Best Pig Island Yet: Event Recap

 

Thank you for celebrating the 10th Annual Pig Island NYC! We could not have asked for a more beautiful day on the Red Hook waterfront. We believe it was our best Pig Island ever thanks to the delicious porcine dishes prepared by 20 chefs, flavorful craft beers, ciders, and spirits, live music, and of course, the energy and enthusiasm that all our guests bring to the event!

 

Photos by Paul Cheney @pecheney

Pig Island Prizes

The Josh Ozersky Memorial Award – AKA Best in Show 

Thomas Perone, The Pig Guy, New York

Smoked Chorizo stuffed with  provolone and topped with pickled shallots and a chimichurri aoili

Judge Adam Poch says: “This dish just hit every note – it was savory, sweet, spicy, the casing had a great ‘snap’ – it was the perfect bite to showcase the pig.” 

 

Photo by Paul Cheney @pecheney

The Whole Hog – AKA Best Use of the Whole Pig

Tank Jackson, Holy City Hogs, Charleston, SC

Tank prepared a pure-bred Ossabaw Island Pig, which he calls “one of the oldest and tastiest pigs in the world,” accompanied by collard greens.

Judge Adam Poch says: “This pig is over 40% fat – and that’s where the flavor comes from – this pig was literally dripping with flavor.”

Photo by Paul Cheney @pecheney

Prime 6 Charcoal Pit Boss Boss – AKA Best Charcoal Dish

John Fuchs and Vinny Ferrante, Red Hook Raiders, FDNY

 Slow Braised Ribs finished on the grill with homemade BBQ sauce, and topped with pickled jalepenos and cilantro

Pig Island is proud to partner with Friends of Firefighters, a non-profit providing counseling and wellness services to the FDNY and their families. 

Photo by Patricia Brown @pattyybrown

The Ingenious Pig – AKA Most Creative Dish 

Roxanne Spruance, “The Butcher,” New York
Vietnamese Larb: A Southeast Asian salad that’s made with pork shoulder and veggies, then seasoned with cilantro, mint, and a ton of fish sauce

You Look Mahvelous – AKA Best Presentation

Carl Ruiz and Mario Chape, La Cubana, New York featuring Smokey Boys BBQ and New England Meat Company
Puecro a ló Cubano: A whole rotisserie hog wrapped in bacon

Bad to the Bone – AKA Best Rib

Rob Cho, Kimchi Smoke Barbecue, New Jersey
Smoked Baby Back Ribs with Memphis style dry rub topped with gochujang glaze, sesame seeds, and scallions.

Tacoriffic – AKA Best Taco 

Billy Kooper, Route 66 Smokehouse, New York
Gringo Taco: Asian bbq sauce, cucumber, slaw, salsa verde, hard shell

Rookie of the Year – AKA Best First Time Participant

Matthew Worgul, Gentle Giant Barbecue, New York 
Half Pig Porchetta wrapped in our house-cured bacon

When Pigs Fly  – AKA Long Distance Award, Best Dish by Non-New Yorker 

Phil Wingo, PorkMafia, Chicago, IL
Whole Hog BBQ with cole slaw

Pig Impact Award – AKA Making a Difference Through Food 

Mike Petrovitch, Que Chevere, New York 
Roasted Pernil: A Puerto Rican style roast pork shoulder with rice and pigeon peas

Judge Adam Poch Says: “They are donating some of their proceeds to Austism Speaks – bridging the gap between old school home recipes and helping the community.“

Thank You to All of the Chefs who Participated in Pig Island NYC

Jason Fox, Hudson and Charles, New York
The Foxy Burger: Sliders with ground beef, ground pork, and ground bacon, topped with kimchi, bacon aoli, and sliced bacon

Jesse Jones, “POW! My Life in 40 Feasts”
Apple Cider Brined Half Hog and buttermilk yeast biscuits topped with apple butter mustard and pickled slaw.

Danny Mena of La Loncheria, New York
Puerco Ahumado: Marinated yucatecan smoked pork shoulder tacos and a side of bacon

Humberto Guallpa, Freemans Restaurant, New York 
Freemans Hog with poblano-tomatillo, bean sauce

Cenobio Canalizo and Eric Springer, Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue, New York
Pulled Pork Tacos with grilled pineapple in salsa verde

Jeff Lutonsky and Meghan Love, Mable’s Smokehouse, New York 
Pulled Pork Bacon Cups: A little cup made out of bacon with a moist bite of pulled pork and a dollop of sauce.

