San Diego chef Brian Redzikowski, who helms the kitchen at Little Italy's Kettner Exchange, has won the regional title of "Prince of Porc" at the Los Angeles-based Cochon555 competition yesterday.
On Sunday, March 11, Redzikowski beat out four other chefs by serving what was ultimately deemed the top 6-course menu using an entire Berkshire pig from San Diego's own Cooks Pigs Ranch. Redzikowski won a four day trip to Rioja, Spain, and the opportunity to represent the Southern California region at Grand Cochon, the national finals competition that will take place later this year.
Each competitor was given a different breed of heritage pig to use to make a multi-course tasting menu. Other participating chefs included Hugo Bolanos of Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air, Thomas Bille of Otium in Los Angeles, Sammy Monsour of LA's Preux & Proper, and Lord Maynard Llera of Mason in Santa Monica. Redzikowski’s prepared an Asian-inspired menu that offered such delicacies as a pho dumpling, gimbap, a pig mac bao, Thai-style sausage and more.
Created in 2008 in response to the lack of education around heritage breed pigs, Cochon555 is a nose-to-tail culinary event tour dedicated to supporting family farmers and educating buyers about the agricultural importance of eating heritage breed pigs, some of which are on critical watch lists. The culinary tour starts in New York City in late-January and culminates with the finale, Grand Cochon on September 30 in Chicago.
