The team at Lockhart is looking forward to heading to two exciting industry events this month. The first being Sirha, the world hospitality and foodservice event. This takes place from 26th to 30th January in Lyon, France.
Celebrating the ultimate chef success with Bocuse d’Or
Posted by Lockhart Catering
on 21 January 2019
The event is dedicated to food, services and equipment for hospitality professionals with 21 contests and five animation stages.
Read our full Bocuse d'Or article series
One of those contests is the famous Bocuse d'Or cooking competition which sees 24 of the most promising chefs in the world compete to win the most prestigious trophy of gastronomy. After months of practise and preparation, the final includes two days of intense competition. Most finalists have already battled it out for their place in the final, with heats in Europe, Asia and America, whilst others have been attributed one of the wildcard spots. This means only the best of the best will do battle at the final.
The event was created in 1987 by Paul Bocuse who wanted to celebrate chef talent and excellence. It will be exciting for us to watch as the UK has made the final cut with Restaurant Story sous chef, Tom Phillips competing in kitchen 11 with commis chef, Nathan Lane on the 29th January.
Take a look at some of Tom's preparation via Instagram.
What's the Bocuse d'Or brief?
Organisers have revealed the brief for the competition and it's not going to be easy for any of the finalists, but as supporters of the competition we're in for an exciting watch. Chefs have five hours 35 minutes to produce 16 plates of the fish course and a platter which must be divided into 14 portions. The teams must prepare two hot chartreuses – 8 portions for each. The chartreuses must be identical and include a minimum of 50% vegetal ingredients. They must be stuffed with a shellfish stew made using 32 scallops, 60 mussels, 18 oysters and 60 cockles. This year's theme for the platter is rack of suckling veal with five chops served together with one or more choices of offal from a list including sweetbreads, calf's ruffle, foot, kidneys and liver. The veal must be served with sauce or gravy, three garnishes and be portioned into 14 plates. Tom and Nathan will be judged not only on their food offering, but also on their methodology, communication, commis chef ability, conduct, cleanliness, clean-down and much more.
Who else is involved in the UK team?
The UK team will be supported by coach, Adam Bennett MCA who is the highest scoring UK competitor. At the end of last year, the UK team also confirmed that Simon Rogan will take-over the reigns as UK President from Brian Turner MBE and John Williams will be on hand to assist as team technical director.
Watch the highlights from the last final in 2017
The last winner of the competition was Matthew Peters from the USA team with Christopher William Davidson from Norway taking silver and Viktor Andresson from Iceland in third place. Today's culinary world will be glued to social media later this month to discover the next winner and we feel privileged to be heading to Lyon to watch the action live. If you want to learn more about how the competition works, take a look at the 2017 highlights. ?
Despite being so busy preparing for this culinary spectacular, we managed to catch a few minutes with UK team captain, Tom Phillips to find out how it feels to represent the UK.
Discover Tom's journey to the Bocuse d'Or finalWhilst Brian Turner has handed over the reins of the presidency to Simon Rogan he's still very committed to the UK team and competition. He told us: "My plan is to do whatever I can with the Bocuse d'Or; the relationships I have built with the people I meet every two years in Lyon won't be cast to one side, so I'll still be in attendance. But this time I'll be going as a citizen, to watch how the competition has changed from another point of view. But also, as a life president I would hope to impart my experience on the latest candidates in any way I can."
Learn more about Brian Turner's views on the competition in our chef insight article.
Handing over such an important role in hospitality can't have been easy but Brian has every faith in Simon to do the job commenting: "I think Simon is at the top of the tree in the UK, along with lots of new younger talent coming through the ranks. Food has changed in the last 50 years since I've been involved in cooking, and it's also changed in the Bocuse d'Or. To this end, Simon brings a different viewpoint. You shouldn't throw out the classic touches & techniques; you can't forget that Bocuse d'Or is steeped in classic techniques, and you should always bear in mind that Paul Bocuse is there in spirit.
What does it take to prepare for this competition?
We asked the new UK president, Simon Rogan to share his words of wisdom on what Tom and Nathan should be doing to prepare in the final countdown. He told us: "Extensive practice is essential, perfecting techniques and dishes until it is second nature. Having an experienced support team is also essential to offer support in all areas so that the cooking team can concentrate on getting on with their job effectively. Having sufficient budgets and facilities is also a massive part of it, the guys have to have the tools to do the job and meticulous preparations need to be made to give them a fighting chance. This is the greatest cookery competition in the world, so the competition is obviously very fierce."
Watch the action on the 29th and 30th January
We'll be bringing you the action from Lyon via our social media channels so make sure you are following @BunzlLockhart on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. You should also follow the hashtags #bocusedor and #bocusedoruk.
Good luck Team UK from everyone at Lockhart. We are all rooting for you.
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