Jase Franklyn, Jase BBQ, New York 
BBQ Pigtail with jerk pork and ribs

David Nevarro, Mothers Ruin, New York 
Mixiotes de Puerco: Tacos with corn tortillas and nopales, a Mexican cactus.

  

Photo by Patricia Brown @pattyybrown

Other Featured Food

Nueske’s Bacon and Sausage, Wisconsin 

Grilled Vegetables, Just Add Beer Sauce

Cabot Cheese

Rocket Fuel Hot Sauce

Roni-Sue’s Chocolate Covered Bacon

Ritter Sport Chocolate

Featured Farm 

Flying Pigs Farm, Washington County NY and Others

Beverages:

Craft Beer, Featuring Sixpoint Brewery and Singha Beer

Hard Cider, Featuring Indian Ladder Farms, Kings Highway Fine Cider and Austin Eastcider

Wine: Tussock Jumper

Spirits, Featuring Knob Creek Bourbon, Laphroaig Scotch, Kilbeggan Traditional Irish Whiskey, NY Distilling, ESP Gins, and Olde New York Farm Distillery

Celebrity Judges

Jean-Paul Bourgeois 

Dara Pollak 

Nick Solares

Adam Poch 

Jill Rittymanee 

Gennaro Pecchia 

Ethan Fedida 

William ‘Brimstone” Kucmierowski

Steve ‘Zambo’ Zambito

Keep Reading

From Food Karma
Check out chef interviews leading up to Pig Island with Tank Jackson of Holy City Hogs, Meghan Love of Mable’s Smokehouse, and Roxanne Spruance of The Butcher!

On Beer Sessions Radio
Hear from Pig Island chefs Danny Mena of La Lonchería and Cenobio Canalizo of Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue, and spirits importer Arik Torren of Fidencio Mezcal on Beer Sessions Radio with Jimmy Carbone.Listen here.

From Jimmy Carbone on CulEpi
Sustainable Alternatives to the Big, Bad Meat Biz: Some Facts You May Not Know. Read it here.

Next Up from the Creators of Pig Island: Pastrami on Rye on October 16

Sample the world of rye with rye whiskey, farm beers, breads, and kosher barbecue at Food Karma’s featured event of NY Rye Week! This all-inclusive event will dive into the intersection between rye used in whiskey, beer, and bread! What better way to showcase rye grains, bread, and whiskey in NYC than pastrami on rye?

Get Tickets Here

10th Annual Pig Island 2019 on September 7

Join Food Karma Projects on September 7, 2019 for Pig Island NYC. More than 20 chefs will come together for this pork-laden festival on the Red Hook, Brooklyn Waterfront and compete for the most delicious porcine dishes. There will also be craft beer, hard cider, spirits, and other food offerings – all included with a general admissions ticket!

This year marks the 10th Annual Pig Island NYC and we are proud to honor our founding mission by supporting small, sustainable farms with the best practices!

Buy Your All-Inclusive Tickets Now!

Pig Island NYC in the Press

From Timeout: “Every year this pork-centric food festival leaves us squealing with delight.”

From Gothamist: “Prep your palate for a plethora of pork at the 10th-annual Pig Island…There will be more than 20 chefs slinging porcine provisions…[and] plenty of craft beer, hard cider, and non-pork dishes if you need to take a break from pigging out.”

From NYC BBQ Weekly: Pig Island “will be one of the largest barbecue events in New York this year and a great way to close out the summer.”

 

Pig Island NYC 2019 Featured Dishes

We are excited to unveil some of the tastiest food you can except at Pig Island

Tank Jackson, Holy City Hogs, Charleston, SC
Tank will be bringing a pure-bred Ossabaw Island Pig to the competition, which he calls “one of the oldest and tastiest pigs in the world.”

For his Pig Island dish he will be using whole hog barbecue, 24 month-old ham cured by Dakota hams out of Somerset, Kentucky, ghost pepper cheese infused sausages, and South Carolina collard greens cooked down in Ossabaw Island lard.

Rodrigo Duarte, Caseiro e Bom, New Jersey
Rodrigo will also be bringing his own hog. He is the only farmer in America certified to raise pure Ibérico pigs, which are fed a special diet of vegetables, acorns, and chestnuts to give their meat a rich, nutty flavor.

