Houston crowns its Prince of Porc
Pork was king at the recent Cochon555 regional competition held in Houston, Texas last weekend, and the newly crowned Prince of Pork is Chef Justin Yu of Oxheart Restaurant in Houston. Chef Justin will represent Houston against winners selected from nine other cities in the Grand Cochon at Snowmass/Aspen for the title of 2016 King of Pork. Besides bragging rights, the winner receives the grand prize of a four-day wine experience in Rioja, Spain's most prominent wine region.
Chef Yu won the event with an Iberico breed of pig raised by Acorn Seekers. This breed originates from the Iberian Peninsula and is known for roaming pastures while snacking on acorns. Iberico pork is highly micro-marbled with large fat caps, which worked in tandem with Chef Justin's winning menu of five uniquely created delicious bites.
At Yu's restaurant, guests can enjoy one of two, six-course menu choices each evening, priced at $75/person. Menu entrees include dishes like "'Golden' Tilefish a scapece, with tomatoes, basil-seaweed broth, and preserved fruit."
Yu has worked at some of the country's most notable restaurants such as *17 in Houston, Texas, Green Zebra and Spring Restaurants in Chicago, Illinios and Ubuntu in Napa, California. After staging abroad at restaurants in Belgium and Denmark Yu came home to open Oxheart "to convey a progressive perspective on regional product," according to a news release on the competition.
The seven-year old flagship COCHON555 tour is celebrated as the "world's first environmentally conscious nose-to-tail pig competition celebrating fine-dining and the pillars of our culinary landscape," according to the COCHON555 website. Every year, an epic 10-city culinary tour starts in New York City and continues to Minneapolis, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago and San Francisco. It culminates with the finale, Grand Cochon, in Snowmass, Colorado, called "the Super Bowl of Swine" by some enthusiasts. It's held the same weekend as the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. Immediately following Grand Cochon, the tour turns to a series of events dedicated to old-world cooking, Heritage Fire (fire-cooking event) and Heritage BBQ (global BBQ exhibition).
At each of the competitions, contestants present judges and guests with three painstakingly prepared, perfectly executed dishes that provide a proper tribute to the pig.
This year's Houston event benefitted the Piggy Bank, a farm devoted to providing free heritage breed pigs and business plans to emerging family farms.
