Cochon 555

Cochon 555 was in full swine in New Pork City. 5 Pigs, 5 Chefs, 5 Winemakers sow-cased their talents while attendees pigged out in hog heaven! The event was held at Chelsea Piers, Pier 60 to help raise awareness of Farms for City Kids, Heritage breed pigs and family owned farms. Chefs from New York's best restaurants presented dishes in a culinary competition using Heritage Pigs and winemakers provided tastings or their delicious products.

FIVE CHEFS AND FIVE PIGS

Corwin Kave, Fatty' Cue -Berkshire
Mark Ladner, Del Posto -Large Black
Gavin Kaysen, Cafe Boulud -Large Black
Marco Canora, Hearth Restaurant -Duroc
Adam Kaye, Blue Hill at Stone Barns -Ossabaw and Large Black

FIVE WINEMAKERS

K. Vitners
Buty Winery
Wind Gap Wines
Elk Cove Vinyards
Gamble Family Vineyards

Pigs were flying as hungry people devoured delicious competition submissions.

Fatty' Cue Smoked Pork and Lobster Curry

Del Posto Cold 100 Layer Lasagna and Pork Cracklings

Hearth Restaurant

Porchetta with crispy skin 

Pork Sausage and White Beans

Pig head Agnolotti in it's broth

Blue Hill
at
Stone Barn

3 Different sausages with lentils

Bacon Focaccia with Whipped Lard

Pork liver mousse in Chocolate

Cafe Boulud

Pork Tamales

Pork Belly Sliders

Fried Tete de Cochon with Gribiche

Bacon Bourbon

Brooklyn Brewery served copious amounts of cold beer. Daniel Hyatt from The Alembic was tending bar making delectable libations like the Double Old Fashion. "Rye Whisky, Maple Syrup, Fig Vinegar, squeeze of orange and love."

Ryan Farr from 4505 Meats showed off his talents skillfully breaking down a whole pig, proving that there is an art in butchering. Afterwards the animal pieces where raffled off.

Chef Gavin Kaysen
invites the winners of the pig's head to come to Café Boulud
where he will cater a dinner for them using their prize. That's going to be quite a dinner party
prepared by the headcheese himself!

The Chef's dishes were judged by a panel and the peoples votes were also registered naming Chef Adam Kaye from Blue Hill at Stone Barns the winner! The chef seemed tickled pink by the news. He will now advance to compete at the Grand Cochon during the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen where everyone is expected to go hog wild, oink!

AFTER PARTY

If all that pork wasn't enough, there was a lamb after party at Resto. And what better way to get there than a double decker tour bus. Beer was flowing at Resto as well as hors d'oeuvres such as lamb ribs, lamb carnitas and lamb sausages. If that still wasn't enough, an entire lamb was roasted in a caja china and served with all the fixins. Baaah...

COCHON 555

New Pork City is going whole hog for Cochon 555 where 5 chefs, 5 pigs and 5 winemakers will gather for an event like no other. Butchering demonstrations, wine tasting, and pigging out! This tasty beast feast will take place at Chelsea Piers Pier Sixty on Sunday, March 21st 2010. 4:00PM-8:00PM. Tickets are $125.00




2010 PARTICIPATING CHEFS
MARK LADNER – Del Posto
CORWIN KAVE – Fatty 'Cue
MARCO CANORA – Hearth
ADAM KAYE – Blue Hill at Stone Barns
GAVIN KAYSEN – Café Boulud
VIP Butcher: TOM MYLAN - The Meat Hook
Resident Butcher: RYAN FARR - 4505 Meats

COCHON 555: http://www.cochon555.com/
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/COCHON555
TICKETS: http://www.localwineevents.com/events/detail/290629

New York Wine Expo

The 3rd Annual New York Wine Expo was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center this weekend. A bold tasting with over 600 wines from around the world along with many of the winemakers who produce them in attendance to answer any questions. This was the perfect event to familiarize yourself with the color, bouquet and balance of different wines and compare the complexities in their depth, acidity, appley and finish. Of course, you could also have gone just to have a lip smacking good time!

The New York Wine Expo was a three day event. The Grand Tastings were held on Friday and Saturday. Sunday was reserved for the trade show. There were hundreds of tasters at the grand tastings. It was a wonderful way for novice wine appreciators and connoisseurs with expert palates to commingle and experience and enjoy different wines from different regions.