Carl Ruiz and Mario Chape, La Cubana, New York featuring Smokey Boys BBQ 
Puecro a ló Cubano: A whole rotisserie hog wrapped in bacon

Roxanne Spruance, “The Butcher,” New York
Vietnamese Larb: A Southeast Asian salad that’s made with pork shoulder and veggies, then seasoned with cilantro, mint, and a ton of fish sauce

Jason Fox, Hudson and Charles, New York
The Foxy Burger: Sliders with ground beef, ground pork, and ground bacon, topped with kimchi, bacon aoli, and sliced bacon

Jesse Jones, “POW! My Life in 40 Feasts”
Apple Cider Brined Half Hog and buttermilk yeast biscuits topped with apple butter mustard and pickled slaw.

Danny Mena of La Loncheria, New York
Puerco Ahumado: Marinated yucatecan smoked pork shoulder tacos and a side of bacon

Humberto Guallpa, Freemans Restaurant, New York
Freemans Hog with poblano-tomatillo, bean sauce

Cenobio Canalizo and Eric Springer, Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue, New York
Pulled Pork Tacos with grilled pineapple in salsa verde

Jeff Lutonsky and Meghan Love, Mable’s Smokehouse, New York
Pulled Pork Bacon Cups: A little cup made out of bacon with a moist bite of pulled pork and a dollop of sauce.

Thomas Perone, The Pig Guy, New York 
Smoked Chorizo stuffed with  provolone and topped with pickled shallots and a chimichurri aoili.

Matthew Worgul, Gentle Giant Barbecue, New York 
Half Pig Porchetta wrapped in our house-cured bacon

Jase Franklyn, Jase BBQ, New York
BBQ Pigtail with jerk pork and ribs

Mike Petrovitch, Que Chevere, New York 
Roasted Pernil: A Puerto Rican style roast pork shoulder with rice and pigeon peas

David Nevarro, Mothers Ruin, New York 
Mixiotes de Puerco: Tacos with corn tortillas and nopales, a Mexican cactus

Phil Wingo, PorkMafia

Billy Kooper, Route 66 Smokehouse, New York

Rob Cho, Kimchi Smoke Barbecue, New Jersey

 

Community Partner
Pig Island is proud to partner up with Friends of Firefighters, a New York-based non-profit providing counseling and wellness services to FDNY Firefighters and their families.

 

Other Featured Food

Jerk Chicken by Darlene Lawrence, Sands Jerk Hut, Brooklyn NY

Nueske’s Bacon and Sausage, Wisconsin

Grilled Vegetables, Just Add Beer Sauce

Cabot Cheese

Rocket Fuel Hot Sauce + Cheese

Roni Sue’s Chocolate-covered Bacon

Ritter Sport Chocolate

Featured Farm

Flying Pigs Farm, Washington County NY and Others

Beverages:

Craft Beer, Featuring Sixpoint Brewery

Hard Cider, Featuring Eden Speciality Ciders, Indian Ladder Farms Cidery, King’s Highway Fine Cider, Austin Eastcider

Spirits, Featuring Knob Creek Bourbon, Laphroaig Scotch, Irish Whiskey, NY Distilling, ESP Gins and Olde New York Farm Distillery

A Special Mezcal Zone with Mezcal De Leyenda and Several Other Brands of Authentic Mezcals from Oaxaca, Mexico

There will also be wine, non-alcoholic beverages, and plenty of water!

Celebrity Judges

Jean-Paul Bourgeois
Jean-Paul is the former executive chef and pitmaster at Blue Smoke. He has made it his personal mission to represent and revive the cuisine of his Louisianan kin and that of all southerners. He strives to honor and celebrate the traditions of southern cooking and cultures that came before us through sustainable food ways and new world techniques.

Nick Solares
Nick is a food writer, photographer, TV presenter, and an expert and thought leader on meat eating. He has over a decade of experience in the food space, with over a thousand published articles and many hours of video content online. Nick currently hosts the Emmy nominated video series, The Meat Show for Eater Video.

Gennaro Pecchia
Gennaro has served on the Executive Board for the American Institute for Wine and Food, can be heard on SiriusXM radio as a co-host to Roland Campos on Roland’s Food Court in New York City, and he is is the co-creator of Men Who Dine online food magazine.

Jill Rittymanee
Jill is a freelance food photographer who has worked with over 660 restaurants. Her work can be seen in Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, PureWow, New York Post, and more! Her main clients include Uber Eats and GrubHub. She will eat nearly everything and especially loves pork.

Adam Poch
Adam travels the country as a Bacon Spokesman & Food Judge. In 2012 Adam proposed to his girlfriend at Pig Island & they had a bacon themed wedding in April of 2013. Adam has also officiated Bacon Themed Weddings at Bacon Festivals around the USA. This is Adam’s 7th year as a judge for Pig Island.

