CONTENTS

Chef Paul Bocuse: A Note ix

P R E LU D E 2 0 1 7:
Jérôme Bocuse: COAC H I N G TO W I N
The Birth of a Culinary Tradition xi
Daniel Boulud: 107 Chapter 1: Unfinished Business
Paul Bocuse and the Community of Chefs xiii 113 Chapter 2: Team Culture
Thomas Keller: 121 Chapter 3: Building the Team
Honoring Our Heroes xv 131 Chapter 4: A New Perspective
139 Chapter 5: Transition
FOREWORD 147 Chapter 6: The Trenches
Andrew Friedman 155 Chapter 7: The Last Mile
All the Drama is on the Plate xix 163 Chapter 8: Togetherness
173 Chapter 9: The Final Battle
2015: 197 Chapter 10: Epilogue
CO M P E T I N G TO W I N
THE JOURNEY IN RECIPES
The Hope of a Nation 3
Chapter 1: The Journey Begins 9 203 Bocuse d’Or 2015
Chapter 2: The Greater the Risk 17 Philip Tessier and Skylar Stover
Chapter 3: One Team, One Nation 23 223 Bocuse d’Or 2017
Chapter 4: The X Factor 3500 Mathew Peters and Harrison Turone
Chapter 5: The Breaking Point 4700 238 Behind the Scenes
Chapter 6: Unbroken 5500 Staff Meal
Chapter 7: David and Goliath 6100 Lyon: The Bistro
Chapter 8: The Last Mile 65 Bringing it Home
Chapter 9: Box of Nerves 7100 265  Collaboration: The Chefs
Chapter 10: The Verdict 89 304 Base Recipes
Chapter 11: Impact 99
306 Index
313 Acknowledgments
 PHILIPPE,
PHILIPPE,

about the forthcoming book celebrating your culinary

I H AV E J U S T L E A R N E D

achievements. On this occasion, I want to tell you once again how very enthusiastic
I am about your wonderful second-place finish at the Bocuse d’Or in 2015. It gave
me great personal pleasure to see you awarded for this achievement.

Since 1987, American teams have competed one after the other, and at last we see
the results we desired. The whole world knows of my attachment to America. This
is why I am delighted to hear of this great step forward, which generates interest in,
and suggests a new image for, gastronomy across the cities of your great country.

I send my greetings to your mentor, Thomas Keller, whose contributions—along

with those of Daniel Boulud and Jérôme Bocuse, as the three leaders of the Ment’or
BKB Foundation—have guided the performance of your team. I am pleased to see
America’s most renowned chefs continue to work together to develop America’s best
young talent.

From this point forward, cuisine, as practiced by chefs in the United States, will
take on a new dimension, and you have been instrumental as a leader in this venture.

B R AVO !

A NOTE | ix
 JÉRÔME BOCUSE

THE BIRTH OF A
CULINARY TRADITION

M
Y FAT H E R , PA U L B O C U S E , has always been a man of incredible vision and charisma,
passionately driven to reach beyond the borders of his own Lyonnaise kitchen to embrace
the world. That might not seem extraordinary in today’s landscape of celebrity chefs, pop-
up restaurants, and social media, but in the 1970s and ’80s, it was revolutionary. Monsieur
Paul, as he is affectionately known, was the first chef of his day to step out of the kitchen,
becoming an ambassador of the culinary brigade to his guests, and of French cuisine to the
world, around which he frequently traveled.
Those same instincts led him to create a culinary competition for restaurant chefs, the Bocuse d’Or
(Golden Bocuse). I remember the first years of the contest, as we struggled to enlist sponsors and even
chefs to participate. If that sounds difficult, just imagine attempting it in the days before cell phones and
the Internet. And yet, thanks to the global network he had developed, he was able to gather chefs from
twenty-four countries together in one place and provide a stage on which they
could compete. I’ll never forget those formative days when, at the age of eigh- Today, more than sixty
teen, I helped in any capacity I could, even rummaging through the CDs in my
countries vie for the
car to find a suitable soundtrack for the competition and ceremony.
Over the next two decades, I watched as the Bocuse d’Or developed from twenty-four spots
those humble beginnings into the most prestigious culinary competition in in the final.
the world, drawing the world’s best chefs to Lyon every two years to compete
for gold. Winners of the Bocuse d’Or are now congratulated by their country’s political leaders and
achieve celebrity status overnight. Nations that have medaled repeatedly, such as Norway, Denmark,
France, and Sweden, have created organizations that train and develop chefs from a young age, prepar-
ing them for the rigors and intensity of the competition.
Each year I travel internationally, overseeing the continental selections where countries must qualify
in order to compete at the final in Lyon. The energy and enthusiasm that even the smallest countries
demonstrate—as they compete against the powerhouses that consistently excel—is a tribute to the
power of ambition and belief. It is clear how grateful they are for the privilege and opportunity to
represent their country before the world. Today, more than sixty countries vie for the twenty-four spots
in the final. Once in Lyon, they compete for the chance to mount the podium—an incredibly difficult
achievement—where judges award only three teams the bronze, silver, and gold medals.

