Cochon 555
Sunday, Apr. 19, 2015
VIP Admission: 4PM
General Admission: 5PM
Loews Miami Beach Hotel – Official Host
1601 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tickets: $125 General Admission
$200 VIP
Purchase tickets

If you are down for heritage farming and roller-coasters of flavor; if you’re excited by a culinary competition; or if you just love to eat pork, clear your weekend calendar. Cochon 555, the country’s most talked about culinary competition arrives in Miami with an epic 3-day feast showcasing the best bites, chefs and who’s who of the good food movement. The goal, to celebrate family farms, heritage breed pigs and tilt the scales to favor today’s emerging chef community struggling to pay premium prices for safer, more flavorful food raised by real farmers.

One-of-a-kind dining experiences Friday and Saturday lead up to the main event, Cochon 555, on Sunday at Loews Miami Beach Hotel – the Official Host of the weekend. The events are part of a national culinary competition that showcases notable chefs, barrier-breaking women, artist-like butchers, spirited bartenders, top winemakers, brewers, distillers, alongside decadent oysters, caviar and sweets. Here is your chance to get in on the action.

Sunday, April 19, is the main event, Cochon 555, which features five chefs cooking five pigs in a friendly competition. This year’s competing chefs include Lindsay Autry of Fin & Feather, Xavier Torres of Drunken Dragon, Todd Erickson of Haven South Beach, Jason Pringle of db Bistro Moderne and Richard Hales of Blackbrick. The five chefs, champions of whole hog utilization, will prepare a maximum of six dishes with hopes to win votes from a crowd of hungry gourmands and celebrated judges. They will be preparing heritage breed pigs raised on local farms including South Florida Heritage Farm, FKS Farms, Maverick Meats, Palmetto Creek Farms and The Florida Fresh Meat Company.

The weekend kicks-off on Friday, April 17, with the Chef’s Course Dinner hosted at Pubbelly and paired with the amazing Wines of Germany. 2014 Miami “Prince of Porc”, Chef Jose Mendin welcomes guest chefs, Aaron Brooks, Cesar Zapata, Danny Smiles and Timon Balloo and COCHON 555 founder, Brady Lowe for a seated five-course dinner. The three-hour culinary experience includes thoughtful chef introductions of each course ($125 all inclusive) as they work together to prepare this special, one-night-only epicurean feast, emphasizing high-quality, local ingredients and responsible agriculture.

Saturday, April 18 spotlights Cochon 555’s “Large Format Feast,” ($110 all-inclusive) a four-course meat feast hosted at L’echon Brasserie with Chef Jose Mendin. The preview dinner, featuring St. Francis Wines and Hirsch & Old Potrero, will celebrate family-raised beef and Duroc pork from Creekstone Farms. This epic “Big Beef vs. Heritage Pig” dinner series features notable chefs who are reinventing the traditional steakhouse experience to spotlight the growing popularity of heritage pork on steakhouse menus, ultimately setting course for a safer food system.

Going on its seventh year, Cochon 555 is regarded as the nation’s most flavorful culinary tour. This year’s judges, led by Miami’s 2014 Prince of Porc, Jose Mendin, and including Aaron Brooks of Edge Steakhouse, Daniel Serfer of Mignonette, Bradley Herron of Michael’s Genuine and Norman Van Aken of Norman’s will help select Miami’s “Prince or Princess of Porc.” The winner goes on to compete for the title of “King or Queen of Porc” at the tour finale, Grand Cochon at Snowmass/Aspen in June. The grand champion will be rewarded with a 4-day wine experience in Rioja, Spain’s most prominent wine region. And, new in 2015, the winner’s kitchen countertops will be resurfaced with Wilsonart® Quartz decorative surfacing, a remarkable, beautifully engineered stone material from America’s countertop leader.

The Miami version of this fairy-tale heritage pork event includes more than 36 chef-prepared dishes in an all-inclusive stand up reception with notable tastings from Wines of Germany, St. Francis Winery and Whistle Pig Rye. Cochon’s “pop-up” culinary experiences include the Petit Format Bar presented by Wilsonart® Quartz decorative surfacing, the Mezcal Chupito Bar, The Artisan Cheese Bar with The Cheese Course and the famous TarTare Bar featuring Creekstone Farms prepared by Chef Jose Mendin of Pubbelly. This notable group of local and national sponsors will be hosting exceptional experiences from Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Breckenridge Bourbon, Hirsch, Luxardo, Rappahannock Oyster Shelf, Prosciutto di Parma, Black River Caviar, Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Creminelli and La Brea Bakery.

We are proud to announce the return of the Pop-Up Butcher Shop with the support of Williams-Sonoma – a live butchering demonstration with Andres Barrientos of Miami Smokers, raising money for the supporting culinary students from Johnson & Wales.

Both ticket levels include endless food and drink options. Specifically, general admission offers over 36 dishes prepared from nose to tail, paired with wines, brews and spirits. VIP grants one hour early access to food, drink and an opportunity to mingle with notable chefs, judges and media.

“I’m excited about all the new partners in 2015 who support family farming, independent business and heritage breed pigs. Each event aims to lessen the burden on the small farmers to hold surplus inventory and streamline the sales process. This year we continue to expand with a guest chef and winemaker dinner series over the course of each weekend, a revamped welcome reception, and a flavorful lineup of experiences that support a more natural, sustainable food system,” explains Brady Lowe, founder of Cochon 555. “Together, with some of the best chefs and partners in Miami, we amplify the conversation of heritage pork, which for many is a ‘gateway meat’ to a larger appreciation of where our food comes from and the people that raise it, leading to more mindful eating.”

Fans of this epic culinary competition can satisfy their hunger in other ways by getting in on the action and entering any of the live Cochon contests. Visit cochon555.com/win/ and sign up to win your chance at a Cochon monumental experience, which includes unforgettable trips and extravagant prizes that are worth more than $25,000. Lucky winners will be rewarded with prizes that include an epic trip to the Rioja Wine and Tapas festival in Chicago on May 2, a newly resurfaced dream kitchen sponsored by Williams-Sonoma, Wilsonart, Shun, Chefs Feed & Food Republic and a four-day trip to Mexico. The Mexican getaway, presented by Mezcales de Leyenda, Simmer, Panna Cooking and Cochon 555, asks contest participants to share their favorite Mezcal recipe using the Simmer App on their iPhone. It’s time for Cochon fans to get treated! Don’t miss out on these unforgettable opportunities and sign up today.

Guests can upgrade their ticket online by pre-ordering a copy of EPIC PORC – The Cochon 555 cookbook to be released in fall 2015. All Ticket buyers receive a free year-long PANNA subscription at a $24.95 value. Everyone is invited to visit the new website and signup for the newsletter to be the first to get chef announcements and a chance to win prizes from our sponsors. Wall Street Journal subscribers can also enter to win tickets at www.wsjplus.com.