Monday, April 22, 2013

Cochon 555 Miami: Chef Aaron Brooks from EDGE Steak & Bar Crowned Prince of Porc

Yesterday Miami got a taste of hog heaven in the Fifth Annual Cochon 555 held at the Four Seasons Hotel on Brickell Avenue.  Pigging out was an understatement for those who attended this great feast. Five pigs, five renowned Miami Chefs and five wine makers came together for this traveling competition which promotes sustainable farming of heritage-breed pigs.  Each chef must prepare dishes using an entire 200 pound heritage-pig from snout-to-tail, and both judges as well as attendees vote for their favorite.

Foodporn at its finest

Chef Aaron Brooks
Chef Cesar Zapata
The creative juices were on full swing as chefs prepared everything from pork-dogs to pork nitrogen bombs to blood ice-cream. Competing were Aaron Brooks of EDGE Steak & Bar from the Four Seasons, Timon Balloo from Sugarcane, Jeffrey McInnis from Yardbird, Cesar Zapata from The Federal and David Thomas from The Bazaar. Don't miss this awesome video clip courtesy of Hedonist/Shedonist featuring Daniella Vera and I puffing the nitrogen dragon: Dragon's Breath Rinds from The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel. Watch out!

Nitrogen and pork...a smoky combination

Perfect Manhattans
Loving these
In addition to the pork competition, this year also showcased a cocktail competition called “Punch Kings” featuring Breckenridge Bourbon prepared by six local bartenders. The winner for Miami was Robert Ferrara of Swine Southern Table & Bar. To add to the fun, there was also a TarTare Bar where Executive Chef Todd Erickson from Haven Gastro Lounge worked some magic.  After tasting the delicious pork creations from the participating chefs, Part Deux came in the form of a scrumptious Heritage BBQ prepared by Conor Hanlon from The Dutch. 

Like kids in a candy store

And the winner is...
Chef Aaron Brooks
Although there was something spectacular at every table, Executive Chef Aaron Brooks of EDGE Steakhouse at the Four Seasons won the competition and was crowned the Prince of Porc.  His fabulous offerings included mouthwatering Porchetta Sandwiches made with shaved feet, Headcheese Pastelitos and Kielbasa that had attendees licking their fingers. He will now go on to compete at the Grand Cochon event at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen on Sunday, June 16.

With Chef Aaron Brooks and his beautiful daughter
  
Congratulations to Aaron Brooks and his fabulous staff on the win. To follow-up or find out more information on Cochon 555, visit http://amusecochon.com/2013/miami/ .


Highlights from Cochon 555 Miami

Can we have some privacy please?
Say Pig...I mean Cheese!

Some delicious treats at EDGE's table

I'll take one of each please...

Chef Brook's tasty creations..had to keep coming back!

Yardbird's goodies...loved the porkbuns

Chef Todd Erickson at the TarTare Bar

Chef Erickson's Tartare Noir

Daniella Veras from Hedonist/Shedonist and Louis Aguirre




Porkness Grace...slider from The Bazaar

Smoker's Delight from The Federal

Fabulous dessert from Chef Timon Balloo of Sugarcane

Pigging around with Daniella Veras

Part Deux: Pop-up treats from Conor Hanlon of The Dutch

More from the Heritage BBQ

The low calorie part of the evening...

Survival of the Fittest when these goodies came out!

These aren't all for me...really!

Swine and Sweets to end the night





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