Extremely Highbrow Baconmania

April 15, 2009 9:11 AM

"Cochon 555 is a culinary event featuring 5 chefs, 5 pigs, and 5 winemakers in a friendly competition for a cause. Each chef will prepare a 70 pound heritage pig from head to toe for 200 enthusiasts." (flash site)

The Cochon 555 series has 10 events scheduled of which 5 remain, culminating in the double-sized Grand Cochon. Fair warning: the photo gallery on the site isn't safe for those who don't want to see piggy parts. Foodista has a better photo set focusing exclusively on the end products.

posted by mkb (18 comments total)

a friendly competition

Bet they didn't ask the pigs.
posted by sidereal at 9:15 AM on April 15, 2009 [3 favorites]

Each chef will prepare a 70 pound heritage pig from head to toe for 200 enthusiasts.

Substitute 'fashion stylist' for 'chef' and you've got an interesting idea for a reality show.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 9:19 AM on April 15, 2009

This thread is useless without pigs.
posted by albrecht at 9:26 AM on April 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

200 enthusiasts

What does the resume look like for Pig Enthusiast?
posted by Pants! at 9:27 AM on April 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Bet they didn't ask the pigs.
posted by sidereal at 12:15 PM

They get them totally drunk on the wine first.
posted by orme at 9:37 AM on April 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I went to the Atlanta on back in September. Lots of fun and there is lots of pork!! Several local vineyards were sharing their wares too. A good time!!
posted by pearlybob at 9:51 AM on April 15, 2009

This actually seems like a fun time. I'd really pig out.
posted by technically yours at 9:55 AM on April 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

the Atlanta "one". Where is my preview?
posted by pearlybob at 9:58 AM on April 15, 2009

5 chefs, 5 pigs, and 5 winemakers in a friendly competition for a cause.

No matter who wins, the pigs lose.
posted by owtytrof at 10:01 AM on April 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you can't make it to Iowa but will be in the Bay Area in a couple of weeks, there's always the launch party for the next issue -- the Pig Issue -- of Meatpaper at Camino Restaurant in Oakland.
posted by twsf at 10:09 AM on April 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Only five chefs? Let's get this started : FAIL FOR LACK OF (insert favorite bacon wizard here)

For instance : FAIL FOR LACK OF DONALD LINK and those motherfucking pork cheek balls that his kitchen turns out
posted by suckerpunch at 10:19 AM on April 15, 2009

None of the events have been in New Orleans, and they all have local restaurant chefs and judges.

Hmm, the Boston event had both a chef AND a judge from the Liberty Hotel. DUN DUN DUNNNNN!
posted by mkb at 10:30 AM on April 15, 2009

You don't get it, mkb. Bacon wizardry spans both space and time. Paneed pork cheeks exist simultaneously everywhere and nowhere at once. A good chef works multiple meats and multiple veg on multiple burners until collapsing the wave function onto a single plate, producing a single dish containing quantum deliciousness. That's why we can start claiming FAIL for lack of a Fergus Henderson or a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
posted by suckerpunch at 10:38 AM on April 15, 2009

No Martin Picard, no contest.
posted by jon_kill at 10:51 AM on April 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think you have perhaps misunderstood the act of smoking pig meat.
posted by mkb at 10:52 AM on April 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

No Martin Picard, no contest.

Link

(I highly recommend "The Wild Chef" if you can get it. It's extremely funny in a Canadian way.)
posted by Turtles all the way down at 12:14 PM on April 15, 2009

only 22 days until the cochon de lait festival in mansura, la.!
posted by msconduct at 1:10 PM on April 15, 2009

I attended the Boston one. Everything is precooked, so it's not like you're watching Iron Chef or Food Network Challenge. The five restaurants each have individual serving stations around the room, interspersed with wine servers. The cooks were frantic to keep up with assembling their bite-sized dishes to meet demand, and every station was backed up with a line of people waiting. And the judging was going on meanwhile, so at any given point, one station would freeze while they threw together two dozen small plates and then wheeled them into the judges' room.

At the far end of the room, somebody gave a pig-carving demonstration. That was the most interesting part. Otherwise you had paid $125 to attend a cocktail party featuring five excellent-to-mediocre pork-inspired hors d'oeuvres, in a tight room with waaaaaay more than 200 people, all of whom were drinking free wine and impatient. Not recommended.

A similar event, on a much larger scale and much better executed, is Taste of the Nation. It lacks the theme, but is more enjoyable and also supports a worthy cause (childhood hunger). I've attended in Boston the past two years.
posted by cribcage at 11:20 AM on April 16, 2009