Dara Pollak
Dara is the founder of The Skinny Pig, a top New York food blog born in 2008, covering “the Three R’s”: restaurants, recipes, and rants. Dara started the Instagram account @skinnypignyc  in 2014, attracting the masses with her sarcastic, witty humor, love of bacon, and unapologetic honesty. Her blog has won multiple awards, including Best Food Blogs in the World” (BrandBallot) and “Top 40 Food Blogs in NY” (feedspot).

Ethan Fedida
Ethan is the co-founder of Campfire Group – a digital consultancy focused on the intersection of social impact and storytelling.  But Ethan’s true love is all things food. From small dinners to massive dinner parties, Thanksgivings, Friendsgivings and his annual crawfish boil, you can always expect to find Ethan in a kitchen or at a grill somewhere, preparing a meal for friends or family. At the top of his food pyramid, is heat. Ethan LOVES everything spicy – the hotter the better and he is an annual judge at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo as well as the Porktacular Pig Island Food Fest.

William ‘Brimstone” Kucmierowski
Brimstone has participated in numerous entertainment fields boasting a list of titles including professional wrestler, host on The Grindhouse Radio, and co-founder of Hound Comics Inc., in addition to actor, author, musician, philanthropist, and food critic.

Steve ‘Zambo’ Zambito
Stephen is a professional audio producer, actor, model, singer, voice over actor, radio host and brand influencer more widely known internationally under his stage name, Zambo. He’s best known for his work on iHeartRadio’s pop culture ‘talk radio’ series, The Grindhouse Radio.

Judges Will Award Prizes in the Following Categories: Best Hog, Best Dish, Best Degustation, Best Pork Butt/Shoulder Dish, Best Bacon, Best Sausage and more!

And there will be live music by Dusty Wright Band!

Buy Your Tickets Now! 

General Admission Tickets: $75 Food, Drinks & Fun with nothing to buy onsite!

Early Bird All-Inclusive Tickets –$65  Food, Drinks & Fun with nothing to buy onsite! Available until August 31! Increasing to $75 later this summer.

VIP Private Table, Includes a private tent, table, chairs and all-inclusive tickets for 6 people.  Includes 6 t-shirts and your own cooler of beer, wine, and cider. $1,000. Limited number available.

All sales are final. Rain or shine.

21+ event.

We are family friendly – ticketed adults can bring your young child or baby.

You can also bring your own blanket to sit on.

How did it all start?

Pig Island was conceived after Jimmy Carbone and Josh Ozersky teamed up to produce Meatopia 2010. While Meatopia has since developed into an international food festival, Food Karma sought to embrace the burgeoning farm-to-table movement and support sustainable practices. This is how Pig IslandNYC was born.

By providing NYC Chefs with pigs purchased directly from small farms, PigIsland aims to educate consumers and serve delicious food! This year PigIsland is proud to source from Flying Pigs Farm in Washington County, NY.

In the 10 years since Pig Island was founded, Jimmy has worked to uphold the original vision for Pig Island, expanding the event’s reach, growing relationships with more farms and chefs, working with community partners like Friends of Firefighters, and creating the I Like Pig cookbook. For the 10th anniversary of Pig Island, we would like to honor Josh Ozersky, whose passion and creativity continue to inspire this event.

I Like Pig Cookbook

 

Jimmy Carbone, the producer of PigIsland, NYC teamed up with James Beard Award winning cookbook author Rachel Wharton to create a cookbook full of porcine goodness. Every year dozens of chefs come together and celebrate the agricultural bounty of the tri-state area  at Pig Island. I Like Pig serves up some of the most popular recipes from the first four years of PigIsland. 

Download the eBook here for $1.99

Thank you to all the Pig Island Sponsors for your support!

Pig Island 2018 Judges’ Chef Awards

Best in Show:
• Chef Jesse Jones. Author of ‘POW! My Life in 40 Feasts’. His dish: whole hog pulled pork, cornmeal pancakes.

Best Whole Hog:
• Rodrigo Duarte. Special dish: Ribs in bladder. Writer Joe Distafano days Rodrigo is the best pork chef in the USA, at “caseiro e bon” In Newark, NJ

Best Traditional Ribs:
• Big Papa Smokem. He brought a unique hog roaster. And came to win! Pitmaster Mario Chape.