PRELUDE | xi
 ANDREW FRIEDMAN

ALL THE DRAMA

I S O N T H E P L AT E

C
ASUAL OBSERVERS of the Bocuse d’Or, including the occasional journalist, refer to it as
“the real Top Chef.”
With no disrespect to Top Chef, or to any televised cooking shows—some of which have
introduced genuine talent to the world—the Bocuse d’Or is a different animal altogether.
Generally speaking, TV competitions are based on how the “cheftestants” respond to spon-
taneous challenges, often resulting in improvisational, seat-of-the-pants creativity. It’s undeni-
ably entertaining, but has little in common with the Bocuse d’Or, for which candidates know what the
challenge will be months in advance, enabling them to meticulously plan what they will cook and serve,
with one recent exception. In 2013, the Bocuse d’Or introduced an element of spontaneity by asking
candidates to select ingredients from a market on the eve of the competition. My personal theory is
that the adjustment was a nod to the pressures of contemporary entertainment; the fundamentals of
the event remain intact, but even the Bocuse d’Or has to bend a little to keep up with the times. And
besides, what chef hasn’t had to make an adjustment “on the fly” when supplies of a particular ingredi-
ent are depleted, or to whip up something special for a VIP in the house?
Many televised cooking competitions are also categorized as “reality” shows, with interpersonal
dynamics (often heightened by group living situations) impinging on what transpires in the kitchen.
By contrast, in the Bocuse d’Or, there are no interviews with the emcees, no ESPN-style biographical
videos, and precious little interaction among the candidates save for a welcome reception and group
photo. There is nothing but the cooking, the finished product, and the judging.
In short, in the Bocuse d’Or, all of the drama is on the plate. The candidates live and die not by
personality or gimmick, catchphrase or getup, but rather by their creativity, technique, organization, and
composure—the same things that determine success for any self-respecting chef.
The Bocuse d’Or continues to attract top talent from around the world because it asks chefs to do
what they got into the business to do in the first place: cook. That shouldn’t be an extraordinary thing,
but at a time when success is often determined by style over substance, it’s a crucial distinction that
makes this competition—which seems antiquated to so many—as relevant as ever.

FOREWORD | xix
2 | CHASING BOCUSE
 T H E H O P E O F A N AT I O N

“Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.”

