Flour + Water, holding court with a Duroc (otherwise known as Berkshire), a favorite among chefs for its intramuscular marbling and thick fat cap. In the fourth corner, Morgan Maki of Bi-Rite Market, with a Mangalitsa, a very rare breed famous for its high-quality lard-type fat and for having double the marbling of your average pork. Lastly, Staffan Terje of Perbacco with a Swabian Hall pig, the first time one has been shown in the United States. This unusual pig was created in 1821 in Germany, from the mating of the fattest pig in the world with the leanest.
It was a chance for folks not only to taste, but to learn about some heritage breeds rarely available at supermarkets or restaurants. It was an opportunity to get up close and personal with owners of small ranches who raise these now-scarce breeds, as well as with some elite San Francisco butchers, who have become veritable rock stars for bringing back a lost art. Indeed, you’d be hard pressed to see so many people at one place armed with knives, mallets and saws. There was something primal, even carnal, about it all.along with women butchers from Avedano’s Holly Park Market in San Francisco, got the pig party started by demonstrating how to take apart a whole pork shoulder. To emphasize just how healthful heritage pork is, Dave the Butcher even popped a raw sliver into his mouth.
He quipped, “When it comes to the pigs we use, we try to know where it comes from, what it eats, and what TV programs it watches.”
Next came Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats in San Francisco, who spent more than an hour breaking down an entire Meishan pig from Iowa, using knives, a saw and brute strength until the animal was disassembled into neat chunks all wrapped up tidy in butcher’s paper.
Then, the chefs got going, dishing up pig like no tomorrow.
Among the standouts was Bi-Rite’s focaccia sandwich with blood sausage, sliced thinly with the texture and flavor almost of pastrami; Namu’s musubi with housemade “Spam”; Delfina’s blood sausage and housemade sauerkraut; and Perbacco’s spicy ndjua spread atop crostini, as well as its audacious pig blood cupcakes with lard frosting. Trust me on this one — you wouldn’t have known blood was in it, as it tasted as if it were just a spectacularly moist chocolate cupcake.
The Fairmont got into the act by cooking a whole kalua pig that was rolled into the ballroom, its shiny mahogany skin glistening under an explosion of flashbulbs.
In the end, though, there could only be one boss hog. And that glory went to Perbacco’s Terje and the Swabian Hall of Rustik Rooster Farms.
May he bring home the bacon in Aspen.
We now interrupt your browsing pleasure with an update from the Cochon 555 folks. As they prepare to apply the full heft of their culinary acumen at next weekend's massive pork party, some of San Francisco's most swine-savvy chefs have been introduced to their 140-pound muses. While the two parties have not exchanged e-mail addresses, instant-messaged, or met for lunch in a safe public setting, the people and their heritage breed pigs of destiny have hooked up ― on paper, at least. Lovers of loin, champions of (head)cheese ― here's what the homecoming court looks like for Cochon 555 San Francisco:
• Perbacco's Staffan Terje and a Swabian Hall from Rustik Rooster
• Pizzeria Delfina's Anthony Strong and a Gloucester Old Spot from Clark Summit Farm
• Namu's Dennis Lee and a Yorkshire from Gleason Ranch
• Flour + Water's Thomas McNaughton and a Berkshire/Duroc from Devil's Gulch Ranch
• Bi-Rite's Morgan Maki and a Mangalitsa from Susuin Valley Farm
Chef Staffan Terje from Perbacco’s in San Francisco. Winner of the Cochon555 Event utilizing the Swabian Hall breed of swine from Rustik Rooster Farms located in Frederika, Iowa. Check out the slide show here and see just how much work goes into such an event. There are some very nice shots of our Swabian Hall pig from beginning to end. We want to thank Staffan and is entire staff for doing such a wonderful job with our Swabian Hall. It was the National Debut of the US version of an old breed from Germany.
