Cochon555 Competition & Benefit Returns to Austin

We’re giving away a pair of GA tickets to one lucky winner who follows @cochon555 on Instagram and tags the person they’d want to bring along as their guest. Winners will be chosen on Wednesday, May 16. Click here to see IG post and enter

Cochon555 is returning to Austin and Will Feature Top Chefs, Best Barkeeps and Sommeliers to benefit charity. I attended last year and was incredibly impressed with the one of a kind Cochon555 Experience. The excitement of the competition for best dishes and punches from local talent is truly exhilarating! The benefit event has an all-star cast of chefs who specialize in whole animal cooking paired with farmers responsibly raising delicious heritage breed pigs. The all-inclusive feast hosted by the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel Austin will feature a hundred-plus prominent chefs, farmers, sommeliers, distillers, brewers and barkeeps all working in concert to create luxurious moments that educate the palate. At the heart, Cochon555 aims to create moments of inspiration, and to engender discussion and action – to buy, to cook, shop and donate in the name of safe, honest, and delicious food. 

Photo Credit Cochon555

This year’s group of Austin top chefs  competing in the event include Ben Runkle of Salt & Time, Fiore Tedesco of L’Oca d’Oro, Abril Galindo and James Flowers of TRIO, Gabriel Erales of Dai Due Taqueria and Nathan Lemley and Sarah Heard of Foreign & Domestic. One week prior to the event, each chef receives a 200-pound heritage breed pig sustainably sourced fromChubby Dog Farm, Augustus Ranch, Black Hill Meats, Peaceful Pork, and Legend Meats. to create a maximum of six dishes for competition. With dozens of bites from iconic local chefs, boutique distillers, and artisan winemakers, the event is akin to an epic tasting menu of heritage breed pork with endless beverage pairings taken standing up.

Photo Courtesy of Cochon555

To win the friendly competition for a cause, a chef’s menu must woo twenty celebrity judges with their “Judge’s Plate” scored on utilization; technique; and overall flavor and be voted “best bite of the day” by guests. The winning “Prince of Pork” in Austin will advance to the national finale, Grand Cochon, a head-to-tail, winner-takes-all showdown for the crown in Chicago on September 30th. Additionally, running in tandem are two satellite beverage competitions to complement the whole-animal tilt; Punch Kings, a whole bottle, large-format spirit competition featuring five top barkeeps in a hand-crafted punch challenge and Somm Smackdown, a face-off of five top sommeliers pairing the best wine with heritage pig.

Placing the spotlight on “knowing where your food comes from\”, each event features an educational whole animal butchery program called the Pop-Up Butcher Shop and Silent Auction to benefit charity. This year’s headlining all-star butcher is Bryan Butler of Salt & Time. Together with gifts from chefs, sponsors and John Boos & Co., they will raise money to benefit Piggy Bank, a start-up farm in Missouri that serves as a kickstarter for new family farms and a safety net for those in the wake of a disaster (flood, fire and disease). As an accelerator, Piggy Bank supplies piglets to small farms in exchange for business plans that are posted online in the name of transparent “open-source agriculture”.

The ultimate aim of Cochon555 is to provide education to chefs and consumers and create experiences that guests can sink their teeth into: honest food from real farmers. The goal is to raise the bar on building a sustainable and profitable relationship for brands and chefs participating in culinary festivals.

Tickets for general admission start at $130; VIP tickets (early admission + exclusive access to cocktail competition and allocated wines and spirits) are $200.

Where: Four Seasons Hotel Austin, 98 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78701

When: Sunday, May 20

Time: 4 p.m. for VIP entry, 5 p.m. for General Admission

Tickets: http://cochon555.com/us-tour/2018-austin/