Upon entering the event you received a souvenir wine glass to which taste the different wines offered, along with a show program outlining the seminars and all the exhibitors present and their location in the convention center. Once you glanced over the program, your natural instincts kicked-in...FOLLOW YOUR NOSE!

Each country was specified with signs above, but as you approached your destination, the winery and their regions were also apparent. Vini Portugal was our first stop. Wines from Portugal are always a favorite due to the variety and types of wines that can be explored. From the crisp Vino Verde (green wine) made by Gazela, whom also was introducing their new Rosé wine, to wines made with the most common Portugues grape Castelão which make intense red wines with berry aromas.



We tried Vinhos Bacalhôa not to be confused with Bacalhau meaning codfish which made our pourer laugh! No portuguese tasting would be complete without a variety of delicious Port wines from Oporto. However, I didn't see any wines from Madeira Island, which are always so sweetly delicious.

Next stop was Spain, where Tempranillos were flying as they had a huge draw of Spanish wine aficionados reaching out there goblets trying to quench what seemed to be an uncontrollable thirst. Then, wines from France was of course one my favorites to sample, due to the fact that their wine regions are so well known even by the simplest wine drinkers. I gravitated towards Côtes du Rhône Wines and tasted several varieties of the Grenache, which my amateur palate detected hints of soft spiciness, which I liked! Italy and Germany completed our delectable European wine tour.

Also notable where the wines of New Zealand, whom had a nice organic wine. Oyster Bay Wines from New Zealand where memorable because I did enjoy the Sparkling Cuvée Brut and the winemakers were so nice too.

Of the South American Wines, I found most interesting the Bodega Del Fin del Mundo - Patagonia since this region in the southern end of Argentina is a dry desert terrain, where a resilient little grape produces a really good wine with a surprisingly balanced taste. By far my favorite table to visit was Barefoot Wine and Bubbly, decked-out in fun decorations, handing out purple beads and sparkling wine. These girls wanted to have fun!

As you can probably tell by now, we were in for a long yet sublime afternoon at the 3rd Annual New York Wine Expo. And so it continued table after table at this festive event, region by region, country to country where a lot of swirling, sniffing and sipping was going on and everyone seemed CHEERS-ful!

The New York City Wine & Food Festival: Chelsea Wine Vault

Chelsea Wine Vault Tasting: Viva Italiano…Wines from the Boot! One of the many wine seminar conducted throughout the weekend. The connoisseurs were engaged and eager to ask questions as they became better acquainted with Italian wines and sipped, then sipped some more Prosecco, whites and reds.

New York City Wine & Food Festival: Ace of Kid's Cakes Chef Duff

Ace of Cakes, Duff Goldman was all child's play as part of "Kids Get Cooking!" brought to you by Chelsea Market. Young boys and girls frosted and decorated cakes with the help of the cake master himself, while parents relished watching their finger licking kids prepare cakes just right! Duff seemed to genuinely enjoy himself. In fact, I think he had more fun than the kids. After, bumping into Duff later that evening at the Meatball Madness, (which by the way, Duff is buff and cleans up nicely!) he told me that "kids are easy" and he loves being around them, "it's these grown-up things I get nervous about." Everyone seems to love Duff, he's hot stuff, plus he bakes!

NYC Wine & Food Festival: STK Whisky Rebellion

NYC Wine & Food Festival STK Whisky Rebellion was an eye opening and whew... sound making experience. Not only did you learn about the different depths and dimensions of Whisky, but also how quickly Whisky helps make new friends from complete strangers sitting at a table, all enhancing knowledge one sip at a time. The whisky tutorial was conducted by "Whisky Professor" Steve Cole for Knob Creek. He introduced and showcased different varieties of Whisky and Bourbon, explaining the rules that apply for each to be what they are. The tasting included six selections from lightest to strongest, as well as a "Not Your Daddy's Manhattan" cocktail which was superb. This was an informative, bold notes event that, well...puts hair on your chest!

New York City Wine & Food Festival: illy Push Button House

Italian coffee company, illy brought the innovative, beautiful, eco-friendly “Push Button House” caffè to New York City. With the push of a button, a standard industry shipping container transforms into a five-room home. It was created from recycled materials by architects Adam Kalkin and Andrea Illy. It provided a perfect space for coffee talks and interviewing some of todays greatest chefs such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse and Pierre Schaedelin. Truly a wonderful place to relax on Gansevoort Plaza in the Meatpacking District while enjoying an illy espresso of your choice for free. This should be here year round!

