Steigerwald of the Lincoln Cafe is the 'Prince of Porc'

Matt Steigerwald was at a disadvantage.

He was the only chef participating in the Cochon 555 competition that was held at STICKS in Des Moines this past weekend that was not from Des Moines.

Just like the other chefs, he was given a Heritage Pig to prepare in his kitchen at the Lincoln Café in Mount Vernon by the Taste Network to bring to the competition. But Steigerwald had to transport the pig more than two hours to the competition.

“Travel was a disadvantage for us,” Steigerwald said. “We loaded up a couple of our cars with sports coolers and a really exhaustive list of things we wanted to bring, equipment-wise.”

If a Des Moines chefs forgot an item, they could go back to their restaurant. Steigerwald believes one chef's restaurant was just a couple blocks away.

The competition, organized by Des Moines native Brady Lowe, brought together five chefs, five wineries and five pigs. Lowe works with farmers of Heritage Pigs at the Taste Network in Atlanta, which was a sponsor of the event. Cochon in French means “pig.”

Lowe found Steigerwald by asking around, searching for a chef who bought food items locally. “When I found out the importance he puts on food,” said Lowe, “it was an honor to send him an invitation.”

“I think the local tag line is pretty much permeated any restaurant in the United States,” Steigerwald said. “It's obviously the way to go in the terms of freshness and in terms of local economies and not spending too much petroleum on greenhouse gasses. It's the first step in terms of making food taste better.”

Nick Bergus, a freelance journalist who also teaches at the University of Iowa, was pleased to see such a turn out at the event and marveled at how the chefs had to prepare the pig in their own kitchen and transport the food to the event.

“One thing that was surprising was the little experience (other chefs) had with whole pigs,” said Bergus. Bergus heard a few chefs comment that usually they just order the cuts of meat they need and that they had not been forced to use a whole hog before.

Bergus has an interest in pigs, having done his masters project called “The Death of a Pig” following a pig through its slaughter and using all the parts for food.

Both Bergus and Lowe commented on the soup and head cheese that Steigerwald made.

“We made a soup called pozole, it's a Mexican pork and hominy soup,” Steigerwald said. Other items included a comfit with pork belly, angle biscuits (made with lard), head cheese and Carolina pork barbecue with cider vinegar in the sauce.

Steigerwald gives credit to his support staff for his success at the competition. “They were really key, really organized, really sharp.”

Steigerwald received a trophy with a pig on top declaring him the “Prince of Porc” as well as a bottle of Templeton Rye. He's not sure yet where the trophy will be displayed.

The Cochon 555 competition is traveling the country and will be in Chicago next on May 24. Lowe hopes the competition will become an annual event in Iowa.

To follow the event, Cochon 555 has a Facebook page as well as a Twitter feed, or go to their Web site, www.amusecochon.com.

The Lincoln Café is also redesigning their Web site to be more flexible. Steigerwald hopes to update the menu more often since the restaurant menu changes with the seasons.

The other chef's that participated were:

Andrew Meek, Sage

Jamie Monaghan, The Des Moines Embassy Club

Tag Grandgeorge, Le Jardin

Bill Overdyke,

Centro