—ZIG ZIGLAR

A
S WE PUSHED THROUGH the hotel doors onto the dimly lit streets of Lyon, the damp
5 a.m. chill brought a welcome alertness.
It was hard to believe that “D-Day”—our nickname for the finals of the Bocuse d’Or, the
world’s most prestigious cooking competition—had finally arrived. Though I’d thought of
little else for the past two years, it still felt distant, even in the homestretch. My thoughts flitted
between what got us here and what lay ahead. With a history of dashed hopes for American
teams, the odds had been stacked against us since the very beginning. The resulting low expectations
offered cover if we failed, but our expectations for ourselves were high; they had to be because the com-
mitment we’d made was absolute.
We crammed our rental vehicles full of equipment and began the thirty-minute drive to the expo.
Our coach, Gavin Kaysen, took the wheel of my SUV so my commis (apprentice), Skylar Stover, and
I could try to relax in the back. Completing our convoy, our support team, Will Mouchet and Greg
Schesser, followed close behind in the truck with all of our remaining kitchen equipment. The rest of
the coaching team and support staff would meet us at the expo.
At the outskirts of the city, the Saône River, lamplight streaking its placid waters, offered a calm con-
trast to my quickening pulse. The journey to this point had been one of discovery and determination,
risk and reward. I thought of everything we had invested in the competition: leaving our full-time jobs,
eighteen months of development, ten thousand man-hours of training, and untold resources.
It was all about to culminate in a single meal, a five-and-a-half-hour culinary performance. There
would be just one round, one chance, with the world watching. To combat the gathering sense of mo-
mentousness, I mentally reviewed our preparation: every list, every recipe, every piece of equipment.
We had meticulously planned and rehearsed until we could prepare this meal in our sleep. I had long
considered success to be the result of opportunity meeting preparation—our mantra over the past two years.
We had done everything humanly possible to prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: physical
training, temperance, French lessons, hours of honing every move in multiple practice sessions. Win or
lose, I had to finish knowing that I had left everything in the three-by-six-meter competition kitchen-
box that awaited us.
At the same time, any number of things could still go wrong, just as they could in any kitchen during
any service: equipment failures or human errors, such as a forgotten ingredient or a cut finger. Then there

T H E H O P E O F A N AT I O N | 3
were the competition-specific pitfalls. Misinterpreted platter when he dropped the tray holding one of his
rules were a perennial sore point with many Bocuse garnishes, sending his composure with it. He stared
d’Or veterans in particular because their subjectivity uncomprehendingly at the culinary wreckage on the
had derailed past candidates, including the United floor before turning his attention back to his platter,
States just two years earlier. Competitions were a dif- but by then, failure was a fait accompli. A momentary
ferent beast than restaurants; there were no reinforce- slip had changed and sealed his fate; I bet he still
ments or extra ingredients available to remedy a mis- relives it lying in bed at night.
step, and there was no opportunity to “make it up” The pressure had been ratcheted up another notch
to a customer. Additionally, in sharp contrast to the the night before, when Chef Thomas Keller, my
veterans representing many of the favored countries, mentor and one of the towering figures of American
some of whose chefs had been practicing for more gastronomy, looked me in the eye during a send-off
than a decade, Skylar and I lacked competition chops. speech and said, “The hopes of the country rest on
Despite all the time we’d spent preparing, we’d never your shoulders.”
put ourselves on the line this way, and we had never The honor of representing the United States had
performed together as a team outside of our training. always been a double-edged sword: It was, of course,
We were, to put it mildly, underdogs. motivating and imbued the task at hand with privi-
Two years prior, I had attended the Bocuse d’Or lege and excitement. But if I dwelled on it, the fear
2013 as a spectator. One moment in particular haunted of failure could become almost crippling. I call on
me: a candidate (Bocuse d’Or-speak for “competi- my faith in times like these—reminding myself that
tor”) was putting the finishing touches on his meat ultimately, nothing was in my control, which allowed

Chef Philip Tessier and team make final preparations.

