PBTD write-up in the Houston Chronicle

greg morago, houston chronicle's food editor wrote a wonderful piece on the houston chowhounds and the pork belly throwdown that took place last week at catalan. The write-up should be in thursday's Preview section of the paper, but you can get a sneak peek on alison cook's blog until then:

http://blogs.chron.com/cookstour/archives/2009/08/the_lowdown_on_1.html#more

PBTD results

photo by Carlos Meltzer

last night at catalan nearly 200 pork lovers from all over houston convened for an evening of pure gluttony at the houston chowhounds pork belly throwdown. chris shepherd and antonio gianola were our hosts with the roasts - pig roasts that is. huge pans of pigs heads and roasted suckling pigs greeted their food fans upon arrival who were welcome to nosh on a piggie cheek, ear, and anything in between. to a chowhound, absolutely no pig parts are off-limits.

in attendance were a boisterous, hungry crowd of foodies (aka houCHies) and industry folks, most of whom chose to spend their only day off this week gathered together in this eating-for-sport event. there were two competitions this evening: first, battle beans competition by houston chowhounds amateur chefs. this contest was judged by twelve of houston's top chefs who were present to compete in the headlining event: a pork belly cooking contest, or "throwdown."

tonight was a follow-up to the fried chicken throwdown at beaver's two months ago. the two winners of that evening's challenge, randy evans (executive chef of the much anticipated Haven opening in oct) and cody vasek (executive sous chef at VOICE) returned to defend their titles. however, tonight's challenge had only one judging category and could only have one winner.

the judges this evening had the daunting task of tasting twelve different pork belly dishes. the panel included teresa byrne-dodge, publisher/editor of my table magazine; chris shepherd, chef/owner of catalan; chris reid, houston press food blogger; misha govshetyn, tasty bits food blogger; wild card judge - justin basye, chef de cuisine at VOICE; and yours truly. each dish was scored based on (1) originality, (2) plating, and (3) taste. scores for taste counted twice and was double-weighted.

and the winners were...

1st place: Cody Vasek, VOICE. Quartet of Pork Belly: tempura fried pork belly over fermented black rice; pave of pork belly with pickled cherries & sweet corn marmalade; pork and bean ginger snap ice cream sandwich; fried pork belly & chicken skin wrapped scallop. cody received near perfect scores across the board for all categories. the ice cream sandwich was spectacular

photo by Misha Govshetyn

2nd place: Randy Evans, Haven. Pork belly pastor torta. the flavors were both comforting and extremely tasty. randy served this with a bucket of mexican cokes & jarritos, pickled carrots, and homemade salsa verde. it's difficult to imagine that a torta could beat the rest of the dishes you'll see below, but it really was THAT GOOD.

photo by Misha Govshetyn

3rd place: Manubu "Hori" Horiuchi, Kata Robata. Pork Belly Threesome: braised pork belly and green onion crepe w/kim chee sauce; braised pork belly sushi w/grated daikon soy sauce, bonito flakes, & yuzu pepper; "kakuni" sake-braised pork belly w/spinach in sweet soy reduction. this was another dish with high originality and plating scores.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

the other dishes were as follows:

Jonathan Jones, Beaver's. "Bacon, Biscuit and Eggs" - cured, smoked, sous vide berkshire pork belly, buttermilk biscuit, soft scrambled egg, maple "caviar", peach jam. it was served with the Beaver's famous "squealing mary" bloody mary made with bacon-infused vodka and garnished with bacon sugar salt rim and candied bacon. JJ described this dish as tasting like his childhood.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

Ryan Pera, The Grove. Crisp pork belly with sweet and sour watermelon, tamarind vinaigrette and scallion salad.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

Matthew Gray, Chez Roux. Fennel Crusted Home Cured Belly Pork, Seared Scallop, and Apple Puree.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

Paul Lewis, Cullen's Upscale American Grille. Crisp Jolie Vue Farms Pork Belly, Spiced Apple Compote, Housemade "Kim Chee."

photo by Misha Govshetyn

Antoine Ware, Catalan. Brown sugar & bourbon glazed belly of Mr. Hatterman’s Blue Butt Hog, butternut squash.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

Jose Luis Vela, Mockingbird Bistro. Kurobuta Pork Belly "Club" with Foie Gras, Tomato/Orange Marmalade and Brioche. Definitely the most decadent dish of the evening.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

