THREE COUNTRIES FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL SELECTED FOR THE BOCUSE D’OR AND THE PASTRY WORLD CUP

MOROCCO, MAURITIUS AND TUNISIA STAND OUT FOR THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL SELECTIONS FOR THE BOCUSE D’OR AND THE PASTRY WORLD CUP.

The podium of the 2022 African Pastry Cup

BOCUSE D’OR AFRICA 2022 MARKED BY THE FIRST WINNING PARTICIPATION OF MAURITIUS

 The African selections of the prestigious gastronomy competition, Bocuse d’Or and the Pastry World Cup, were held respectively on September 9th and 10th in Dakhla, Morocco, and qualified the best teams for the Grand Finales that will take place from January 20th to 23rd, 2023 during Sirha Lyon.

  • 1st: MAURITIUS – Kritesh Halkory
  • 2nd: MOROCCO – Faical Zahraoui
  • 3rd: TUNISIA – Marwen Younssi

Best commis award: MAURITIUS – Brady Ng Fuk Chong

Team spirit award: BURKINA FASO – Adama Ernest Dakoure (candidate) / Najem Pierre Najem (commis) / Armand Kinda (coach) / Cathy Nassar (president)

Last step of the continental selections, the Bocuse d’Or Africa reveals the last chefs qualified for the Grand Finale after 5 hours and 35 minutes of competition to create two themes: a plate based on sea bream and a platter highlighting the lamb saddle..

For its first participation, Mauritius, represented by chef Kritesh Halkory and his commis Brady Ng Fuk Chong, won the first place. The team was able to make the difference for the theme on platter by using among the different dishesthe mouroum brede, a typical plant of the Mauritian cuisine. The Moroccan team, led by chef Faical Zahraoui and his commis Achraf Retbi, finished on the second step of the podium and thus took the final qualifying place.

After this competition in Dakhla, Morocco, the continental selections of the Bocuse d’Or are coming to an end and we now know all the candidates for the Grand Finale. This last one will be held on January 22nd and 23rd, 2023 during the Sirha Lyon in France, and will gather 24 chefs from all over the world from the 4 continental selections of 2022 (Bocuse d’Or Europe, Bocuse d’Or Americas, Bocuse d’Or Africa & Bocuse d’Or Asia-Pacific).

MOROCCO, HOST COUNTRY AND WINNER OF THE 2022 AFRICAN PASTRY CUP

  • 1st: MOROCCO – Abdelkader Ejjatioui / Ali Gousaid
  • 2nd: MAURITIUS – Lasbastide Stephane / Pravesh Gookhoola
  • 3rd: TUNISIA – Al Moez Krid / Hamed Bechir

Team Spirit Award: GHANA – Isaac Danso / Fred Brown

On Saturday, September 10th, after 5 hours of intense competition, Morocco, Mauritius and Tunisia qualified for the Grand Finale of the Pastry World Cup, which will take place on January 20th and 21st, 2023 during Sirha Lyon.

As the host country of these African selections, Morocco has established itself as the reference country of pastry on the African continent by taking the first place of the African Pastry Cup podium. Led by Abdelkader Ejjatioui and Ali Gousaid, the Moroccan team seduced the jury with its creations and working techniques.

The next stage of these 2022 continental selections is the Asian Pastry Cup on October 25th and 26th (Singapore) during which the last teams will qualify to participate in the Grand Finale.

The final event is in January 2023 at Sirha Lyon,  a prominent professional summit gathering leading culinary professionals, food experts and everyone involved in the Food Sector.

Credit photo: Rahal Event

Bocuse d’Or in Lyon: Honoring the Legendary Paul Bocuse

On July 21, the Selection Committee presided by Jérôme Bocuse met to decide which countries in the Asia-Pacific region would qualify for the Grand Final of the Bocuse d’Or, a two-day biennial world chef championship. Named in honor of Paul Bocuse, the renowned chef and restauranteur who was the recipient of the coveted France’s prestigious “Meilleur Ouvrier de France,” the Bocuse d’Or is considered one of the most prestigious gastronomic competition in the world.

Held in Lyon, the home town of Bocuse, the next competition is scheduled for January 22 and 23, 2023 and is held during Sirha Lyon, the World Hospitality & Food Service trade show. Lyon, the capital city in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France is nestled at the confluence of the Rhône and Saô rivers.

According to Inés Carrayrou of Monet+Associates Agency for the Bocuse d’Or Americas 2022, each team vying for a chance to participate in the Grand Final was required to submit a recipe based upon a main ingredient and make a presentation. 24 chefs will ultimately be selected and during the intense two-day competition will have just five hours and 35 minutes–and not a second longer–to prepare their dish which is then presented ‘à la française’ on a tray or platter. Each entry is exquisite and the winner recieves what the Bocuse d’Or website describes as “the most beautiful trophy in the world of gastronomy.”

