"bocuse dor" news and stories

Every two years the prestigious Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine contest is held in Lyon. (The next one is in 2011). James Kent, the sous chef at award-winning Eleven Madison Park restaurant in New York City, has been selected to represent the U.S. and bring back the gold. His wingman will be Tom Allan, another sous chef at Eleven Madison.

Slashfood spent a few minutes talking with Kent about his recent nomination to the team.

How do you formulate a strategy?
JK: For the finals competition, Chef Humm of Eleven Madison Park was a great mentor in helping to steer us in the right direction. We focused on both taste and presentation and refined a bunch of dishes until we came up with a salmon and lamb platter that we felt great about. We are going to do the same thing for the international competition, but this time, with the support of the Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation, its Culinary Council and of course, Eleven Madison Park behind us. Once we determine the dishes, it'll be all about perfecting them and getting the preparation down to a science in 5 1/2 hours.

James Kent, sous chef at New York City's Eleven Madison Park restaurant, will represent the U.S. at the 2011 Bocuse d'Or cooking competition in Lyon, France, Nation's Restaurant News reported.

He will be assisted by fellow Eleven Madison Park sous chef Tom Allan. Kent beat out 11 other semifinalists from around the country at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. on Saturday.

(Click here for more on the American semifinalists from Slashfood.)

The Bocuse d'Or competition was started in 1987 by French chef Paul Bocuse to "o broaden the public understanding of the rigors involved in culinary excellence," NRN reported. The biannual competition pits teams from 24 countries against one another in a haute-cuisine cook-off.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• Do you speak sushi?
• It's not like you were going to get a reservation at El Bulli anyway.
• Ruth Reichl gets the post-mortem bio-pic treatment -- kinda.
• Slow cook your way to a split pea-chorizo soup.
• The "Top Chef" bearded wonder bails on the Bocuse d'Or USA competition.
• Flay flies onto the pages of the nation's most-read Sunday magazine.
• Forsake the restaurant version after making this veggie take of this Mexican favorite.

Have you heard of the Bocuse d'Or? A year or two ago, the answer would probably have been a firm no. But over the last couple of years, it's been popping up in the news and around the dinner tables of foodies more and more frequently.

Maybe you caught the "Top Chef" episode, where contestants competed in a Bocuse d'Or-inspired challenge. Or perhaps you've read about Andrew Friedman's just-released book "Knives at Dawn," which tells the tale of the most recent American team -- from the rigorous training to the big competition, which involves preparing two ridiculously complex dishes served on enormous mirrored platters.

The contest, often described as the Olympics of the culinary world, began in 1987 in Lyon, France, under the leadership of Chef Paul Bocuse, who Tim Ryan of the Culinary Institute of America described as "Elvis Presley and the Beatles rolled into one" at Monday's semifinals announcement. Despite America's recent thirst for cook-offs and throw-downs, the high-end culinary competition has been slow to gain recognition in the United States. But last year, heavy-hitters Daniel Boulud, also from Lyon, and Thomas Keller got behind the American effort to change all that.

Without further adieu here are the 12 semi-finalists bidding to represent the USA in 2011. Or as superstar chef and chairman of the board for Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation, Daniel Boulud simply put it, "Voilà."

1. Luke Bergman, the Modern, New York

2. Danny Cerqueda, Carolina Country Club, Raleigh, N.C.

3. Michael Clauss, Daily Planet , Burlington, Vt.

4. Kevin Gillespie, Woodfire Grill, Atlanta, Ga.

5. James Kent, Eleven Madison Park, New York

6. Mark Liberman, Roxy's Black Sheep, West Palm Beach, Fla.

7. Christopher Parsons, Catch, Winchester, Mass.

8. Jennifer Petrusky, Charlie Trotter's, Chicago

9. John Rellah, New York Yacht Club, New York

10. Jeremie Tomczak, French Culinary Institute, New York

11. Andrew Weiss, the Chef's Workshop, Las Vegas

12. Percy Whatley, the Ahwahnee, Yosemite, Calif.

These semifinalists will compete on Feb. 6, 2010, at the CIA in Hyde Park, N.Y., to determine who will go on to represent the USA at the Bocuse d'Or competition in Lyons, France, in 2011.