Virtual food event's Houston stop features 5 top chefs

UPDATE: This event has been rescheduled for September 30 - October 5. Dates below have been changed.

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Just as the restaurant industry has had to change its usual operations in response to the coronavirus pandemic, so too have food events. Cochon 555, the annual celebration of family farms and heritage pork, will replace its in-person party with a virtual edition.

Held over five nights from September 30 - October 5, Cochon 555's Houston edition will feature meals created by five local chefs. Each kit, $115 for one person or $200 for two, will come with one dish that attendees can cook along with the chef in a virtual cooking class, along with other, prepared dishes that can be heated and served. Meals also include wine, cocktails, and/or cocktail kits as well as a charcuterie, pâté, and cheese board from New York's Les Trois Petit Cochons.

"People are hungry to connect, so transitioning into something virtual was a natural reallocation of the brand," Agency 21 Consulting, the company that owns/operates Cochon 555, partner and CEO Brett Friedman said in a statement. "By inviting food lovers to enjoy a meal prepared by Houston’s top culinary minds, while engaging in intimate cooking demonstrations, we are still able to generate excitement while supporting our local restaurant community."

The event will support the local community with more than just "excitement." Cochon will donate 80-percent of the ticket revenue to the participating restaurants.

All chefs will use heritage breed pigs from Texas farms, including Chubby Dog Farms in Grapeland, Whitehurst Heritage Farms in Brenham, and Falcon Lakes Farm.

Here's the lineup for this year's event:

• Friday, October 2: Former Poitín chef Dominick Lee, cooking under his Alligator Pear Hospitality brand, will guide attendees through the preparation of garlic-cilantro naan finished with pork fat butter. The menu also includes smoked ham tikka masala, pulled heritage breed pork with black lentils, and gajar halwa carrot cake.
• Wednesday, September 30: El Meson chef-owner Pedro Angel Garcia will guide attendees through the heating and plating of a menu that includes braised pork belly, bacon-wrapped dates, braised chicken and fig with bacon and crushed hazelnut, Cuban-style pulled pork (lechón asado), and classic flan.
• Sunday, October 4: Kirby Group chef Brandon Silva, cooking under the banner of his eagerly-anticipated Spring Branch restaurant Degust, offers a four-course menu that includes snapper tiradito, lengua barbacoa, pork loin pastor, and pork fat Mexican wedding cookies.
• Thursday, October 1: Jess DeSham Timmons, chef-partner of Cherry Block Craft Butcher + Kitchen in Bravery Chef Hall, prepares a menu of poached Gulf shrimp, confit pork belly, grilled pork tomahawk, and Creole calas.
• Saturday, October 3: Gabriel Medina, chef-partner of Click Virtual Food Hall, offers a Filipino-inspired menu of tuna kinilaw, Gulf seafood sinigang, and coconut chili pork (bicol express), with a dessert that will be announced soon.