5 TALENTED TEAMS JOIN THE WINNERS OF THE PREVIOUS 2022 SELECTIONS

The five winning countries are:

Australia – Alexander McInstosh
China – Nick Lin
Japan – Tomoyuki Ishii
New Zealand – William Mordido
South Korea – Hwang Byeong Hyen

The teams, the recipes as well as the theme plates they’ll be preparing will be announced this fall.

Listed below are the teams that qualified for the different continental selections.

Bocuse d’Or Europe 2022

1st: Denmark – Brian Mark Hanse
2nd: Hungary – Bence Dalnoki
3rd: Norway – Filip August Bendi
4th: Sweden – Jimmi Eriksson
5th: Iceland – Sigurjón Bragi Geirsson
6th: Finland – Johan Kurkela
7th: France – Naïs Pirollet
8th: United Kingdom – Ian Musgrave
9th: Switzerland – Christoph Hunziker
10th: Belgium – Sam Van Houcke

Bocuse d’Or Americas 2022

1st: USA – Jeffery Hayashi
2nd: Canada – Samuel Sirois
3rd: Chile – Ari Zúñiga
4th: Colombia – Carlos Pajaro
5th: Mexico – Marcelo Hisaki

Paul Bocuse was the incarnation of French cuisine,”  said then-French President Emmanuel Macron in 2018 when Bocuse passed away in Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, in Lyon, where he was born and operated his main restaurant. Bocuse, credited with changing French cuisine with the introduction of nouvelle cuisine, a lighter, fresher approach to the classic cookery of France.

At the time of his death, Bocuse’s restaurant, L’Auberge du Pont de Collonges, had retained three Michelin stars since 1965, which according to The Washington Post, was “one of the longest runs in Michelin history.

Below is one of his famed recipes.

Paul Bocuse’s Apple Tarte Tatin

Shortcrust Pastry

Caramel

Tart

Melt the butter in a double-boiler, stirring it with a whisk. Let cool for a few seconds. Add the salt and mix. Add the confectioners’ sugar. Mix. Add the flour in a steady stream, while continuing to mix. Once the dough begins to come together, take out the whisk and continue to mix with a spatula. Work in the baking powder.

Break the egg into a ramekin, beat it with a fork, then pour it into the dough. Mix it until the dough comes together into a ball. Flatten it slightly, put it on a plate, and leave it to rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

If you prepare the dough the day before, remember to take it out of the refrigerator a bit before you want to use it, so that it is not too hard.

You can also make the caramel several hours in advance. There is no need to reheat it before arranging the apples.

Step 2: Caramel

Heat the sugar over high heat in a saucepan. When the sugar has turned a nice, golden color and is beginning to foam, mix it with a wooden spoon. Add the butter. Mix until the butter is melted.

To make a successful caramel, wipe the pan out carefully before starting the process. Move it around during the cooking of the sugar, but do not use any utensils.

The caramel should have a good color without becoming at all brown. Allow 3 to 4 minutes or so.

Pour the caramel into a 8-inch (20-cm) metal baking dish. Split the vanilla pod in two without separating the two halves. Put it into the pan, right in the middle, to form a “V”.

Step 3: Tart

Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Peel and core the apples. Cut them in half vertically. Arrange the apples, standing them upright in the pan. Fill in the center, and fill up any gaps.

It is important for the success of the tart that the apples are all the same thickness. Peel them immediately before cooking to make sure they do not oxidize when in contact with the air.

Place the pan in the bottom of the oven and cook for 1 hour. Check that the apples are cooked. Allow to rest for 10 minutes, then chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Place the dough on parchment paper, and flour it lightly. Roll it out into a circle about 1/8-inch (3-mm) thick. Lay the lid of the dish upside down on the pastry, and cut the pastry out to the same interior dimensions as the lid. Cut away the excess.

Prick the surface of the dough all over, using a fork. Trim the greaseproof paper to within 1/2 inch (12 mm) of the edge of the dough. Slide the dough, on the paper, onto a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes. Lay the cooked pastry on a cooling rack. Allow it to cool and harden.

It is always helpful to use parchment paper: there is no need to butter the pan, and the transfer of the pastry base is easy.

After 10 minutes of cooking, the pastry will still be soft. It hardens completely when cool. Handle it with care!

A few minutes before serving, gently warm a serving plate. Place the pastry disk over the apples. Unstick the apples by holding the pastry with one hand and turning the pan from all angles.

When the apples are unstuck from the bottom, turn out the tart. Lay the plate upside down over the pan, invert, and lift the pan away. The tart is ready to be devoured!

This recipe was originally published in “My Best Paul Bocuse” (Éditions Alain Ducasse).