Tips for attending Cochon555

Last week was very exciting because my Hog Haiku was picked as the winner by Jessica Battilana of 7x7 in their contest for 2 tickets to Cochon555!! Here it is below

Two Lard Jars in Fridge
From Mariquita Farm Pig
Tasty Pie for friends

If you are too lazy to click above what Cochon 555 is, then just look at what the sticker below says because I'm too lazy to type it.

The 5 chefs were from Delfina, Namu, Flour + Water, Bi-Rite, and Perbacco. Each chef has to prepare a heritage breed hog into a variety of dishes! For more great info on the types of hogs, check out Carolyn Jung's blog or this Bay Citizen Article.

I have to say the BEST part of the night was not the food, wine, or even Rancho Gordo Cannellini Beans, it was our PARKING SPACE. We found a meter NEXT to the Fairmont Hotel (which was where Cochon 555 was being hosted) This is CRAZY if you know this area. We seriously cried.
BUT back to the Rancho Gordo Cannellini Beans. These were sooo good. I need to get a Clay pot and make beans every day! (I had no idea I'd be raving about Beans at a Pork Event. We were even naughty and mixed it in with Namu's Braised Shoulder Trotter Mole. (But really, can you blame us...) I think I'm going to buy some of their beans and Ryan Farr's Hot Dogs to make fancy pork & beans.
Speaking of Ryan Farr, he was there butchering a whole hog. Sunday was certainly a treat because earlier we said hello to him at the Sunset Celebration Weekend in Menlo Park. There we had waited in line to have him serve us samples of his Cheddar Brats. ( We would of gone thru te line 10 times!! Those sausages were soooo good. BUT we were saving ourselves for Cochon.)
Here is his recipe for Cheddar Brats from the Sunset Recipe Booklet!
So back to Cochon555, my favorite booth was NAMU, but just because I loved how they reused their Soybean paste containers. Each one had different pickled items in them to eat with your porchettita! Butttttt, I don't think I could pick an ACTUAL favorite booth food-wise. I had too many favorite items from each place. hmmmm I wish all the booths could combine together like a bunch of Transformers to make an ultimate PIG BOOTH.
Some favorites for me were Bi-Rite’s Focaccia blood sausage sandwich, Namu's mole, Delfina's Chicarones, and Flour & Water's thinly sliced ham.(Was this a proscuitto? I forgot to take a picture of the menu...) BUT I must admit Perbacco did KILL with their Ndjua Spread (calabrian spreadable salami) on a crostini, and pig blood cupcakes with lard frosting & BACON MARSHMELLOWS. (when I think of all the times I've pulled the blood cubes out of my bun bo hue!)


Another big extra besides the Rancho Gordo beans was Avedanos Butcher Shop in attendance. They were serving up WOOLY PIG and other heritage varieties! But I was most excited for the Wooly and it was just as good as I had read. I even ended up talking to the Wooly Pig's VP of Bay Area Operation's girlfriend. We now have plans to make pecan pie with Wooly Pig Lard. (Ok this maybe tops the parking space...)



So a great time was had and I even did a small comic for tips to those who attend next year....

Wines I have liked....

So here are a few wines that I have liked lately or just have an opinion on.....

When I go for wine I go for Jammy, fruity, rich, deep....Not really a spicy girl except when it comes to my cheeto preference ( I love a wine review with a cheetos reference lol....)

The wine that had me figure out what I go for is Tres Sabores 2007 Por Que No? which I had at Fish & Farm. This was the wine pairing that went with their burger which is really good. I'm still in the 4505 meats camp when it comes to the best burger though.....


Another wine that was soooo fruity and jammy was Poppy 2008 Pinot Noir !! We were really shocked how good it was for $15 at Whole Foods

We asked a lady in wine at Whole Foods San Mateo if she recommended a wine that was similar. She said to try Adesso Nero D'Avola and we thought it was good. But still preferred Poppy. (I don't think she was too into helping us tbh......)

I mentioned in the previous peach post how we had an amazing Copain Rose at Flea Street Cafe. When I tracked down the Rose to the Whole Foods San Mateo, I was pleasantly surprised to see they had Copain's 2007 Syrah as well. We don't usually buy a Syrah but had been so happy with Copain's Rose, we thought "por que no?" (sorry for pun :P ) It was great and we will definitely purchase more wines from Copain in the future.

If you had not guessed from my multiple mention of Whole Foods from above, we have been taking advantage of their buy 6, get 10% off deal. (although i feel more taken advantage of lol) I hope they bring back their Quail Creek Case for $25 deal sometime this summer. That was amazing last year. Actually good $2 red or white table wines. Insanittyyyyyyyyy (Now that I just read the wiki page about it, I don't think I will buy again because of the treatment of their farm workers....back to the drawing board for cheap drinkable wines! )