Best Original:
• Robbie Richter crew Ali, big Lou. Roasted pork, curried peach and cilantro

Best Presentation:
• Chef Roxanne Spruance of The Kingsley

Best Non-Traditional Ribs:
• Ladder 101 friends of firefighters. With toasted sesame seeds

Most Creative:
• Jason Fox of Hudson & Charles Craft Butchers. Sausage made from whole pig

Most Bad Ass Ribs:
• La Loncheria / Chefs Danny Mena & Luis Jiménez of La Loncheria.

Lifetime Achievement Award:
• Matt Fisher of Fletcher’s Brooklyn BBQ, Ribs

9th annual Pig Island NYC event was Saturday Sept 8th. on the Red Hook, Brooklyn waterfront.

This event included: 

• Craft Beer, Cider & Spirits
• Celebrity Judges
• Flying Pigs Farm Ribs Challenge
• Live music
• Special Features

2018 Chefs, Special Features, and Celebrity line up:

Chefs

• Robert Cho of Kimchi Smoke
• Matt Fisher of Fletcher’s Brooklyn BBQ, Ribs
• Hoodoo Brown BBQ. #1 in Connecticut
• Gentle Giant Brewing & Barbecue. Pearl River NY
• Chef Billy Kooper of Route 66 Smokehouse. NYC
• Humberto Guallpa of Row House
• Mr. Fubz of Just+Add Beer. Ribs
• Bill Cooper of Route 66 Smokehouse
• Chef Roxanne Spruance of The Kingsley. East Village
• Rodrigo Duarte of Caseiro e Bom – Metro NYC’s greatest pork specialist.
• Flying Pigs Farm – Multiple stations, guest chefs and culinary students.
• Chefs’ Consortium
• Jimmy’s No. 43 & East Village Meat Market. Ribs & Corn with Davide Navarro from Mexico City
• Jason Fox of Hudson & Charles Craft Butchers. West Village
• La Loncheria / Chefs Danny Mena & Luis Jiménez of La Loncheria. Bushwick
• Chef Jesse Jones. Author of ‘POW! My Life in 40 Feasts’
• Friends of the Firefighters, Our Community Partner, Rib station
  And Featuring Firefighter teams:
• John Fuchs and Vincent of Ladder 101, Brooklyn
• Chef Eric Howard, Top 8 Master Chef and Aaron Clark of Ladder 4 Manhattan

Food Purveyors

• RocketFuel Hot Sauce
• Roni-Sue’s Chocolates, bacon corn with Nueske’s bacon.
• Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company
• Krave Jerky

Beer

• Sixpoint Craft Beer
• Guiness Sampling Tent

Hard Cider

• Indian Ladder Farms Cidery and Brewery, NY
• Diner Brew Co., NY
• Barrika Basque Country Cider
• Original Sin
• Urban Farm Fermentory, Maine
• Others

Spirits

• Breuckelen Distilling, NY
• Pig’s Nose Scotch
• Van Brunt Stillhouse, NY

Celebrity Judges

• Gennaro Pecchia, Co-host @rolandsfoodcourt @siriusxm
• Joe DiStefano @ Chopsticks & Marrow
• Adam Poch, Mr. Bacon
• Cathy Erway, Cookbook author and Heritage Radio Host
• Matt Rodbard, Editor in Chief | TASTE at Penguin Random House

Live Music by Dusty Wright & The Bush Hogs
https://dustywright.com

 

Community Partner -Friends of Firefighters

Friends of Firefighters is dedicated to addressing the physical, mental health, and wellness needs of active and retired New York City firefighters and their families

All-Inclusive Tickets – Food, Drinks & Fun with Nothing to buy onsite!

VIP Tent Limited Offer still available.

 

Recent Press about Pig Island

Pig Island’s Celebration of Pork Is Back in Red Hook on September 9 – NYC BBQ By Sean Ludwig, August 17, 2018

Pig Island To Test Your Capacity For Pork This September In Red Hook – Post by Gothamist on last years Pig Island event By Nell Case, Aug 1, 2017

We’ll be going hog wild at the beloved Pig Island on Saturday, September 8th,2018, as we return to the Brooklyn waterfront in Red Hook (across from Ikea)!

All sales are final. Rain or shine.

9th Annual Pig Island Farm and Chef Festival
Saturday, September 8, 2018
11:30am to 4pm
Red Hook Waterfront, Brooklyn
General Admission tickets on sale now

Vip tables, sponsorships, chef participation, media please email foodkarma@gmail.com

Children under 12 free with ticketed parent
*Chefs subject to change