Bocuse d'Or USA
Encyclopedia
The Bocuse d'Or USA is a biennial chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

 championship, where the winner is selected to represent the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the international Bocuse d'Or
Bocuse d'Or
The Bocuse d'Or is a biennial world chef championship. Named for the chef Paul Bocuse, the event takes place during two days near the end of January in Lyon, France at the SIRHA International Hotel, Catering and Food Trade Exhibition, and is one of the world's most prestigious cooking...

 competition. Following 20 years of American representation in the competition, in 2008 Paul Bocuse
Paul Bocuse
Paul Bocuse is a French chef based in Lyon who is famous for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine...

 asked Daniel Boulud
Daniel Boulud
Daniel Boulud is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Montreal, Beijing, and Singapore...

 to establish a structure for the selection of Team USA, who along with Thomas Keller
Thomas Keller
Thomas Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997...

 and Jérôme Bocuse
Jérôme Bocuse
Jérôme Bocuse is a French chef who is on the board of directors of the Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation asvice-president, and son of Paul Bocuse. Along with chefs Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud, Jérôme Bocuse is responsible for raising support and awareness for the U.S...

 form the Board of Directors of the Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation. The first Bocuse d'Or USA competition was held in September 2008.

Although the Bocuse d'Or competition is frequently referred to as the culinary
Culinary art
Culinary art is the art of preparing and cooking foods. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking. A culinarion is a person working in the culinary arts. A culinarian working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook or a chef. Culinary artists are...

 equivalent of the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

, it is the International Exhibition of Culinary Art
International Exhibition of Culinary Art
The International Exhibition of Culinary Art termed the Culinary Olympics, is a quadrennial chef competition, and the biggest culinary exhibition in the world...

 of Germany, more officially titled the Culinary Olympics, which is separated by an olympiad, i.e. a period of four years.

Following an idea by Boulud, the Bocuse d'Or was applied as the theme of an episode of Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...

season 6, representing the biggest publicity the event has to date received in the United States.

Rules

To be eligible competitors in Bocuse d'Or USA, the chef appplicants must be U.S. citizens and 23 years of age or older at the time of the following international final competition in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, and have had at least three years of experience in a fine dining establishment. The chef's assistant, the commis, must be a U.S. citizen and 22 years or younger at the time of the final competition in Lyon. Judges determine the winning team to represent Team USA at the following Bocuse d'Or international competition, and award a trophy and cash prize for the each top three final competition teams. The gold medal comes with a $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

5,000 prize, the silver medal with $4,000 and the bronze medal with $3,000 in 2010, down from the 2008 prizes set at $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000. Team USA is provided with a year-long training program supervised by the Foundation’s Board of Directors, Culinary Council and selected culinary experts, and all direct expenses surrounding the international participation are paid.

The chefs are required to present two dishes, one fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 and one meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

, to be plated elaborately on both large platters as well as plated portions. Presentation of the plates comprises 50% of the contestant's total score, broken down to 10% for texture and cuisson (perfection in doneness), harmony of flavors, sophistication and creativity. The presentation of elaborate platters counts for 30% of the scores with 10% each attributed to complexity, technical knife skills and originality. The final 20% of the score is kitchen organization, broken down to 10% for the commis performance, 5% for cleanliness and 5% for efficiency in timing.

Bocuse d'Or USA 2008

At the 2008 competition which took place on September 26 and 27 during the Food and Wine Festival of the Epcot Center, eight teams of chef and commis competed over two days of cook-offs. The judges included Traci Des Jardins
Traci Des Jardins
Traci Des Jardins is an American chef and restaurateur who co-owns Jardinière, a French influenced California fine-dining restaurant in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California; chef/partner of Public House, a sports pub serving local, sustainable classic pub food near AT&T Park;...

, Alain Sailhac
Alain Sailhac
Alain Sailhac, born in Millau, France is an internationally recognized French chef working in New York City where he holds the position of Executive Vice President and Dean Emeritus at The French Culinary Institute. Sailhac earned the first ever four star rating from The New York Times while at Le...

, Harmut Handke, Daniel Humm, Gavin Kaysen
Gavin Kaysen
Gavin Kaysen is executive chef at noted French chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud's New York City restaurant, Cafe Boulud....

, David Myers
David Myers (chef)
David Myers is a chef and restaurateur.Myers was born in Ohio, and originally went to college to study international business, but left to pursue a career in the restaurant industry....

, Patrick O'Connell
Patrick O'Connell (chef)
Patrick O’Connell is the chef and proprietor of The Inn at Little Washington, a country inn and restaurant in the town of Washington in Virginia's Rappahannock County. O’Connell was not classically trained as a chef. His training began at fifteen when he worked after school at a neighborhood...

