Pigs Bring People Together
Posted Friday, May 21st, 2010, By: Martha
Yes, Portland has cemented its position as a swine-loving, cracklin’-crunching, squeal-munching city – some would rename it Porkland – with a fabulous showing at Cochon 555, Sunday evening at The Governor Hotel.
This is the second year that the traveling event – which is intended to raise awareness for heritage breed pigs and family-owned farms — has come to Portland. The other cities on the tour this year are Napa, New York, Boston, Stillwater, OK, (don’t hear much about Stillwater these days…), Atlanta, Des Moines, DC, Seattle, and San Francisco – with the winners of each city competing for king or queen of pork at the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen.
Chef Cathy Whims of Nostrana
The 555 conceit comes from “5 chefs, 5 pigs and 5 winemakers.” Our 5 chefs were Naomi Pomeroy/Beast, Gabriel Rucker/Le Pigeon, Andy Ricker/Pok Pok, Jason Barwikowski/Olympic Provisions, and our own Cathy Whims/Nostrana, who turned a Duroc pig into about 5 delicious dishes.
Event-goers washed down the fantastic pork creations (including an herb-laminated handkerchief pasta draped over the most adamantly luscious Bolognese you could ever imagine, from Cathy) with mighty fine drinks, including beer from Hood River’s awesome Double Mountain and wines from Bethel Heights, Soter, Elk Cove, Domaine Drouhin, and Domaine Serene.
Adding to the fascinating/crazy/cool/educational aspect of the event (yes, it was all 
those things) was a tour de force butchering of a whole Berkshire hog by SF butcher Ryan Farr. One minute, a pig was stretched out on the table, the proverbial nose to tail still connected, then about an hour later were enough tidy and tasty-looking cuts of meat to fill a butcher case for a month. Too bad the room wasn’t set up better so that more people could see and hear this craftsman at work.
Chef Adam Sappington of The Country Cat
And thank god we had another meat guru on the program after Ryan, namely butcher boy Adam Sappington from The Country Cat. He had roasted a whole pig, which he deftly dispatched into succulent portions, served with cheesey mashed potatoes. And biscuits. And BBQ sauce. Now, where’s my Double Mountain…
p.s. To get the full flavor and scope of the event, read up on the “incident” that ocurred later in the evening:
