Cochon 555 DC 2012- A Brief Recap in Pictures

If you’re not familiar with Cochon 555, in short, it is a culinary competition and a celebration of heritage pork founded by Brady Lowe. It features 5 chefs, 5 heritage breed pigs and five wineries. The chefs are challenged to use the whole hog and create a full menu. From their website (www.cochon555.com) “Cochon hosts 14 culinary events nationwide with the goal of supporting sustainable agriculture. The journey begins every January when COCHON 555 embarks on a 10-city culinary competition and tasting tour. Fifty chefs are selected to prepare a ‘snout -to-tail’ menu created from heritage breed pigs. The ten local winners are flown to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen for the final competition, Grand Cochon. Three other national events–Cochon All-Star, Cochon Heritage Fire and a BBQ competition–bring even bigger voices to the cause of whole animal utilization. Now in its 4th year, the tour continues to draw more outstanding culinary talent to join our quest for flavor. It’s an experience you won’t want to miss.” I encourage you to go to their website and watch the video.

This is the second year that I attended the Washington DC leg of the competition. This is my brief recap in pictures. I used my pocket point & shoot, so the pictures aren’t as good as I would have liked. I wasn’t going to be that guy carryong around the huge SLR. I was there to eat. The five chefs were Scott Drewno (who won this year & last), Mike Isabella, Ed Witt, Wes Morton and Nicholas Stefanelli.