Pigs Pigs Everywhere and all of them to eat!

Last Sunday was the San Francisco edition of the Cochon 555 dinner. 5 pigs, 5 restaurants, 5 wineries. Five bay area restaurants where given a heritage pig  and told to do WHATEVER they want with it. The event aims to raise awareness about heritage pigs. This years participants were Ryan Farr-4505 Meats, Nate Appleman A16/SPQR, Ravi Kapur-Boulevard, Staffan Perje-Perbacco, and Peter McNee-Poggio. My wife, my Mom and I were invited to the VIP reception which allowed us to arrive early and get our tasting in before everyone else. After some last minute drama when the power went out due to an overload in the circuits (too many electric gadgets being plugged in at once), we began the feast. The variety was incredible! There was everything from bitter chocolate and pigs blood pudding (mmmm so good!) to head cheese to charcuterie and my favorite, rice crispy treats with BACON!. After sampling everything, it was time to cast our votes. The winner was chosen partly by public opinion and partly by the judges (a who's who of farmers, restaurant owners, sommeliers and pig enthusiasts). The winner was announced: Peter McNee-Poggio. Honestly a disappointment to me as it was my least favorite table. Peter won for all of the dishes on his table, but I suspect it was the "trotter tots" that clinched the win. This was in my opinion the easy way out. Lets face it, just about anything deep fried taste good. My favorite dish was Boulevards head cheese plate. The head cheese was the star of the show, but the fennel slaw enhanced it without covering up the true nature of the  dish. It was a complete thought on a plate and that is what made it so satisfying. All in all the event was in good fun and for a great cause. As my chef Friend loves to say "you gotta eat em to save em!" Oink Oink!