Cochon 555, the 10-city culinary competition that promotes sustainable farming of heritage breed pigs, returns to Boston on Sunday, March 24, 2013. Providence’s own Chef Matt Jennings of Farmstead won the Boston competition it’s first three years, passing the baton to Chef Jamie Bissonnette of Toro and Coppa last year.

This year the Boston event will see the following chefs competing for the title of Prince or Princess of Porc: Chefs Jody Adams of Rialto and Trade, Michael LaScola of American Seasons, Colin Lynch of Menton, Michael Scelfo of Russell House Tavern and Brian Young of Citizen Public House.

The full release with all the event details will follow below, but first, Eat Drink RI caught up with Michael Scelfo, recent winner of the 2013 Boston American Lamb Jam, to ask his thoughts on competing in one of the hottest events in the country.

Chef Michael Scelfo of Russell House Tavern

Eat Drink RI: What are your thoughts on competing in the Cochon 555 this year?

Michael Scelfo: I’m really excited to be a part of such a prestigious event, to even be invited to compete is a nod to the work I do.

EDRI: I know each chef is paired up with a heritage breed pig from a local farm. Who and what breed are you working with?

MS: I’m thrilled to be working with Brambly Farm in Norfolk, Massachusetts. They’re my regular pig supplier. My Cochon 555 pig is a heritage Berkshire. Sandra and Ted [owners of Brambly Farm] love every animal they raise and it shows in the quality of the product they deliver.

EDRI: How are you approaching the competition?

MS: My philosophy for Cochon 555 is the same as my everyday cooking, and my nose to tail dinners. Let the animal do the work. I want to showcase the best of what the pig has to offer with simple, thoughtful, and hopefully well executed dishes from an array of styles and techniques.

Could Scelfo do the unimaginable and win the Boston-area lamb and pork competitions in one year? Find out for yourself while you get stuffed on some of the best pork dishes you’ll ever taste. You can purchase tickets online here. The full details follow below. Check back on Eat Drink RI on Monday, March 25 for the winner. Details on previous Boston Cochon 555 events can be found here: 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

UPDATE: Chef Michael Scelfo and his team won the 2013 Boston Cochon 555 on Sunday, March 24.

COCHON 555 FIFTH ANNIVERSARY TOUR RETURNS TO BOSTON
The National Culinary Competition & Tasting Event Dedicated to Heritage Pigs, Family Wineries & Sustainable Farming Rolls into Boston on Its Fifth Anniversary Tour
ATLANTA, GA (February 21, 2013) — 2013 marks a culinary milestone: The fifth anniversary of Cochon 555, a one-of-a-kind traveling culinary competition and tasting event created to promote sustainable farming of heritage breed pigs. Arriving in Beantown Sunday, March 24, the pork-centric tour gathers together five chefs, five pigs and five wineries at each event – ultimately touching down in 10 cities across the country and bringing its message of nose-to-tail cooking, breed diversity and family farming to food enthusiasts nationwide.
What: Each Cochon 555 event challenges five local chefs to prepare a menu created from the entirety of heritage breed pigs for an audience of pork-loving epicureans and celebrated judges. Competing chefs include: Jody Adams (Rialto / Trade), Michael LaScola (American Seasons), Michael Scelfo (Russell House Tavern), Brian Young (Citizen Public House), and Colin Lynch (Menton).
Guests will be treated to an epic pork feast alongside wines from five small family-owned wineries plus special tastings from Robert Kacher Selections, Taza Chocolate and Pig’s Nose Scotch. Twenty judges and 400 guests help decide the winning chef, who is crowned the Prince (or Princess) of Porc and will compete against other regional winners at the finale Grand Cochon event at the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen on Sunday, June 16.
Also included in the evening is a preview of the new Heritage BBQ event in which Tiffani Faison of Sweet Cheeks Q will roll out family meal – another whole pig cooked barbecue-style immediately preceding the awards.
VIP guests will experience some of the new additions for 2013, including the launch of the cocktail competition called “Punch Kings” featuring Breckenridge Bourbon and six local bartenders, the all-new Tartare Bar, sustainable oysters as well as reserve wines and spirits.
To celebrate five years, Cochon is adding five bourbons to the lineup. All attendees will get samples of Templeton Rye, Breckenridge Bourbon, High West, Buffalo Trace and Four Roses in addition to the Perfect Manhattan Bar showcasing Luxardo and Eagle Rare. New to 2013 is also the Chupito/Mezcal Bar, a tasting experience featuring Ilegal, Mezcales de Leyenda, Pierde Almas and Fidencio. The infamous Craft Cheese Bar sees a facelift featuring a local cheesemonger, Cypress Grove Chevre, Vermont Butter & Cheese, Spring Brook Farm with an exclusive tasting of blues from Rogue Creamery, and favorites from Kerrygold. Everyone can commemorate the experience by visiting the City Eats photo booth and voting for the best bite of the day.
The fun continues with a butcher demonstration presented by Miyabi/Zwilling and a raffle to benefit the student volunteers, ice-cold brews, Champagne toast, award ceremony, Fernet Branca digestifs, pork-spiked desserts and after-party will close out the evening.
Where: Revere Hotel Boston Common – The Official Host of Cochon 555 Boston
200 Stuart St., Boston, MA 02116
When: Sunday, March 24, 2013
4pm (VIP); 5pm (general admission)
Tickets: $125 (general admission) and $200 (VIP); to purchase tickets, visit www.cochon555.com

