Dock 5, Union Market’s back door event space (1309 5th Street NE) is typically one of the most under-the-radar aspects of the food market and hangout space. This was not the case this past Sunday, when both the poured concrete indoor area and the adjoining alley were host to Cochon 555’s traveling heritage BBQ showcase and competition, and where guests were greeted by megaphone announcements and the aroma of wood smoke, grilled pork, and artisan spirits.
Cochon 555, the heritage pig-focused brainchild of Brady Lowe, has toured the nation for the past seven years in order to educate consumers about the benefits of cooking with heritage pigs. An annual event, this year’s heritage BBQ competition in D.C. is perhaps best described as bacchanalian, and the salvo of expertly prepared pig parts was washed down by a river of bourbon, beer, tequila, and cocktails. While all 16 participating chefs provided composed small bites representing indigenous BBQ traditions from around the world, only 5 competed for the grand prize: a trophy presented by Brady Lowe, and a dragon’s horde of rewards (assuming that what dragons really value is a custom home bar and hundreds of dollars worth of copper barware and high end liquor).
Jose Adorno of Graffiato took home the prize, besting a field of competitors that included RJ Cooper of Rogue 24; Will Morris of Vermillion; Sam Molavi of Compass Rose; and Nicholas Steffanelli of Masseria. Surrounded by a crew adorned in red Graffiato t-shirts, and flanked by his father Greg Byrne, Adorno held aloft his trophy while thanking those who had worked with him. “It was a lot of hard work all the way around, for my staff, me, my parents, the farmer. It was so much hard work,” Adorno said. Standing next to his son and looking enormously pleased, Greg Byrne also commented, “We got to work together, it was a lot of ingredients from our farm.”
Byrne’s business in West Virginia, Creekside Farms, raises heritage hogs, and Byrne raised the pig that Adorno used during competition, a Red Wattle. Cochon 555 describes the Red Wattle as originally hailing from New Caledonia, a French island in the South Pacific, and states that they are an extremely rare breed which produces meat that is lean and tender, with a beef-like taste and texture. When asked how it felt to see his son win Byrne stated, “I kind of knew he would—it’s a great pig! He knows more about cooking than I do though.” Adorno added, “We were going to get the pig early and were going to rush it but he wanted to wait. He was nervous about it and I was like “you know what, you’re the farmer, you know the animal, let’s go with you.”
Unlike factory farmed pigs, where life is likely to consist of antibiotics, questionable feed, and cramped, filthy conditions, Byrne’s heritage pigs are pasture-raised and bred for quality over quantity. For farmers like Byrne, the happiness of the pig is also a significant factor when it comes to producing a product worth consuming. “I wanted it to go to the right slaughterhouse, the Mennonites. They’re wonderful with the animals, and I think stress is one of the real killers of flavor. I wanted to be sure this pig went to the right place.”
Sentiment like this is also part of the mission of Cochon 555, which seeks to promote the importance of raising unique pigs in better conditions. In what was perhaps the most unique part of the entire evening, guests were able to watch a live butchery demonstration of an exceedingly rare Mulefoot pig, which the Ark of Taste lists as being endangered and in critical need of conservation.
Almost never available for consumption, the pig was butchered by Marc Pauvert and Marcel Tebarts, chefs and Master Butchers employed by The Four Seasons in Baltimore. All of the cuts were made available for sale to guests, with proceeds benefiting L’Academie de Cuisine, a cooking school based in Maryland. Said Tebarts, “People see butchers as meat cutters, but there’s a lot more behind it. There’s an art of butchering.”
