HYDE PARK N.Y. James Kent, sous chef of Eleven Madison Park in New York City, will represent the United States in the biennial Bocuse d’Or competition in Lyon, France, in January of 2011.
He will be assisted by Tom Allan, another Eleven Madison Park sous chef, who acted as his commis in a competition held Saturday at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.
The Bocuse d’Or was created in 1987 by renowned chef Paul Bocuse to broaden the public understanding of the rigors involved in culinary excellence. Twenty-four countries are selected to compete each year.
In the competition to find the U.S. representatives, each of 12 teams had five and a half hours to prepare a meat and a fish platter. The proteins for this year’s competition were Scottish salmon and American spring lamb.
Kent prepared salmon pavé with leeks, osetra caviar and fumet blanc sauce garnished with a roulade of Alaska king crab, cucumber relish and Meyer lemon, chilled mousse with tartare and roe, and pickled heirloom beets with crème fraîche, dill and black pepper.
His lamb was a bacon-wrapped saddle with piquillo peppers and Provençal herbs, vol-au-vent of braised leg with sweet breads and preserved lemon, zucchini with Lynnhaven chèvre frais cheese and mint, and a tart of lamb confit with basil, Niçois olives and fromage blanc.
First runner up at the competition went to Luke Bergman, a sous chef at The Modern, in New York City, who was assisted by Culinary Institute of America student Joseph Piccione. That team will represent the United States in Paris later this year at the Prix Culinaire International Pierre Taittinger.
Both Eleven Madison Park and The Modern are part of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group.
Third place went to Chris Parsons, executive chef and owner of Catch in Winchester, Mass., and his garde manger at the restaurant, Nathaniel French.
CIA student Marcella Ogrodnik won the award for best commis. Jennifer Petrusky, sous chef at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, won the award for best fish dish, and Percy Whatley, executive chef of The Ahwahnee in Yosemite, Calif., won for best meat dish.
This year’s competition at the CIA was organized by the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 2009 by chefs Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Bocuse’s son Jerome to provide structure and greater support for the American competitor.
Although the United States has been represented in the previous Bocuse d’Or events, the U.S. competitor was generally given little support by the American restaurant community at large and was mostly ignored by the American public.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
