Bocuse d’Or: fantastic victory for Hungary
Published at: 13/05/2016 03:12 pm
Tamás Széll from the Michelin-starred Onyx restaurant in Budapest, Hungary took gold in a result that was hugely popular with a vocal home crowd. His dish consisted of a leg of young deer grilled on charcoal with Hungarian spices, mushrooms and smoked mangalica pork fat and a lightly salted sterlet and langoustine glazed with pickled ramson seeds and brown butter.
Christopher William Davidsen of Norway took silver, and Alexander Sjörgen of Sweden was awarded bronze. Winner of the best meat dish in the competition was France’s Laurent Lemal. The theme for the meat dish was red deer from Hungary. Contestants were required to work with a saddle of young red deer, preparing a total of 14 portions of which 10 had to be presented complete or pre-cut and recomposed on a tray, and four arranged on plates. The chefs also had to work with a mystery ingredient, revealed the night before the first day of the competition, which turned out to be tarragon. Winner of the best fish dish was Viktor Örn Andrésson of Iceland. The chefs had to work with Danube sterlet sturgeon Acipenser Rutheus (five pieces of 1kg to 1.2kg) with its caviar (30g), producing 14 plates composed of 50% vegetables and fruit. The best commis prize went to Sweden’s Hampus Risberg. Only those chefs placed in the top 11 in the European selection go through to the world finals in 2017, although the possibility of one of two wildcard invitations still remains.
The British ambassador to Hungary, Ian Lindsay commenting on the competition said: This is my first time at this competition and the thing that amazes is me is that most of us these days are used to watching TV chef shows like MasterChef or Great British Bake Off, and those all happen in a quiet atmosphere where people can focus. This is something else. The coach of the British team, Nick Vadis said to thecaterer.com: I think Hungary did a great job here – to pick this competition up and take it on. Gastronomy plays a very important role in the life of the Hungarian capital. Those, who join the Hungarian Residency Pogram will have a unique chance to discover the tasty world of five Michelin Star restaurants in Budapest. The first restaurant to receive a Michelin Star was Costes in 2010. Since then for other restaurants have joined it in this most prestigious group. Budapest is the leader in the region. (Shutterstock photo: Tamás Széll on the left)