3^rd Annual Culinary Tour is key to preserving the art of the butcher

2011 COCHON 555
Cutting Competitions

Over the past few years Americans are returning to the age-old concept of a local food supply.  The reality is our disconnect with local food is so large that we almost have to begin again from scratch.  We all want local meat, but the supply and networks are difficult to work with after years of factory-meat.

We have seen in the last decade the popularity and celebration of chefs using local foods, and from that, the rise of the local farmer and most recently the glorification of the neighborhood butcher shop.

But as we try to re-create the local food supply, there is still one intricate part missing from the equation; enough butchers in the market to inspire the home chef to take cutting back into their own hands. Between the farmer and the chef, lies butcher, the men and woman who transform the livestock into our cuts of meat.  The butcher was once a highly coveted union trade, with great pay, job security, respect, and all the pride of any trade that is also considered an art.  Today this has changed.

As the networks between local chefs, farmers and consumers strengthens, one thing has been made clear, the men and woman who butcher are a vital component in our food supply, and must be part of our community, just as the chef and farmer are. We seek out a food system where the journey from farm to table is responsible and in the skilled hands of people from within our community. All hands are pointing towards the butchering industry as the next piece to make the local food equation smooth and sustainable. In those hands of butchers are knives and the power of influence.

The trade of meat cutting and butchering is disappearing where and when we need it most.  COCHON 555 can not change the system (not yet, anyway), but we can celebrate people who are favorably tilting the scales for our local producers.  Years ago, the butcher was a celebrated job, and people regularly discussed cuts of meats with 'their' butcher.  This period is once again upon us; consumers want to know where their food comes from, who is responsible for it and what to do with it at home.

What can COCHON 555 do?

In order to continue to celebrate the local food movement and work towards a sustainable food supply, we need to appreciate the people in the industry. Last year, COCHON 555 promoted the rock-star butcher during each event with a butcher demo and raffle. In 2011, we want to share the fame, the respect and integrity with the up and coming ambassadors of the food movement

We are looking to the few remaining butchers tucked away local shops, in the back of supermarkets, in packing plants and slaughterhouses, wherever they have been able to find work.  Our goal is to celebrate these men and women.  To promote them as intricate parts of our food supply.  Our aim is to make it a desirable trade and restore the art and integrity once associated with the work. We want butchers to take as much pride in their skills as our chefs and farmers do.  This pride will only encourage a growth in skills.  This rise in skills will in turn lead to a growth in wages and create more butchering jobs.  It has worked in the kitchen and farms, and so we expect it to work in the slaughterhouses and processing plants.  In return, we the chefs, retailers, farmers and consumers will get back the last missing piece in a local and sustainable food supply for our proteins.

The by-product of this effort will be more people looking to put tools of purpose, precision and craft in their hands. From boning knives to cleavers, chefs and butchers are looking to promote this trend as the local food trend continues moving forward. COCHON 555 has proven itself as a leader in the movement and the 2011 US Tour is a great place to take part in the conversation.

At COCHON 555, we will offer a similar experience to the butcher demos of 2009 and 2010 but with a change in undertones. The change in undertones carries a stronger message to the media, to those who are next in line to be celebrated, to a community of consumers ready to join the movement from home.

A Whole Pig Cutting Competition
For the last two years, the nationally renowned COCHON555 has been a 5-pig, 5-chef, 5-winery touring competition that connects social media outlets to talented farmers and chefs with an emphasis on whole animal utilization.  In 2011, COCHON555 will celebrate the butcher through a cutting competition pitting two highly skilled individuals against each other.  Each will have 40 minutes to cut a half-pig into chops, cutlets, and roasts of their choosing.  All finished products will be judged by an advisory board.

Judged as follows:
25% speed/efficiency, 25% knife handling and dexterity of roast tying
25% presentation of oven-ready retail cuts, 25% creativity

The winners: The winners will be announced in Aspen during Grand Cochon at the Classic. Instead of announcing a winner at each event, we will celebrate 20 names throughout the entire tour. They will carry on the legacy, the win, the mission months after the tour has ended.

Integration of the butcher into our local and sustainable food world: Too often at our local food events, it is only the chef and farmer who are rubbing elbows with customers, drinking fine wine, and getting all the glory, we invite the butchers to take their rightful place in the limelight, and enjoy the wine, company and eats.

Who's Eligible?
We are seeking only the nation's very best butchers and meat cutters - those profoundly experienced in taking a carcass all the way into kitchen-ready retail cuts - for our competition. Perhaps they currently work in a supermarket, a retail shop, a packing company, or a slaughterhouse, but they must cut meat for a living (sorry, no chefs or hobbyists; contenders must pull a paycheck as a butcher/meat cutter.)

The farmer, butchers and chefs are all glorified occupations, but the "finished cutter" is at an all time low. We can change this.

 

"Through this friendly competition, we are championing family farms raising heritage breed pigs and connecting them with passionate, supportive chefs," says event founder and Taste Network principal Brady Lowe.  "Plus, pork-avores from Washington, DC to San Francisco get a chance to discover incredible breeds of pigs and family-run wineries."

Selected chefs will compete in regional competitions for a chance to go to the finale event, Grand Cochon, at the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen, June 19, 2011.  Chefs Bill Telepan, Bryan Voltagio, Peter Hoffman, Andrew Zimmerman, Lachlan MacKinnon Patterson, Mike Sheerin, Octavio Becerra, Lydia Shire, John Stewart, Duskie Estes and last year's "King of Porc" David Varley are among the chefs competing in their respective cities.

The schedule of events is as follows:

·       New York - January 23

·       Boston - January 30

·       Seattle - February 20

·       Napa - March 6

·       Washington DC - March 13

·       Chicago - March 20

·       Denver - April 3 (Southwest Regional Competition)

·       Los Angeles - May 1

·       New Orleans - May 28 (Southeast Regional)

·       San Francisco - June 5

·       Aspen, Co. - June 19 (GRAND COCHON National Competition)

Sponsorships are still available. If you are interested please email Brady.

To see upcoming announcements about chef line-ups and winners at each event, look for updates at twitter.com/cochon555 or by fanning their FaceBook page.