, Georges Perrier, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Jean-Georges Vongerichten is a French chef. He was born in Alsace, France, in 1956 and now resides in the United States of America. Vongerichten commands restaurants in culinary capitals Las Vegas, London, Paris and Shanghai, as well as New York's Jean Georges restaurant...

.

The gold medal was won by Timothy Hollingsworth
Timothy Hollingsworth
Timothy Hollingsworth is an American chef and current Chef de Cuisine at Thomas Keller’s restaurant French Laundry in the Napa Valley. Hollingsworth represented the United States at the Bocuse d'Or world final in 2009, after winning the Bocuse d'Or USA semi-finals, held at Epcot in September...

, then a sous-chef at Thomas Keller’s restaurant French Laundry
French Laundry
The French Laundry is a French restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. The chef and owner of the French Laundry is Thomas Keller....

, defeating among others Top Chef season 3 winner Hung Huynh
Hung Huynh
Hung Huynh is a Vietnamese-American chef, and in 2007 was the winner of the third season of Top Chef, the reality cooking competition show on Bravo....

. Though Huynh won the "Best Fish Award" and the "Best Meat Award" was given to Kevin Sbraga, the silver medal was awarded to Richard Rosendale, and the bronze medal awarded to Michael Rotondo, also named "most promising chef in the competition", while Adina Guest was named "Best Commis".

Hollingsworth and his commis Guest went on to place sixth at the international Bocuse d'Or 2009, equalling the best U.S. result to date of Hartmut Handke in 2003.

Bocuse d'Or USA 2010

To allow for longer period of training ahead of the 2011 international finals, the 2010 competition was scheduled to the earlier February 6 date. It was arranged at the Hyde Park
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....

 campus of The Culinary Institute of America, in a stadium kitchen designed to mimic the conditions in Lyon. In the 2010 format, twelve teams competed to create two elaborate presentations, one featuring salmon and one lamb, each accompanied by five elaborate garnishes in 5½ hours, produced in front a live audience and a panel of judges, including Keller and Boulud, Traci Des Jardins, Alain Sailhac, Timothy Hollingsworth, Grant Achatz
Grant Achatz
Grant Achatz is an American chef and restaurateur often identified as one of the leaders in molecular gastronomy or progressive cuisine...

, Alan Wong
Alan Wong
Alan Wong is a chef and restaurateur known as one of 12 cofounders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. They came together to form an organization to create a new American regional cuisine, highlighting Hawaii's locally grown ingredients and diverse ethnic styles...

, and Eric Ziebold
Eric Ziebold
Eric Ziebold is an award-winning American chef and restaurateur behind CityZen in Washington D.C.-Early years:Ziebold began working in restaurants during his teenage years after school at Café Maude’s with mentor chef Matt Nichols, where he learned to cook in a calm and nurturing environment...

.

Top Chef season 6 finalist Kevin Gillespie
Kevin Gillespie (chef)
Kevin Gillespie is an American chef residing in Atlanta, GA. He is the co-owner and executive chef at the Woodfire Grill Restaurant in Atlanta....

 was registered to participate in the event, having won the chance to compete through Top Chef, but ultimately withdrew from the contest on grounds that time constraints would not allow him to adequately prepare. All other contestants were selected by Keller, Boulud and Jérôme Bocuse.

The gold medal winner was James Kent
James Kent (chef)
James Kent is a chef and the winner of the Bocuse d'Or USA 2010. He and his commis Tom Allan went on to represent the U.S. at the international finals of Bocuse d'Or in Lyon, France in January 2011, where they placed tenth....

, a sous-chef at Eleven Madison Park
Eleven Madison Park
Eleven Madison Park is a restaurant in New York City ranked #24 in the S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2011. Its head chef is Daniel Humm, from Switzerland...

, with the silver medal awarded to Luke Bergman and the bronze medal to Christopher Parsons. Jennifer Petrusky won the "Best Fish Award", Percy Whatley, who also participated in 2008, won the "Best Meat Award", and Marcella Ogrodnik was named "Best Commis".

Kent and his commis Tom Allan will go on to represent the U.S. at the Bocuse d'Or 2011. With a top placement in the finals thus far having eluded Team USA, Boulud has stated that the team's current goal is to be as competitive as Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, to date a leading Bocuse d'Or team second only to the home nation France.

Bocuse d'Or USA 2012

Ahead of the Bocuse d'Or 2013, the Bocuse d'Or USA regional final will be arranged on January 28-29, 2012 again at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.

External links

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