Meet the “Princess of Pork”

Duskie Estes is a fascinating character, a successful entrepreneur, an extremely talented chef, and not to mention an absolute riot.  The granddaughter of a federal judge and a graduate of Brown University, Estes is a modern Renaissance woman. She juggles many hats as a mother, business owner, community activist, champion of organic and sustainable agriculture, a farmer and rancher, and an inventive professional chef. Deemed “the pork princess,” she earned this title winning the Cochon555 competition at the Aspen Food & Wine festival. She will again compete in the Cochon555 competition starting in Napa, CA., a 10-city tasting tour promoting heritage breed pigs will follow.

Estes is more surprising than simply being the first woman ever to make a winning array of pork dishes using a whole pig. As a former vegetarian, Duskie Estes is an ethical butcher who owns a bacon company (Black Pig Meat Co.), a rising-star TV personality (Next Iron Chef) and a chef-proprietor. She owns two award-winning, Michelin-recommended restaurants in Sonoma County with her husband. The champion of humane treatment of the animals she butchers, she insists on utilizing the whole animal. Dishes such as "When Pigs Fly" and “Piggy Pops” have earned her the top prize at the nation’s most prestigious pork cook-off. In addition to growing organic produce for her restaurants, Estes and her husband John Stewart raise mangalitsa pigs, baby doll sheep, goats, chickens, heritage turkeys, and rabbits on their farm. Duskie Estes is an interesting and thriving entrepreneur, as well as an extremely talented chef. She is passionate about food, family and farming.