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Bocuse d'Or Competition

TreeFrog Frank

TreeFrog Frank

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Alright, my foodie brothers...

Any of you all keep up on the Bocuse d'Or? Anyone even know what it is?

There was a great book written about the 2009 competition. It's a huge cooking competition in Lyon, France, every 2 years. Some great chefs help with Team USA, including Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller.

Anyway, the actual competition runs today and tomorrow. Team USA is represented by James Kent, sous chef at Eleven Madison Park (New York, NY) and his commis is Tom Allan, also a sous chef at Eleven Madison Park.

Was curious if anyone had any clue what I'm talking about, or if you all just think I'm crazy.
 
Wink

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When you enjoy cooking it seems as if you start leaning toward watching a little bit more of the cooking channels than usual. You start picking up pointers here and there, then you become your own self proclaimed certified chef. Which I am too a proud member,LOL.
Not really sure about that one Frank, but I really can see why this is interesting. Im a big fan of Iron chef & Throw down with Bobby Flay :thumbsup:
 
Fitze55

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DB Bistro/The French Laundry - a cut above the rest, to say the least.

If your ever up for it you should try Daniel Boulud's famous short ribs recipe.
 
Fourtotheflush

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I do and I dont.
I do know what it is.
I do not follow the competition.
I may watch a wrapup show on Footnetwork or Bravo or PBS, whomever has a good wrapup of it. But dont follow it live.

Wasnt there a documentary about this last year that was pretty good?
 
Soundwave13

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I wasn't aware of this - I probably wouldn't follow the comp, but would definitely check out a wrap-up of the event! My cousin is in school to be a chef & dreams of working in NY, if I'm not mistaken, I believe EMP is on her short list...
 
TreeFrog Frank

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I wasn't aware of the documentaries, until I just googled them a bit ago. There are several different ones made.

I hadn't even heard of this, until I saw the book in the new arrivals section of the public library. I had heard of the Culinary Olympics, but not the Bocuse d'Or. I had heard of Chef Bocuse, however.

I'm not really aware of any coverage, at all, on television of it. That's part of the reason it's unheard of here, in the U.S. They tried to garner more attention for it, in 2009, by adding some bigger name chefs to the team leadership. I guess in 2007, when Gavin Kaysen was the US competitor, the US team was badly organized, very poorly funded, etc. So, by the time 2009 came around, they made sure to have plenty of opportunities to train, plenty of funds raised to pay all the expenses, etc. Pretty fascinating stuff. I highly recommend the book by Andrew Friedman Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Gold at Bocuse d'Or, if you are into food writing, at all.

I am not sure, though, some food stations/networks/shows may have some sort of wrap up. That would be cool.

You can get updates on Facebook, through the All Clad cookware page. They have a couple of foodwriters over there, including Michael Ruhlman ( I really enjoy his writing!). The actually competition started today, with half the teams cooking, and concludes the other half tomorrow.
 
TreeFrog Frank

TreeFrog Frank

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Soundwave13 said:
I wasn't aware of this - I probably wouldn't follow the comp, but would definitely check out a wrap-up of the event! My cousin is in school to be a chef & dreams of working in NY, if I'm not mistaken, I believe EMP is on her short list...
Click to expand...
That's very cool. There are so many great restaurants I would love to check out, in my lifetime, but know that I can never afford to. I would love to check out, just a couple off the top of my head, Alinea (by Grant Achatz) in Chicago, The French Laundry (Keller) in Napa, etc...

I would love to be a professional cook! I have never been to school for it. It's just a passion I have. I worked 6 years (1st job) at Western Sizzlin' doing everything from dishwashing, working up to frycook, line cook, buffet cook, grill cook, and even cut meat during the day, and grilled at night. Then, worked 4 years in a non-authentic Mexican restaurant. And worked over 2 years at a Holiday Inn, the most "professional" kitchen I had been in. I love cooking, but could have never pulled the late nights and weekends. Especially with a family.

But... on the side, I do like a chef-for-hire kind of thing. Some catering, some a la carte sales (like when I roll and sell sushi at work, or cheesecakes for the holidays), "Date Nights" where I go into a house and cook a date night, or dinner party for the client, etc. I really enjoy cooking, and the artistry, creativity, AND science that goes into it.

I'm sorry... I just realized how much I just rambled on and on and on and on... but like I said, I have a passion for it.
 
TreeFrog Frank

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Well, an update...

I've been keeping up on Twitter, and Facebook with all the play-by-play. I can't view the live feed at work... UGH!

Kent and Allan has presented a fantastic looking monkfish platter and a lamb presentation representing the city grid of Manhattan (not Kansas, Krishna & ERDoc!) to the 24 judges (12 for fish, 12 for meat). Now, they just have to wait until tonight (French time) to find out who took the top 3 places. Everyone's thinking USA really has a chance to pull it off, this year, or at least get on the podium!!!! (Best finish, twice, has been 6th)
 
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