Los Angeles chef Manzke wins Grand Cochon

Walter Manzke of Republique restaurant in Los Angeles came away with the title of “King of Porc” after the Grand Cochon, a cooking competition using whole heritage-breed pigs June 18 at the Viceroy Snowmass.

Manzke’s winning menu included pork belly, caviar, potato mousseline, bacon, rice, pork shoulder, foie gras, porcini mushrooms and Australian winter truffles. He won a four-day trip to the Rioja winemaking region of Spain.

The competition was part of the Cochon555 U.S. Tour, a traveling series of food events focused on raising awareness for heritage-breed pigs.

“It’s always an honor to host Grand Cochon,” said tour founder Brady Lowe. “With events like this, we continue to put the spotlight on heritage species and responsible agriculture through our work with amazing chefs, sponsors, farmers and their teams.”

The tour’s stop in Snowmass Village also included Heritage Fire on June 16, a festival with whole animals roasting over open fires prepared by 100 chefs and butchers cooking more than 4,000 pounds of heritage-breed animals. Heritage Fire also included a punch-pouring competition that crowned Nick Meyer of Rose Cafe in Los Angeles the winner among 10 competing bartenders. On June 17, the tour hosted the Late Night Asian Speakeasy at Ricard, a dinner featuring six Washington, D.C., chefs and interactive courses paired with wines. For more information, visit http://www.cochon555.com or follow @cochon555 on Twitter and Instagram.