Chef Jamie Bissonnette's Bánh Mì of Coppa, Kidney Spread, Head Cheese and Ham

Chef Jamie Bissonnette of Coppa and Toro in Boston was the winner of the fourth annual Cochon 555 Boston competition. The event, held this year at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Boston was even more over-the-top than years past with a packed ballroom of people eating outstanding pork dishes from Bissonnette along with the four other competitors, Chefs Barbara Lynch and Colin Lynch of Menton, Barry Maiden of Hungry Mother, Tim Cushman of O Ya and Steve Postal of Fenway Park.

To underscore how Cochon 555 brings out the best competitors, last week Chefs Bissonette and Cushman were named James Beard Foundation award finalists for Best Chef: Northeast. One of Chef Lynch’s other restaurants in her Barbara Lynch Gruppo, No. 9 Park, is a finalist for the Beard Foundation Awards’ Outstanding Wine Program. Also at the Cochon 555 Boston event was a third Beard Foundation Award Best Chef: Northeast nominee, Chef Matt Jennings of Farmstead & La Laiterie. This was the first year that Providence, Rhode Island favorite Jennings did not compete in the Cochon 555, having won all three of the previous Boston events. Jennings was on hand as part of the Le Creuset challenge.

Cochon is the brainchild of Brady Lowe who now hosts fourteen culinary events around the United States each year 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.

As the winner, Bissonnette will now compete in Aspen, Colorado at the Grand Cochon U.S. Tour Finale during the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Congratulations to Chef Bissonnette and his entire team. Good luck in Aspen. Below is a selection of fifteen photographs highlighting tonight’s event. You can view posts and photos from previous years here.

Chef Jamie Bissonnette with his trophy (Chef Tim Cushman to left)

Chef Bissonnette's plate, clockwise from upper left: La Lot Vietnamese Sausage, Bánh Mì, Pig Foot Rillette, Pork Belly Pho

Chicken Fried Head Cheese with bacon waffle and maple syrup from Chef Colin Lynch of Barbara Lynch Gruppo

Chef Colin Lynch of Menton slicing ham

The Hungry Mother team, Chef Barry Maiden in center, preparing their platter of six dishes

O Ya's ingenious menu presentation, "printed" on pig skin

Chef Steve Postal brought a large display of Red Sox items with him from Fenway Park, including . . .

. . . yes, that's a World Series trophy! Chef Postal brought both the 2004 & 2007 Red Sox World Series Champion trophies for display. That's Postal serving his Pork Blood Ice Cream over a "Pork Crispy Treat"

The crowd watching the Lemay & Sons Beef butchery demo of a whole Berkshire from Brambly Farms

All that beautifully butchered Brambly Farms Berkshire pig

Daniel Hyatt from The Alembic in San Francisco prepared the perfect Manhattans with an assortment of small batch bourbons

Hyatt's beautifully presented Manhattan in a Mason jar

Chef Bissonnette with a magic ingredient Blis Small Batch Bourbon Barrel Aged Fish Sauce

from left to right: Chef Barry Maiden of Hungry Mother, Chef Colin Lynch of Menton, Chef Steve Postal of Fenway Park, Cochon 555 founder Brady Lowe, Chef Barbara Lynch of Barbara Lynch Gruppo, Chef Tim Cushman of O Ya and Chef Jamie Bissonnette of Coppa and Toro

Chef Jamie Bissonnette and Cochon 555 founder Brady Lowe embrace after Lowe announces Bissonnette as the Boston winner. Chef Matt Jennings cheers in the background

Colin Lynch

Cochon 555 Returns to Boston on Sunday, March 24, 2013 – UPDATED: Chef Michael Scelfo Wins

Chef Jamie Bissonnette Wins Cochon 555 Boston 2012