The traveling porkfest known as Cochon Heritage BBQ will make a return stop in Louisville Sunday, Sept. 7 at 21c Museum Hotel, 700 W. Main St. A less formal offshoot of the long-running Cochon 555 project of food entrepreneur Brady Lowe, the bourbon and barbecue party has a purpose other than tanking everyone up on ‘cue and corn whiskey.
Lowe wants to use these parties to showcase the possibilities of traditional barbecue joints “to bridge the gap between family farms and all categories of BBQ restaurants” by showing how much better BBQ could be using heritage breed pigs.
Six chefs from local restaurants will get a 200-pound dressed pig carcass to break down as they wish to create 6 different pork dishes, to be sampled by party participants and a panel of judges, who will award a winner. Last year Decca’s Annie Petry took top prize.
This year’s competitors will include chefs Tyler Morris of Rye, Levon Wallace from Proof on Main, El Camino’s Brian Enyart, Jeffrey Dailey of Corbett’s and Ryan Rogers from Feast BBQ.
A new addition to the party this year will be “BBQ Traditions,” a sampling of barbecue traditions from around the world. Look forward to sampling braai from Africa, char siu from China, churrasco from Brazil and barbacoa from Mexico.
Libations are including in the ticket price: Goose Island Beer Co., one of the sponsors, will serve a selection of their brews, a “Perfect Manhattan” Bourbon Bar will create variations using brands such as Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, Breckenridge Bourbon, Templeton Rye, Four Roses and Luxardo, Crispin Cider will provide a tasting, and there will be a mezcal bar too.
Once again there will be a butchering demonstration, wherein guests can watch as a whole pig carcass is reduced to chops, ribs, hams, bellies, hocks and other luscious ready-to-cook parts.
And that ticket price will be $100 for the hoi polloi (which includes all you can eat and drink) and $200 for the VIP ticket, which includes more. Get them here: http://events.cochon555.com/heritagebbq_louisville