4 | CHASING BOCUSE
me to find an inner peace. I recalled a verse I had Twenty-four teams compete in the Bocuse d’Or
memorized for moments like these: “Though an over two days, and the start times for the twelve
army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war countries cooking on each day are staggered to en-
break out against me, even then I will be confident.” sure a steady flow of finished dishes at the closing
It was quiet in the SUV, the calm before the storm. bell. In the lounge, we joined several teams anxiously
With each deep breath, I visualized a different phase waiting their turn. For all the planning we had done,
of the competition, imagining myself executing the there was one thing we hadn’t organized well: break-
game plan, relying on muscle memory and the sup- fast. Our hotel room didn’t have a kitchen, so instead
port and camaraderie of Skylar. When I opened my of enjoying Skylar’s corn cakes, as was tradition be-
eyes, the lights of the expo were just poking through fore a practice session back home, I had to settle for
the thick, predawn fog. nothing but the stale, day-old sandwich I had forced
down on the drive to the expo—hardly a breakfast of
ACTION! champions. I was thankful to find a fresh pain au choco-
The loading zone was a virtual Babel: a dozen teams, lat and a bottle of water waiting for us in the lounge,
each speaking a different language, unpacking and one last hit of sustenance before the marathon ahead.
loading in, everything heightened by the potent al- I craved a cup of coffee, but my pre-run limit was one
chemy of nerves and adrenaline. The chaos did not shot of espresso in the morning. I had squandered
reflect the calm, orderly process the organizing com- my daily allotment at the hotel, and the last thing I
mittee had depicted during a briefing session the needed was the caffeine shakes.
night prior. I directed Greg, who was driving our sec- There we sat, waiting to be called into battle. We
ond truck with supplies, to park off to the side, as far reviewed the small changes we had made to incorpo-
from the drama as possible. rate the market visit and mystery vegetable selection,
We unloaded our gear and reviewed the checklist, two components of the competition intentionally
confirming that everything was in order in each of added only the night before to test quick thinking
the food boxes. Thankfully all of the food appeared and performance under pressure. My buddy Nathan
to have traveled without spoilage or damage. A few Daulton, our chief supporter throughout training,
minutes later, a wiry, bespectacled member of the appeared from around the corner and motioned
Committee hurried over, a bit jittery himself, and Skylar and me over. Over the last eighteen months,
informed us we could begin unloading our truck. Nate had organized a support team to pray for the
When I gestured toward the equipment already team during stressful times. Now, he offered a fi-
stacked on the carts behind me, his look of surprise nal prayer and gave us his trademark bear hug, then
was priceless. I guess we weren’t the only ones stressed headed out to the viewing area. I was pleased that
out this morning. He motioned for us to move every- instead of anxiety, uncertainty, or doubt, Skylar and
thing to the internal staging area where each of the I were both eager to get started. All through our
teams positioned their equipment before loading into training, excitement and dread had wrestled within
their kitchens. We relocated everything, leaving Will us both, but now excitement was winning. We felt
and Greg to stand guard, and then Gavin, Skylar, and as though we had been keeping a secret every day
I made for the competitors’ lounge. for the past year, one that we couldn’t share until

T H E H O P E O F A N AT I O N | 5
carefully selected and identically sized potatoes, they had always imagined myself sprinting through our final
scooped them out, turned the skins inside out, fried routine, but Myllymäki showed me a new ideal, that of
them to a golden crisp, and used them as a shell over a marathon runner, pacing himself for the long haul.
another garnish. But what made the greatest impact on His example would serve as a North Star.
me had nothing to do with the food. It was instead the During the awards ceremony at the close of the
awe-inspiring, Zen-like mastery that Sweden’s candi- second day, as we watched countries with Bocuse
date, Tommy Myllymäki—a past silver medalist who d’Or pedigrees pick up their prizes (Sweden—first;
was on the hunt for gold this time—displayed for the Denmark—second; Norway—third), Rachel turned
entire five and a half hours. With a crush of media bear- to me, eyebrows raised, and with a smile offered an
ing down on him, Myllymäki was a study in calm focus unconvincing, “Good luck.”
and efficiency as he methodically transitioned from task Her tone said it all. We’d all have to push ourselves
to task in a way that suggested he was cooking dinner to another level, both in food and design. To compete
for friends rather than competing in the qualifying event with what we’d just seen, we had a steep mountain
for the world’s most prestigious culinary competition. I to climb.

Tessier in The French Laundry culinary garden, Yountville, California.

