Cochon Butcher 930 Tchoupitoulas Street New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 588-2123

I went in to New Orleans earlier this year. While I will combine two stops into one review this one was a bit small for a full review. However I did not want it to be sweep under the carpet. This operation is a combo butcher/deli shop/ sandwich place. One of the things I bought to bring home was the Sweet Potato Habanero Sauce. It is wonderful with a heat level about super jalapeno with lots of fruit notes. I fell in love with it and was able to get a few bottles through connections. They sell only at the store. I look forward to when the Lafayette site opens so it is only 60 miles to get it.

On the wooded platter is charcuterie course. These are becoming very popular in New Orleans. Some restaurants use commercial or artisan offering. Places like Cochon make and cure their own. From left to right clockwise are Braesola (an air dried beef), green olives, Cochon mustard (grain mustard made with Abita Amber beer), soppersetta (dry cured salami that is usually spicy), cotto salami (a less dry sausage with mild taste), duck rilletes (a sort of pate made with cooked duck meat mixed with the fat of the cooking and chopped fine). All were excellent with their own nuances. I loved the dry beef along with the rillettes best.

Also popular in New Orleans are cheese boards or trays. The majority are composed of cheeses from a new cheese shop in the city, St James Cheese Company. Below from left to right are pickled mirleton (made in house), green olives, toasted baguette slices Rouge River Blue (US cows milk) , Selles sur cher (French goats milk), La Welsho (French cows milk). It is customary for cheese trays to have some form of pickled vegetable. I am such a neophyte with cheese I can only say I liked them but not why.

I also had a sandwich with a processed and cured meat that is a little unusual. GLT Guanciale (cured and smoked hog jowl) lettuce and tomato. I have liked hog jowl for a long time. Way before it became the darling of the gourmet world it was popular for country cooking because it used a portion of the hog that was not that popular. I've bought mine from Burger's Smokehouse for the last ten or fifteen years.
Definitely a place to visit when in the city. Cochon the restaurant is just around the corner. Eat there and take something home from here.


http://www.cochonbutcher.com/