More Salt, More Acid - Cochon Butcher Holiday Zine

 

More Salt, More Acid began as a holiday catalog concept, pulling from the 1990’s Sears Catalogs and eventually turned into something closer to a portrait of Cochon Butcher. Idea was built around the shop’s food, catering, retail goods, oddball decor, and then became more of zine that included inside jokes, very specific sense of humor, and mixed original photography and product styling with archival imagery, collage, typography, and cultural debris. Its visual language pulled from vintage advertising, old food magazines, punk and biker ephemera, and the beautifully unruly world of Acid Sweat Lodge. Released ahead of the holidays, it sold the practical stuff: catering, branded goods, gifts, all without acting much like a catalog. Chef’s Missive took it one step further: part holiday greeting, part kitchen note, part inside joke, and just inappropriate enough to belong there. Below are inspiration and pages from the original Zine. What follows is part reference board, part artifact; a look at the visual language, ideas, and finished pages that made More Salt, More Acid what it was.

Chef’s Missive from More Salt, More Acid, the 2015 Cochon Butcher holiday zine, combining original photography, vintage botanical illustration, collage, typography, and the restaurant’s irreverent brand humor.

Cochon Butcher rib roast displayed beside a vintage-style image of wrestler Abdullah the Butcher from More Salt, More Acid, 2015.

Abdullah Roast — More Salt, More Acid, 2015

A Cochon Butcher rib roast paired with a wrestling reference in the kind of visual joke that ran throughout More Salt, More Acid, equal parts food styling, pop culture, and bad behavior.

André the Giant as More Salt, More Acid’s take on “Lords-a-Leaping,” using vintage wrestling imagery, holiday absurdity, and dark humor to twist a familiar Christmas reference into something that felt unmistakably Butcher.

Black-and-white photograph of Alfred Hitchcock in a tuxedo and apron holding an armful of sausages, used as visual inspiration for the deadpan food humor and surreal tone of More Salt, More Acid.

Hitchcock & Bologna

Inspiration image: Alfred Hitchcock wrapped in Bologna. This image reflects the deadpan food humor, surreal visual references, and slightly absurd tone that helped shape the look and voice of More Salt, More Acid, the 2015 Cochon Butcher holiday zine.

“Knives Out” page from More Salt, More Acid, introducing Cochon Butcher’s co-branded knives, kitchen tools, and holiday retail goods in the 2015 zine.

Knives Out

An opening spread for the retail section of More Salt, More Acid, introducing Cochon Butcher’s co-branded knives with Havana Knife Co. and other makers. The page uses vintage imagery and the zine’s dry holiday humor to transition from food into the shop’s growing collection of tools, gifts, and branded goods.

oxing-girls collage from More Salt, More Acid, combining vintage female boxing imagery, found photography, and dark humor as part of Cochon Butcher’s 2015 holiday zine visual language.

Good to the last fight…err bite.

Chef Donald Link’s recipe for Boudin Stuffed Turkey Breast was included in the original printing.

Branded Cochon Butcher Aprons were a side quest to the zine. Worked with local marker to bring Chef’s vision to life.

Overhead still life of custom Cochon Butcher enamelware bowls and plate with baking ingredients, chocolate chips, and a black-and-white Loomed NOLA towel, part of the shop’s 2015 retail product development.
Black-and-white Bill Yates portrait from Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink showing a shirtless young man in jeans posing with a bottle of peppermint schnapps, used as visual inspiration for More Salt, More Acid.

Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink, 1972–73

Bill Yates portrait from Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink, the 1972–73 Florida series whose direct, strange, unpolished energy helped shape the visual inspiration behind More Salt, More Acid.

Red-tinted archival photograph of Rita Hayworth seated behind a roast turkey and fruit on a Thanksgiving table.

rITA’S TURKEY

Vintage holiday glamour meets the dark, absurd food humor of More Salt, More Acid..

A graphic collage of Cochon Butcher branding, pig iconography, and the shop’s irreverent food-world humor.

able of contents page from More Salt, More Acid, the 2015 Cochon Butcher holiday zine, introducing Wrestling the Holidays, Chef’s Missive, recipes, and irreverent holiday imagery.

More Salt, More Acid Table of Contents

Opening page of More Salt, More Acid, the 2015 Cochon Butcher holiday zine, introducing “Wrestling the Holidays,” Chef’s Missive, recipes, dark humor, and an irreverent mix of food culture, archival imagery, and original photography.

Vintage holiday party photograph of an older man in a sombrero and festive attire, used as visual inspiration for the offbeat humor and retro tone of More Salt, More Acid.

Holiday inspiration

Vintage party photograph used as visual inspiration for the irreverent, off-kilter holiday humor behind More Salt, More Acid, the 2015 Cochon Butcher zine.

Lost you. Found hot sauce.” from More Salt, More Acid, the 2015 Cochon Butcher holiday zine, pairing dark humor and archival-style imagery with the shop’s house hot sauce and irreverent visual identity.

Cochon Butcher holiday roasts in production for More Salt, More Acid, 2015.

Holiday hams

Cochon Butcher holiday ham in production for More Salt, More Acid, 2015.

"Slice That Bird” collage from More Salt, More Acid, combining vintage turkey imagery, knife references, and dark holiday humor for Cochon Butcher’s 2015 zine.

Vintage photograph and Butcher’s Slicer ad from More Salt, More Acid, a Cochon Butcher zine celebrating the people, tools, food and irreverent spirit behind the New Orleans butcher shop and sandwich counter.

Black-and-white Bill Yates photograph from Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink showing a young skater crouched on the rink floor smoking, used as visual inspiration for the raw, offbeat tone of More Salt, More Acid.

Crouching Skater

Bill Yates photograph from Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink, 1972–73, capturing a smoking skater at the Tampa-area rink and the raw, unruly youth culture that informed More Salt, More Acid

Collage from More Salt, More Acid featuring Louisiana oyster boats, raw oysters on ice, an oyster-shucking illustration, and vintage “Eat Oysters” signage, created for Cochon Butcher’s 2015 holiday zine.

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La Boulangerie holiday pies styled for More Salt, More Acid, 2015 — warm, strange, and just a little unruly.
Boxed Cochon Butcher enamelware gift set with white plates printed with black pig silhouettes and black branded mugs.
Collage of a tan leather knife roll and detail shots from the JAW Leather Goods and Cochon Butcher collaboration.
Four-panel holiday collage featuring a red-and-green Christmas tree made of sausages, a black-and-white wrestling scene, two men seated at a table, and a woman with Christmas ornaments in her hair.

Christmas Sideshow Collage

A holiday collage mixing wrestling, vintage portraits, and kitschy Christmas imagery in the irreverent visual language of More Salt, More Acid.

A Cochon Butcher spread of cured meats, pickles, mustard, and branded tools—equal parts product styling and irreverent humor.