30 | CHASING BOCUSE
 Philip Tessier attends
Crucial Detail’s fish plate
Bocuse d’Or with Team USA

JAN
JAN
JAN
design rejected
in Lyon

Team departs for Lyon, France

Nespresso machine delivered

JAN
FEB
FEB

2 015
2 014
2 013
via New York City

All boxes stuck in customs

JAN
MAR
First team trip to Crucial Detail MAR
Final practice run

JAN
APR
APR
in Chicago

First Ment’or Board garnish tasting;

D–DAY! Application sent in

JAN
MAY
MAY

European Finals in Stockholm

JAN
JUN
JUN

SILVER!
Duck carcass first design

JAN
JUL
JUL

05 17 21 24 27 28 29
First round platter design Tessier selected

AUG
AUG

(first prototype of final design) as US Candidate

24
Months
THE JOURNEY TIMELINE

Meat announced: guinea hen

SEP
SEP

1
Team
Fish plate assigned;

USA
Greg Schesser joins the team;
OCT
OCT

Will Mouchet joins the team

Paul Bocuse restaurant

Lyon practice trip;

Forever engraved in front of

NOV
NOV

Fish announced: brown trout

Martin Kastner
Final Ment’or Board tasting and Tessier
DEC
DEC

meet in Chicago
Team USA | January 2013–January 2015
 I
WAS EATING LUNCH WITH A FRIEND A T Odge’s, a quintessential Chicago hot dog place near my

studio where cops gather and gangbangers get takeout. Buy four hot dogs, get one free. It’s a place with
soul. My phone rang. It was Gavin Kaysen, then the executive chef of Café Boulud in New York City and
the coach of Team USA for the Bocuse d’Or 2015. His pitch was simple and direct: “The United States
has never placed. I feel this time, with this team, we have a real chance, and we’d like you on board. The
competing chef will be in Chicago soon. Meet with him.” I am pretty sure he added, “This competition is like
a drug.” But that may have been later on.
“What makes you think I could be helpful?” I asked Phil when he came by a couple of weeks later.
“I’m a traditionalist at heart. I have a feeling I know what my food will look like. I’m looking for someone
who will challenge that,” he answered.
I often say that when someone approaches me knowing exactly what they want, I don’t take the project. I
see design as a process, one that begins with a stare into an abyss, and then a jump in. It’s a risk. If we believe
we know what the concrete end result of a collaboration should be, then we’re not approaching the problem
we’re facing with a truly open mind. Sometimes the best solution is not doing anything; other times it is
changing the path midway as we recognize that something isn’t working.
Phil was serious, organized, composed. In this sense, the exact opposite of me. And he was asking for a
challenge. Sometimes a long journey starts with soggy fries and a Polish sausage with everything, two sport
peppers and all.

SOGGY FRIES
AND A POLISH WITH
MARTIN KASTNER |
EVERYTHING
C R U C I A L D E TA I L

32 | CHASING BOCUSE
Tessier and Martin Kastner at the Crucial Detail studio in Chicago.
34 | CHASING BOCUSE
 CHAPTER FOUR

T H E X F A C TO R

“There is no creativity in comfort.”

—MARTIN KASTNER

T
HE TEAM RETURNED from our trip with a healthy fear and renewed zeal and determination.
This was especially true of Skylar, who, though he tried to hide it, was clearly intimidated by
the performance of our competition. To add to the fuel, I would occasionally show him pic-
tures I had taken during the Euro Finals of the best commis and ask him, “Are you better than
this guy?” I watched as over the next few months Skylar slowly overcame his dislike of exercise
and discovered the benefits of fitness. Though he would never love our workouts, they came to
shape his mental attitude and endurance.

