Creativity sizzles at heritage breed pig-palooza in Banff
“I’m a bit of a masochist. If you tell me something ’s going to be a challenge, I can’t resist.”
As he said those words last Saturday, Randy Luft was sporting an ear-to-ear grin.
No surprise, since he was in his element, presiding over a team of chefs as they scrambled to prepare small plates for more than 700 hungry customers.
It’s a life that the Calgary native and executive chef at the Rimrock Resort Hotel thrives on. After all, you don’t get to be the head food honcho at the home of Eden, one of the country ’s top restaurants, by shrinking from a challenge.
So when he and his crew received their Duroc/Landrace/Berkshire cross pig from the Bear and the Flower Farm — its Irricana-area owners Christopher and Jessica Fasoli pride themselves on being outdoor, free-range, natural pig farmers — Luft quickly got to work creating a tasty menu of dishes that utilized the whole animal. Or, as they say in the business, “nose to tail.”
Last weekend, Luft and chefs from four other renowned Calgary and Banff restaurants presented their creations at the Cochon 555 competition (cochon555.com) held at the Fairmont Banff Springs.
It’s the first time Cochon555, an American organization that wants people to think of the phrase “heritage breed pigs” in the same gourmet category as “Grand Cru Champagne,” has put on its signature competition in Canada.
The Banff/Lake Louise Tourism folks having successfully convinced Cochon’s founder Brady Lowe to host its 12-year-old signature event north of the 49th, this past Saturday saw a veritable pork-fest at the Banff Springs Hotel, with chefs offering up a dizzying array of ways to cook with the animal.
Those five chefs were tasked to create six delectable dishes using an entire 90-kilogram pig. The animals were supplied by five different area farms that specialize in heritage breeds. (The third “5” in the Cochon title comes courtesy of Canadian wineries and distillers, on hand to pour their products.)
“Heritage pork raised by family farmers is less than half a per cent of the total pork production,” said Lowe of the niche market.
“There was no one out there marketing it because there’s no money in it — but if we support these farmers, we get better, safer food.”
Cochon 555 also has a charitable component, which offers business assistance to those small family farms, as well as a “genetic sanctuary” farm where the organization raises heritage breed pigs and provides them to farmers who want to enter the business.
At this year’s inaugural event, chef Luft was joined by jW Foster of The Vermillion Room in the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Shelley Robinson from the Banff Hospitality Collective, Connie DeSousa and John Jackson from Charcut and Matthias Fong from River Cafe.
As her prized chef put the finishing touches on a mouth-watering potato emulsion dish using a Tamworth pig from Nature’s Green Acres out of Viking, Alta., River Cafe owner Sal Howell confirmed the importance of having Cochon 555 in Calgary’s backyard mountain paradise.
“This is a big deal, Cochon555 is a wonderful movement within the farming and culinary community,” said Howell of the event that, while a treat for its paying guests, also serves an important education function for chefs and the general public.
“There is such a rich diversity in breeds,” added Howell, whose advocacy for sustainability has won her national and international awards.
While Luft’s pork-skinned cannoli stuffed with a pork consommé espuma (or foam) wowed this hungry carnivore, in the end the judging team gave top honours to jW Foster.
Foster’s six dishes employed a Mangalitsa/Duroc cross from Country Accent Heritage Breeds just outside of Edmonton — the breed’s 40-per-cent fat content earning it the “Kobe beef ” of pork moniker.
Foster’s creative offerings included everything from a PopTart-Tin (back-fat pastry with braised apple, maple-bourbon glaze and smoked bacon candy sprinkles) to a Piggy in the Park (a ballpark smoky hotdog with gochujang mayo, crunchy nori and kimchi).
While Foster may have been the only chef to win a trip to the Grand Cochon finale on Sept. 30 in Chicago, Howell said it was a win-win event for all involved.
“Creating a demand for these animals is going to save farms and breeds,” said Howell, who hopes to see Cochon555 become an annual event in this part of the world.
“That is something worth celebrating.”