Chef Charlie Palmer Cooks The Competition On Social Media For Charity

From Michelin Stars to James Beard Awards, there aren’t many top prizes associated with cuisine that Chef Charlie Palmer hasn’t won. Now, he’s turning to social media and a little friendly competition to help his restaurant employees during their COVID-19 struggles.

Known coast to coast for founding and leading elite dining experiences from Charlie Palmer at the Knick in midtown Manhattan to Aureole in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, Palmer is synonymous with the finest, freshly sourced meat and fish in an ambiance of low-key foodie indulgence.

In this era of Coronavirus lockdowns, many of Palmer’s restaurants are hit hard by social distancing rules. To raise money for employees hurt by that reality, the Charlie Palmer Collective partnered with Sonoma winemakers to produce the Pigs and Pinot Tutorial Series featuring recipes and lessons by Palmer and Chef Scott Romano. The vintners will donate 25% of wine sales inspired by the series to support Palmer’s hourly employees.

To call attention to that effort, Palmer will turn to social media every Sunday at 4 p.m. Eastern Time for the Weekend Chef Match. The Instagram Live event will feature a rotating lineup of chefs for a friendly cook-off. Using the challenger’s choice of protein and a list of simple pantry ingredients, each competing chef will battle Palmer to create their best dish in a time crunch of about 15-20 minutes.

Social media followers will determine the winners, and the resulting recipes go live at charliepalmer.com. So far, the series lined up chefs through May, including Chris Cosentino and Chris Engel. Fans looking to follow the content can track @chefcharliepalmer and tag a friend via social media for a chance to win a signed cook book.

The Weekend Chef Match’s will call attention to the Pigs & Pinot Tutorials and the 25% wine proceeds charity effort. Cooks and diners purchasing wine off of these productions are asked to use #pigsandpinot during checkout to track donation purchases.

Anyone looking to make a direct donation to help the hourly employees can visit charliepalmer.com/donate to offer financial help.