MOMENTUM
The start of summer brought a sense of urgency as we continued our work on the garnishes and set our
sights on the next challenge: the protein. All candidates are assigned the same proteins (meat and fish) to
work with, but they are not announced until well into the training timeframe, and the announcements
are staggered. In 2014, the meat would be announced in September, which would be too long to wait;
we had to get started now. I began to search for direction by first reviewing the proteins from the last
decade of competition, discovering that no poultry had been selected since 2007. So rather than work
on a variety of meats to be ready for anything—the approach favored by many other teams—I decided
to focus our development work on poultry, specifically duck.
My gamble was that if we ended up with beef, veal, pork, or lamb, we would be getting out of the
blocks at the same time as our competition; if a bird was assigned, we’d be miles ahead. To me, it was
a no-brainer. We started developing different techniques for cooking duck, rolling terrines, developing
skin crackers, layering the breast meat with sausages and other farces (stuffings), and examining how to
best use every part: necks, gizzards, livers, skin, legs, breast, tenderloins, bones—everything. One of the
things I had decided early on was that whatever the protein was, I wanted it to be the focal point of the
platter and present it with as “natural” an appearance as possible. I had seen numerous competitors over
the past years present some pretty wild food, but often it looked more interesting than it did delicious.
I wanted the judges to ask themselves how I prepared the protein, not why.
We continued our work with the first three garnishes and began adding in other elements as well.

THE X FACTOR | 35
 Service for the vegan dish went incredibly smoothly the first two on and immediately they came loose. He
and the plates were nearly perfect. As they neared switched to two different ones and they didn’t stay ei-
completion, I searched desperately for the head ther. The heating of the shells in the oven had caused
server. I had carefully explained to him the complex them to firm up and curl, and now they weren’t fitting
layering of the cloches, carrying of the magnets, and on together.
lifting of the lids. But he was nowhere to be found. Had we been on time, we would have had a few
I had flashbacks to two years earlier when several minutes to trim and adjust the shells. But the harsh
of the servers had poured my mushroom consommé reality was that we couldn’t lose a single second. He
all over my trout dish instead of into the small glasses set them on the center of the platter as close to the
we had provided. It had been a costly mistake that centerpiece as he could and went back to grab the
had certainly affected our final score. I was deter- chickens.
mined nothing was going to fail this time, and after a Harrison set Yoo to finishing the carrot garnish
momentary scramble at the pass to get the commit- with the greens and began bringing the foie gras and
tee and servers to understand the process, the vegan pea garnishes to the platter. Matt set the chickens in
plates were finished. place and then turned his attention to the potatoes.
With all the activity in front of me, I couldn’t tell if
L ASER FOCUS they were all coming off but I hoped desperately that
The next thirty-five minutes were a total blur. Matt they were.
and Harrison worked at top speed but with incred- Harrison was nearly finished with the pea gar-
ible precision. All of those practice runs clearly paid nishes and about to place the carrots on the platter
off. Despite the challenges we had faced, they exuded when one of the pea garnishes fell over and scattered
a calm sense of confidence and focus. crumbs all over. He reacted immediately by scooping
We had planned for me to guide the second com- up the crumbs with a bowl scraper and wiping the
mis through the foie gras garnish. Harrison brought platter with a polishing cloth. Fortunately there were
everything up to the front where I could instruct him. no smudge marks when he was finished. While he
“Okay, Yoo,” I said. “Put one truffle down in the plated the carrots, Yoo began to bring finished potato
center. No, the center. Yes, there, just like that. Now bases to the platter one at a time as Matt placed the
repeat that with the rest. Grab the black-eyed peas, truffle slices on them at breakneck pace.
three per. With a spoon, lay them on the side. No, a The timekeeper had already come to our box and
spoon, not the tweezers. Quickly but carefully. Yes, I called out to Matt and Harrison, “Ninety seconds
yes, now go.” I instructed him as best I could without guys. Ninety seconds!” The noise was deafening and
being able to physically touch anything. we could hear the encouraging cheers of the more
By this time, Harrison was nearly finished with than three hundred American supporters who had
the carrot garnishes and Matt was working to fin- been cheering us on all day.
ish the lobster and chicken, which had to go on the “Thirty seconds!” I yelled across as Matt raced
platter first. to finish the last two potatoes and Harrison laid
Matt finished the lobsters and went to hook them the glass domes on top of each one. We were short
on the platter at the base of the centerpiece. He set only one potato shell and Matt had fried one of the

1 78 | CHASING BOCUSE
Final assembly of the pea crisp.
180 | CHASING BOCUSE
A culinary kaleidoscope: Team USA’s 2017 meat platter.

