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" One foot on Randall&amp;#039;s Island, in New York City, and the air smelled like smoke and meat. High winds and dark clouds overhead kept fresh a tornado warning and the promise of thunderstorms. But still people came. By boat, bus, and car. They came to celebrate meat and the animal from which it came. And there was meat. Thousands of pounds of meat. Beer, pork, chicken, quail, turkey, lamb, and duck sizzling on grills, cooked by the best chefs in the country. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s why you come to Meatopia,&amp;quot; said founder Josh Ozersky. &amp;quot;To eat meat and a lot of it and to feel good about it.&amp;quot; And it was spectacular. Here, photos that attest to that opinion, and to the state of meat-eating generally.  As part of feeling good about the meat we eat, Meatopia emphasized sustainable cooking and farming practices. &amp;quot;I love using the whole animal, and Meatopia&amp;#039;s all about the animal,&amp;quot; said Alex Guarnaschelli of the Darby in New York. For her dish, canard a la presse with sauce Chasseur, she fed the leftover duck carcasses into a press that extracted blood and juice from the remains. She then spooned the juice over flesh.  Kor Moo Yang (Hog Collar) With &amp;quot;Jaew&amp;quot; Thai Chili Dip by Kris Yenbamroong (Night Market, Los Angeles). The hog collar might sound unusual in the U.S., but it&amp;#039;s a traditional cut in Thailand. Normally, it isn&amp;#039;t cured, but Yenbamroong has been curing hog collar since he opened his restaurant because, as he says, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a good thing to do to a fatty cut of meat.&amp;quot;  The Tomahawk Steak.  Iron Chef Marc Forgione of New York gave most people a slice of the velvety steak, but the occasional lucky person got a bone. Forgione gave out the first bone to a deserving man with a gut that suggested he would enjoy it. &amp;quot;I gave you this first one, but from this point on, I&amp;#039;m giving these out to beautiful women,&amp;quot; Forgione said.  Rib Steak with Bone Marrow Ma\u00EEtre &amp;#039;D Butter and Pickled Grilled Onions. (Off the bone.) The sauce is half-butter, half-marrow.  Mangalista Pork Rack, Cochon Boudin, and what we wish life looked like all the time \u2014 featuring The Fatback Collective, a group of barbecue artists from across the south.  The collective camped out the night before, slept in weather-proof folding chairs so they could tend the fire for their Barbecued Fatback Farms Heritage Whole Hog. It cooked for almost a full day.  The Navy SEALs were present and cooking up Venison Wrapped in Bacon with Jalapeno and Cream Cheese. The original recipe came from SEAL Robert O&amp;#039;Neill&amp;#039;s grandma. A Montana native, he said his grandma created the recipe &amp;quot;out of necessity. We&amp;#039;ve always cooked up everything we shot.&amp;quot; This photo&amp;#039;s of some of the boys cooking in back. &amp;quot;Alright if I take your picture?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Yeah, as long as you remember to say that the Navy SEALs saved the United States of America.&amp;quot; Thanks, boys, for your service.  Michael White of Osteria Morini in New York served Grilled Pork Cheeks with Late Summer Vegetable Mostarda. Delicious.  The Cattle.  The Pastures.  Grazing.   Whole Lamb Asado, Uruguayan-Style by Santiago Garat of Belcampo Meat Co., in Oakland, California.  The Whole Foods Market Best Butcher Contest. Round 1: Turducken.  The weather took a turn for the worse. &amp;quot;The poultry Gods find it unnatural that a chicken should be put inside a duck.&amp;quot; \u2014Josh Ozersky  As the rain began to pour, you could hear the cry of &amp;quot;Keep cooking!&amp;quot; from Esquire-sponsored chef Mike Toscano&amp;#039;s (Perla, New York) tent. They were grilling Quail Alla Diavola with Charred Scallions and Buttermilk Dressing.  And they did keep cooking.   And we were glad for it.   April Bloomfield (The Breslin, New York) comes prepared for a day in her wellies and makes Whole Hampshire Hog with Spicy Pepper Seasoning. She opted for a Kansas City-style roast.  Pat LaFrieda of Pat LaFrieda Wholesale Providers in North Bergen, New Jersey, cooked a Whole Thousand-Pound Marinated Creekstone Steer, 22 months old. His team used a forklift to lower the animal, butterflied on a heavy grate, into a Caja China (that translates to China box \u2014 a Latin American method for cooking the whole beast). They used the forklift again 24 hours later to lift it out.    How they broke down the whole cow to make it fit on a plate.  Aaron Franklin of Franklin&amp;#039;s BBQ in Austin, Texas, had the longest line at the festival. For three solid hours, he sliced brisket and kept up his southern hospitality with a &amp;quot;How you doin&amp;#039;?&amp;quot; to every customer that stopped by. When told he had the longest line in the festival, he laughed. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;cause we&amp;#039;re slow as molasses over here.&amp;quot; He was just being modest.  This is what the people came for: Beef Brisket with Onion, Pickle, and &amp;quot;Air Bread.&amp;quot; Beautiful black bark, quarter-inch smoke ring, pink as can be, and meat supple enough to still have breath in it.    Franklin was named best in show. Winner gets a two-foot samurai sword.    Whole Foods butcher Armande Ferranti \u2014 &amp;quot;The Arm&amp;quot; \u2014 from New Jersey took home the Best Butcher Prize.    And now for the full effect, pictures of sizzling meat out of context.          And the wreckage. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/food/a15720/meatopia-festival-2012-12572308/>