Cochon 555 featured five chefs, five pigs and five winemakers to celebrate five years. The highly anticipated traveling culinary competition and tasting event debuted at Four Seasons Vail http://www.fourseasons.com/vail March 10.
Founded by Brady Lowe, the creative and competitive culinary evening goal is to promote a national conversation around the sustainable farming of heritage-breed pigs. And when the chefs have fun the crowd has fun. Cochon 555 challenged Hosea Rosenberg, Jason Harrison, Kelly Liken, Lon Symensma and reining champ Alex Siedel to prepare a menu from the entirety of one 200 pound, family-raised heritage breed of pig.
Each chef brought a “team” of chefs to help execute five dishes from “nose to tail”. Alex Siedel recruited Troy Guard while Kelly Liken had heavyweights Jenna Johansen and Mark DeNittis. Flame at the Four Seasons http://www.fourseasons.com/vail/dining/restaurants/flame/ executive chef Jason Harrison and pastry chef Rachelle Hyder had one of the most elaborate displays featuring bacon infused brownies and bacon caramel ice cream complete with a passed out piggy.
Alex Siedel and team wowed with a luau themed table featuring marinated pork loin satay, Kalua roasted pork shank and pork face “Spam” musibi. Kelly Liken and her team turned out slow cooked porchetta sandwiches and sweet and savory Moroccan pastillas. Lon Symensma kept it fun with pork and marrow soup and “crackLIN jack”.
But the star of the show was Jason Harrison of Flame at the Four Seasons. His “nose to tail” menu included crackling pea soup with smoked trotter broth, black pepper char sui bao of lard dough filled with pork butt and shoulder, pork rillettes with lardo brioche and porchetta belly with Carolina truffle BBQ. And with that, Chef Harrison became the “Prince of Pork.”
Beyond pork, Cochon introduced an exciting cocktail competition called Punch Kings, featuring Breckenridge Bourbon, tastings by Temple Rye, High West, Buffalo Trace, Four Roses and the “perfect Manhattan Bar” showcasing Hudson Whiskey, Luxardo, Camparo Antica and Eagle Rare. The new Tartare bar with Brian Busker of Matsuhisu Vail offered fresh tastes beyond pork.
At the foot of Vail Mountain, Four Seasons Resort Vail is a contemporary alpine lodge, offering 121 luxurious guest rooms and suites. With private residences and Residence Club vacation condominiums, the Resort showcases a modern mountain steakhouse, Flame; Fireside Lounge; a 75-foot saltwater pool, open year-round; and a 14,395 square foot spa. For more information on the Resort, visit http://www.fourseasons.com/vail.
To keep up with the tour and purchase tickets for the Grand Cochon in Aspen (June 16) visit http://www.cochon555.com.
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