Do you believe in miracles?
The Bocuse d’Or world culinary competition, referred to by some as the culinary Olympics, ended last month with the American team, for the first time, on the awards podium.
Chefs Phillip Tessier and Skylar Stover, both from the French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., earned the silver medal, which is by far the best performance by a United States team.
The previous best was Timothy Hollingsworth’s sixth-place finish in 2009. In 2013, Richard Rosendale placed seventh.
Tessier, executive sous chef at the French Laundry, was the team’s lead chef. Stover, the restaurant’s chef de partie, served as Tessier’s commis.
The two were selected, supported and mentored by Ment’Or Team, a nonprofit foundation led by Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Jerome Bocuse (chairman, president and vice-president, respectively). The head coach was Gavin Kaysen, a former Bocuse D’Or competitor; Dave Beran of Next in Chicago was an assistant coach.
Ment’Or also boasts a culinary council of more than three dozen USA chefs, including Grant Achatz, Jose Andres, Paul Bartolotta, John Besh, Tom Colicchio, Gerard Craft, Daniel Humm, Susan Spicer and Ming Tsai.
Norway took the gold medal; Sweden, the bronze.
Held every two years in Lyon, France, the Bocuse D’Or (created by legendary chef Paul Bocuse in 1987) consists of two-person culinary teams from 24 nations, each preparing, in the course of more than five hours, two elaborate food platters (one meat, one fish) in front of a live audience of hundreds of cheering, often raucous, fans.
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