Christian Grebenstein of The Ritz to represent UK in the Bocuse d’Or
Christian Grebenstein, executive sous chef at The Ritz London, has been chosen to represent the UK in the Bocuse d’Or - the world’s largest and most prestigious cookery competition.
The three candidates each had 1½ hours to prepare, cook and present three different hot garnishes, 5 portions of each, making 15 pieces in total, suitable for accompanying a fillet of British beef supplied by sponsors Aubrey Allen. They were asked to use modern techniques and present in the style of the Bocuse d’Or.
Christian’s winning plate was fillet of beef with goose liver crusted with king oyster mushroom and Perigord truffle sauce. His garnishes consisted of: leek royale surprise, braised carrot cylinder stuffed with pumpkin and parmesan sphere on kohlrabi.
The judging panel comprised of three former Bocuse d’Or candidates: John Williams MBE, executive chef at The Ritz London, Adam Bennett, chef director at The Cross Kenilworth, and Simon Hulstone, chef proprietor of The Elephant in Torquay.
Team UK President, Brian Turner CBE oversaw the proceedings and announced the winner at a Champagne reception sponsored by Moët Hennessy. Praising each of the competitors for the high standard of cooking and presentation, Turner acknowledged the disappointment likely felt by the runners up.
He said: “Just as we will be going to Budapest in 2016, we would like to win the bid to bring it here to London in 2018. It is going to take an awful lot of work and we are going to need a lot of help from an awful lot of people.
“I think it is about time that we showed the world where we are gastronomically and we should bring those people who are at the top of that gastronomic spectrum to the UK to see what our restaurants are about.”
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