NYC Wine & Food Festival: BURGER BASH

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Food Network NYC Wine & Food Festival's Blue Moon Burger Bash presented by Allen Brothers, hosted by Rachael Ray was everything it promised to be. It was held at the Tobacco Warehouse, Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park under the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a beautiful night to be out in the open brisk air that smelled of burgers grilling! When you first walked into the venue, the space was decked out under a huge tent; the band was playing and seating and tables were set up surrounded by beer, wine, Coke, tea and coffee stands.
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As you walked further back following your nose, Hark! the angels sang! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. BURGERS, BURGERS, BURGERS EVERYWHERE! There were rows upon rows of restaurants each with their own station representing their version of the best burger in town. After taking a second to compose myself and planning a strategy. ATTACK!

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BURGER TIME!

First stop, Minetta Tavern. (I'm no fool)
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But wait...hey, there's Bobby Flay! Okay, side-tracked. Chef Bobby Flay was serving a Burger Palace slider creation stuffed with cilantro, potato chips and chipotle sauce. These burgers definitely had a spicy kick to them. Chef Flays burger was a big hit, everyone wanted a bite!

Then, I hit Minetta Tavern where Chef Riad Nasr was preparing his famously trendy in Manhattan, Black Label burger. A special blend of ground rib eye, skirt and brisket. He served them with duck fat fried potato chips, onion dip and a house made pickle. Yes, I had two.

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Next, I went to Fatty Crab where Zak Pelaccio greeted me with a concoction shot of dark rum, Tabasco sauce, lime and simple syrup...Whew! Then, he followed-it-up by handing me his kimchi burger.

Brooklyn's Dumont Cheeseburger with fried pickles (best side)

Gus & Gabriel made a bacon cheeseburger, while Shake Shack yelled, "NO LINES NO WAIT!" Wildwood served The Big Lou Barbecue topped with creamy cole slaw and last years Burger Bash winner Katie Lee Joel served up her "grilled cheese burger" (patty melt).

Old Homestead Cheeseburger with Truffles Mac & Cheese (need I say more?)

April Bloomfield was all business under the heat lamps making the famous Spotted Pig Roquefort cheese burgers. They were cooked perfectly medium rare, the way they should be and as always, it was delicious.
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Around this point in the evening, I had hit a burger wall. This feeding frenzy was closing-in on me. I had eaten too much and had not pace myself appropriately. So I had to take a minute, get an ice cold Blue Moon beer and gaze up at the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge overhead and meditate: "Ah-umm...more space in tummy...Ah-umm!"
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Spike from Top Chef pulled all the stunts to get votes for his Bacon, Blue Cheese, Horseradish Mayo Burger. With his cheerleaders (literally) on hand running a mock, cheering his name and flaring "Text Spike" campaign signs; Spike Mendlesohn stopped at nothing to get his judge's award and it worked. Congratulation Spike YOU DID IT! rah-rah-rah!!!

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Chef Josh Capon prepping his Lure Fishbar Burger. Their burger was declared the 2009 Burger Bash Peoples Choice Winner! The news was very exciting for Chef Capon who had a colorful speech unprepared which included gratitude, the Yankees game score, a "Let Go Yankees Chant" and just enough profanity to make it perfect!

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There were so many great restaurants, chefs and burgers it was a great gluttonous adventure. Skill, endurance and training would be needed to try all the burgers, which is practically impossible. The blank stares people shared on their way out of the venue said it all. I had a Burger Blast! This is what I imagine Burger Heaven to be like!

Crif Dog made an exciting appearance in anticipation of next year's Hot Dog Hootenanny! Somebody call Joey (Jaws) Chestnut!

DESSERT TIME!

Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies, Coca-Cola Coke floats and the Cake Man Raven red velvet cupcakes. Also, Whole Foods gave out chocolate chip cookies to-go. There were many Food Network celebrities walking around meeting, greeting and burgering. My biggest surprise is the draw Guy Fieri has with fans. He looked like a culinary Rock Star walking around with all his body guards. My favorite chats were with Big Daddy because using "Big Daddy" in a sentence never gets old. "Hi Ming Tsai" is also fun to say!

Celebrities who stopped to chat and smile at my camara Rachel Ray, Ming Tsai, Lee Schrager, Tyler Florence, Big Daddy and Sunny Anderson, Guy Fieri, John Starks, Giada De Laurentis. Thanks Foodies!