New Zealand’s team of chefs has taken out two bronze medals and a silver medal at the 2016 Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.
The team of Steve Le Corre, Mark Sycamore, John Kelleher, Darren Wright, Richard Hingston and Corey Hume are absolutely rapt with the result according to Fonterra global category and innovation manager Keith McDonald.
For the Culinary Arts section, in which the team scooped two bronze medals, the table centrepiece was a food model of the Lord of the Rings character, Gollum.
“The judges totally got the New Zealand theme and where we were coming from. We were marked down because the heat in the room started to melt Gollum a little, but we were judged on the skill that went into it,” said McDonald.
All teams start with 100 points and then points are deducted by the judges for various things they perceive as being wrong with the dish.
The bronze medals were gained in the pastry, and the savoury sections of the Culinary Art section. In this event, a variety of fine-dining restaurant dishes that are usually served hot to a guest are presented and displayed cold to the judges. Chefs must use gelatine and aspic to give food the appearance of being fresh and hot.
The team won the silver medal in the all-important Hot Kitchen section with their New Zealand-focussed menu of salmon entrée, lamb loin main course, and South Pacific-inspired dessert.
“Every minute has been spent driving perfection in their dishes so to take out silver against other countries’ teams that spend all year travelling from competition to competition is a fantastic achievement. These guys have definitely earned this medal,” said McDonald.
Caption: NZ Anchor Food Professionals team bring home silver from the Culinary Olympics.
From left to right: Stephen Le Corre, Richard Hingston, Darren Wright, Corey Hume, John Kelleher and Mark Sycamore.
