Chef Nicolai Lipscomb Of The Battery Wins Heritage BBQ By Cochon 555 in San Francisco
Over the weekend, we attended Cochon 555's Heritage BBQ San Francisco, a competition that promotes heritage breed pigs and global grilling cultures, dished up by some of the best chefs in town. Cochon 555 motivates a change in consumer behavior by promoting responsible farming while enjoying a premium lifestyle. With that being said, they got Michael Lee Rafidi of RN74, Dennis Lee of Namu Gaji, Nicolai Lipscomb of The Battery, Geoff Davis of The Dock and John Madriaga of Spruce on board to prepare heritage pigs as a competition. While the winning dish went to Chef Nicolai Lipscomb, we found it hard to choose a favorite when so many talented contendors were involved. You definitely do not want to miss this photo album to see what each dish looked like inside the beautiful Magnolia Brewery. Did your jaw drop too?
CHEF NICOLAI LIPSCOMB OF THE BATTERY WINS HERITAGE BBQ BY COCHON 555 IN SAN FRANCISCO
On Sunday, Chef Nicolai was announced the King of Heritage BBQ, by cooking a breed of Gloucester Old Spot from DG Langley Farm at a friendly culinary competition promoting heritage breed pigs and global grilling cultures. The winning menu included Gelatin BBQ Chip and Dip with Spicy Datil, Sope da Cabeca de Porco Pig Head Stew with Raisin, Tomato, and Malasadas Lilikel Curd, Morcelas Blood Sausage with Smoked Apples, Estepada Piri Piri Marinated Old Spot Loin with Corn Pudding, and his finale was a Kahula Slider with Jicama Slaw, Smoked Belly and Pickled Jalapeno. Photos from the event and winning menu can be found here.
Cochon 555’s Heritage BBQ is an event that rebuilds our perception of BBQ and starts our journey back to its roots by showcasing the original context of BBQ, which meant local meats, cooked with native spices, over fires and shared with a community. The series of event focuses on the message of tilting the scales in favor of building a long-term relationship for family farms and big commodity meat buyers like BBQ restaurants.
This year’s competing chefs included Host Chef Dennis Lee of Smokestack who prepared Korean BBQ, Geoff Davis of The Dock prepared South of the Border, Michael Rafidi of RN74 prepared Korean BBQ and John Madriaga of Spruce prepared Filipino yet it was winner Nicolai Lipscomb of The Battery who took top honors with his Portugese menu. Each chef was given a whole heritage breed pig raised on a local family farm, and in seven days they had to work with their teams to present a “Judge’s Plate” consisting of six dishes scored on utilization, global influences, cooking techniques and overall flavor. The winner in San Francisco was crowned the “BBQ King” and took home more than $3,000 in prizes, including a Dream Bar from Wilsonart, exclusive bar tools and cookware from Williams-Sonoma, alongside a large supply of premium whiskey, ryes and bourbons.
In addition to sampling the competitor’s dishes, guests enjoyed Cochon 555’s spotlight called “BBQ Traditions”, an epic tasting inside the event where notable chefs prepared one dish from their favorite BBQ culture like Hibachi, Char Siu, Barbacoa, Asado, Satay or even regional American BBQ styles. Jason Wittek of Stem prepared Carolina BBQ Ribs, Jeffrey Weiss of Jeninni Kitchen prepared Spanish Grilled Sardines, Joshua Schwartz of Del Dotto Vineyards prepared Barbacoa and Sophina Uong of Revival Bar + Kitchen did Rappahannock Oysters and Cambodian Satays.
"It’s always amazing to be in San Francisco; a great market of socially conscious people and a demographic we truly identify with” said Cochon founder Brady Lowe. “With the launch of our new charity, Piggy Bank, we couldn’t pick a better city to kick-off our new cause and message that family farms are still the minority group that needs our support. San Francisco was the perfect market to start the Heritage BBQ five-city tour, a big thank you to Dave McLean and Dennis Lee and the whole team at Magnolia Brewery at Dogpatch, the host of the event. It was such an amazing turnout and I’m truly honored to have collaborated with a team of amazing chefs, Magnolia Brewing, sponsors and farmers who were so receptive to the flavors, charity and cause.”
The all-inclusive stand up tasting event included 1,400+ pounds of heritage pig, “pop-up” culinary experiences, premium wines, artisan cheeses, sustainable seafood, hand-crafted spirits, fine cocktails, and a very impressive selection of whiskies, ryes and bourbon. The stunning lineup of sponsors behind this celebration of heritage species included Williams-Sonoma’s local butcher demo with Dave the Butcher and Mackensie Stewart, WilsonArt’s “Perfect Manhattan Experience” featuring Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, Breckenridge Bourbon, Westland Whiskey and Luxardo cherries. Everyone enjoyed a pairing showcase of Magnolia Brews with Alemar Cheese Co. and Creminelli Fine Meats. Guests also enjoyed Common Ciders, Creekstone Farms Mobile Rib Cart with Marc Zimmerman of Alexander’s Steakhouse, The Krave Jerky Bar, Mr. Espresso, and tasting of amazing olive oils from California Olive Ranch. A portion of the proceeds benefitted the local culinary school and Piggy-Bank.org while building opportunities for local family farms.
About Heritage BBQ by COCHON 555
Started in 2012 in an effort to bridge the gap between family farms and all categories of BBQ restaurants, Heritage BBQ by Cochon 555, is the first national BBQ competition dedicated to supporting a new direction for heritage breed pigs by expanding the conversation to a global economy. Created by Cochon 555 Founder Brady Lowe, Heritage BBQ engages existing BBQ restaurants in the local and sustainable food conversation taking place nationwide while simultaneously breaking ground on a new hyper-local, globally-themed, farm-supporting BBQ.
About The Cochon US Tour
The Cochon US Tour executes a variety of unique, local food events that are focused on raising enthusiasm for supporting family farms with the world’s first environmentally conscious nose-to-tail pig competition. The flagship Cochon 555 event is celebrated as the world’s first nose-to-tail pig competition in the fine-dining community. Created in response to the lack of consumer education around “heritage breed pigs”, this epic pork feast visits 20 major cities in North America annually. The US Tour also includes other live-event festivals, these focused culinary expressions include Heritage BBQ (global cultures), Heritage Fire (live-fire event), EPIC Cochon (hyper-premium), and Cochon Island (agri-tourism). The events feature top chefs preparing locally raised heritage breed proteins. Together with winemakers, brewers, distillers and craft food champions, they create authentic culinary events celebrating the good food movement. Since its launch, the tour has supported responsible family farming by sharing heritage breed pig experience with over 50,000, by donating more than $450,000 to charities and culinary schools, and buying more than $1,000,000 in food raised by local farmers. For more details about the events, visit www.cochon555.com or follow @cochon555 on Twitter.