Ronnie Killen, Killen's Steakhouse. Vermont Maple Glazed Kurobuta Pork Belly w/ Cabbage slaw

From Pork Belly Throwdown

Jason Gould, formerly of Gravitas. Molasses braised pork belly, apple & green onion jam, herb bread pudding.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

Randy Rucker, Rainbow Lodge. 36 hour poached Iowa Pork Belly sliced thin and glued to shrimp carpaccio with "TG" and dusted with a powder made from pork fat, isomalt, truffle & tapioca maltodextrin and torched, “rice-less” risotto made from yukon potatoes micro-diced to the size of carnaroli rice, squash blossom kimchee (served in its physical form, pureed, and foamed.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

the results of Battle Beans were as follows:

1st place: Karen Rittinger. Fabada Asturiada.

photo by Carlos Meltzer

2nd place: Steve Philpot. Third Coast Cassoulet.

photo by Carlos Meltzer

3rd place: Cindy Robertson. Cindy was also the winner of the fried chicken throwdown's Battle Mac & Cheese.

left over proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the charles blanton community garden in the 1st ward.

a separate charitable effort in the form of an e-cookbook is also being compiled to benefit recipe for success. the "book" will include the pork belly and bean recipes from the evening's event. copies can be requested with a $5 donation by emailing info@recipe4success.org.

From Pork Belly Throwdown

links to other event write-ups & photos:

• houston press write-up & slideshow
• great food houston blog
• compilation of event photos from photo sets by carlos meltzer, misha govshetyn, jim gossen, and food princess

PBTD line up tonight

pork belly throwdown judges, please look the other way...
i really couldn't resist posting this list for the PBTD attendees tonight.

a couple things i noted:
- more sweet applications than savory
- 2 dishes incorporating "kim chee"
- 3 dishes incorporating apples

what i'm most surprised about: no one is using pork cracklings
what i'm looking forward to trying the most: pork belly sushi (hori-san)
most over-the-top: PB club w/foie gras (mockingbird)
what i'm most curious about: pork and bean ice cream sandwich (vasek)

Team Beaver’s
Jonathan Jones, Russell Kirkham, & Tad Turrany
"Bacon, Biscuit and Eggs" - cured, smoked, sous vide berkshire pork belly, buttermilk biscuit, soft scrambled egg, maple, peach jam

Team Chez Roux
Matthew Gray & Damien Rice
Fennel Crusted Home Cured Belly Pork, Seared Scallop, and Apple Puree

Team Cullen’s
Paul Lewis & Bruce Trathen
Crisp Jolie Vue Farms Pork Belly, Spiced Apple Compote, Housemade Kim Chee

Jason Gould
Molasses braised pork belly, apple & green onion jam, herb bread pudding

Team Haven
Randy Evans, Kevin Naderi & Ojan Bagher
Pork Belly Torta – a taco truck BLT

Team Kata Robata
Manubu “Hori” Horiuchi & Jean-Phillipe Gaston
Pork belly Threesome (Sushi, Crepes, Kakuni with Spinach)

Team Killen’s Steakhouse
Ronnie Killen & Dee Dee Killen
Vermont Maple Glazed Kurobuta Pork Belly

Team Mockingbird
Jose Luis Vela & John Sheely
Kurobuta Pork Belly "Club" with Foie Gras, Tomato/Orange Marmalade and Brioche

Ryan Pera from The Grove
Crisp pork belly with sweet and sour watermelon, tamarind vinaigrette and scallion salad

Randy Rucker from Rainbow Lodge
IOWA PORK BELLY “rice-less” risotto, shrimp, squash blossom kimchee

Cody Vasek from VOICE
Quartet of pork belly: Sweet n sour pork with smoked rice, sesame powder; Pave of pork with pickled cherries & summer corn marmalade; “pork n bean” ice cream sandwich; and ??????????