T H1E8 1J O| U C
RHNA
EYSIB
N EGGBI N 181
OSC U| S E
Above: Poulet de Bresse and American lobsters, the centerpiece. | Opposite: Team USA’s 2017 meat plate.
Above: The vellum cloche reveal. | Opposite: Team USA’s 2017 vegan plate.
 A
F T E R A L L T H E P R A C T I C E , the actual competition was in a way kind of anticlimactic. I even slept
well the night before. At that point we knew exactly what we were going to do. There had been some last-
minute changes, but nothing major. And I was exhausted from the week—the travel, the practice, the time
change. I went to bed early and got a good six or seven hours without any issue and woke up excited to go.
I remember watching the woman who was giving us the countdown to begin. All of the fans were already
surrounding us with loud cheers of encouragement. Right before she began the final countdown there was one last
fist bump between the team to let each other know we were ready to go.
To see the crowd of people around us, the lights and the actual competition finally starting, it was everything
I thought it would be. But once the clock starts ticking and you start cooking, everything else is blocked out and
you’re just doing your thing. I never looked up. It was just easier to look down, concentrate on the food, look at the
kitchen behind you. Because of our countless practices, it just felt like we were at home; it felt like just any other
day. We simply executed what we knew. That’s where all that practice and training paid off.

IN THE ZONE M AT H E W P E T E R S

potato glasses to serve as a base for the last one. Har- platter would be placed. They walked across the
rison quickly placed the last dome and with only ten judging floor and disappeared into a sea of toques
seconds to go, the platter was lifted across the coun- across the room. I could only stand there and wait
ter and it walked. (the rules stated the coach wasn’t allowed at the plat-
Though the platter was out the battle wasn’t over ing table), trying to process what had just happened
yet. They still had the task of breaking down the and how things would be perceived by the judges.
platter onto individual plates for the judges at the Harrison returned first, visibly frustrated, “Chef,
carving table positioned at the end of the judging you have no idea what just happened over there.
tables. With the timing between platters being only They only gave us four minutes. I want to kill my-
ten minutes, it would be a race to dismantle, portion, self right now.”
and plate the fourteen plates needed in the eight min- When Matt returned, it was clear Harrison had
utes we had trained for. not exaggerated. He looked defeated, shaking his
We knew we had pushed the boundaries of time head as he went about cleaning. I noticed the tip of
for the platter to walk and that meant time at the the chicken with the lobster mousse still sitting on
carving table would already be cut short when they the cutting board, evidence of the lack of time they’d
arrived. Matt and Harrison quickly cleaned down had at the table. There was a somber mood as Will
the counters, reset their aprons, grabbed the equip- and the crew appeared at the back of the kitchen to
ment they needed, and headed to the table where the assist in returning everything to the truck.

186 | CHASING BOCUSE

Peters places the Poulet de Bresse on the meat platter under the watchful eye of the kitchen jury.
210 | CHASING BOCUSE
CORN NESTS
CO R N S I L K | P O P P E D S O R G H U M | E G G | MAKES 16 NESTS

INGREDIENTS EGG 6.5 grams unsalted butter

20 grams dried corn powder, 1 gram kosher salt
ground and passed through SPEC IAL IZED EQUIPMENT
CORN SILK SORGHUM • One 16-cavity quenelle
a fine-mesh strainer
150 grams glucose syrup 15 grams sorghum mold by Crucial Detail
0.26 grams kappa carrageenan
150 grams water 10 grams clarified butter
0.26 grams iota carrageenan
10 ears corn, silk removed and 1 gram kosher salt FINISHING
0.2 grams agar agar
reserved (harvested from 0.15 grams pimentón Gold luster
0.2 grams low acyl gellan
young, very fresh corn) >>>
66 grams whole milk
1 liter grapeseed oil, for frying
66 grams water

T H2E1 1J O| U C
RHNA
EYSIN O SC U| S E2 1 1
B EGGBI N