Antoine Ware from Catalan
Brown sugar & bourbon glazed belly of Mr. Hatterman’s Blue Butt Hog

let the pork games begin! see you tonight.

southbound food show #4

here are the podcast links for Southbound Food radio show #4 w/ Bryan Caswell & Lance Zierlein that aired Sat, 8/15. the show has a permanent time slot now @ 11AM on Saturday mornings.

special guests this week: Randy Evans - executive chef of Brennan's who is opening the much anticipated Haven in Oct 2009; Michael Housewright - wine director at Block 7 Wine Company; Heidi Barrett - wine goddess/winemaker of Screaming Eagle, Grace Family, Revana, and her own wine company, La Sirena

segment 1 - randy evans discusses haven
segment 2 - michael housewright discusses block 7 wine co
segment 3 - jenny wang (houston chowhounds) discusses upcoming pork belly throwdown; top chef masters; interview with heidi barrett

tune into 1560 AM saturdays @ 11AM or stream it live from 1560 the game's website.

southbound food show #3

yes, i suck for not posting these sooner. here are the podcast links for bryan caswell's southbound food radio show #3 which aired last weekend.

special guests: chris shepherd from Catalan, cody vasek (executive sous chef @ VOICE) and me.

we discuss flavor tripping, Chris' trip culinary adventures in Istanbul, Cody's recent throwdown successes, Julie & Julia, food blogging, PBTD, and more:

segment 1
segment 2
segment 3

please send comments or questions for the "ask the chef" segment to southboundfood@gmail.com.

southbound food - take 2

if you haven't heard about southbound food, then you definitely haven't been following me on twitter. and you probably weren't at the listening party this evening at anvil bar & refuge.

southbound food is the new local food radio talk show hosted by bryan caswell of REEF and little bigs and sports talk show host, lance zierlein on 1560 AM the game. bryan caswell, recently awarded the 2009 best new chef award by food and wine magazine and given his own official houston holiday ( july 21st now goes down in h-town history as bryan caswell day), can seem to do no wrong these days. the show has started with great personalities and momentum and is truly entertaining, albeit a tad racy, and definitely hilarious.

the first test show aired last weekend with special guests, jonathan jones from beavers and mark musatto from airline seafood. this week jonathan jones returned with bobby heugel from anvil and me. ME!

show two first aired last night, again twice today, and tomorrow at 9AM and 6PM. tune into 1560 AM or stream it live from their website. if you haven't been able to catch it and can't wait until tomorrow to tune in, i have the podcast links for you here. there are three segments and i promise the show gets funnier and funnier with each click.

segment 1
segment 2
segment 3

after you listen in, please let the producers know how you feel. leave a comment here or send an email or tweet to lance zierlein. the show will eventually find a permanent time slot on saturday. i'll keep you updated on that! the show is now accepting advertisers too (contact lance for more info). and i'm happy to announce that i've already been invited back to do another show!

PBTD chefs and judges

Some of you have been anxiously awaiting these Pork Belly Throwdown announcements.

And the judges are...

1. Jenny Wang (@imneverfull) - 002 Magazine food writer & I'm Never Full food blogger
2. Chris Shepherd (@cshepherd13) - chef/owner of Catalan Food & Wine
3. Teresa Byrne-Dodge (@MyTableMagazine) - editor & publisher of My Table Magazine, author of The Ultimate Food Lover's Guide to Houston
4. J.C. Reid (@houston_foodie) - food blogger for Houston Press' Eating Our Words and Houston Foodie
5. Misha Govshetyn (@tastybitz) - Tasty Bits food blogger
6. Justin Basye (@justinbasye) - chef de cuisine, VOICE (*WILD CARD)

And more importantly, the chefs that will be competing are...

1. Randy Evans (@havenchef), chef/owner of Haven (opening this fall)
2. Jason Gould (@chefjasongould), chef/owner of Gravitas
3. Matthew Gray, chef de cuisine of Chez Roux @ La Torretta Del Lago
4. Manubu "Hori" Horiuchi, executive chef at Kata Robata
5. Jonathan Jones (@PapaBeav), chef/owner of Beaver's
6. Ronnie Killen (@ze1chef), chef/owner of Killen's Steakhouse
7. Paul Lewis, executive chef of Cullen's Upscale American Grille
8. Ryan Pera, executive chef at The Grove
9. Randy Rucker (@greensandbeans), executive chef at Rainbow Lodge
10. Cody Vasek, sous chef at VOICE
11. Jose Luis Vela, chef de cuisine at Mockingbird Bistro
12. Antoine Ware (@catalansous), sous chef at Catalan

don't forget: tickets to the throwdown go on sale tomorrow. details will be posted to the houston chowhound yahoo! board.

complete event details on the official website.