Chef Alex Chen Places 9th in the World in Bocuse D’Or

Left: Chef Chen in his test kitchen practicing. Right: roasted beef tenderloin with bone marrow roulade, seared foie gras, black trumpet mushrooms, oxtail gratin and shaved black truffles.

VANCOUVER / FRANCE

If you’ve never heard of the Bocuse d’Or, you’re not that interested in food. This worldwide professional cooking competition is held every two years in Lyon, France and pits 24 chefs from 24 countries around the world. Team Canada this year was represented by Chef Alex Chen, a homegrown talent who is the former executive chef of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and is currently Culinary Architect for Moxie’s Grill (the latter is the title sponsor for Team Canada).

At a media preview a few days before Chen left for Lyon, we tried dishes similar to what he had planned for the big day. Each chef must prepare two dishes, a fish dish and a meat dish, within an eight-hour window. The competition is incredibly fierce and chefs routinely train and prepare for several years to compete. Some ingredients are mandatory, such as the fish used in the seafood dish this year. The chefs only find out what the required ingredients are one month before the competition, which leaves little time to prepare.

Roasted bone in turbot with butter poached lobster saffron potatoes, lobster hollandiase, cauliflower puree, lobster vinaigrette

Chef Chen’s first dish was roasted bone-in turbot with saffron potatoes, butter poached lobster, lobster hollandaise, cauliflower purée, and lobster vinaigrette. For the second dish, which must feature meat, Chef Chen made roasted beef tenderloin with bone marrow roulade, seared foie gras, black trumpet mushrooms, oxtail gratin and shaved black truffles.

It may sound like an explosion of richness guaranteed to induce apoplexy, but Chen is a master with flavour and balance. The richness of the turbot and lobster is set off by the clean simplicity of the puree and the pleasant sourness of the vinaigrette. The tenderloin was less well-balanced, but the sheer pleasure of inhaling copious amounts of marrow, foie gras and truffle overrode all concerns about cholesterol levels. After all, no one said the Bocuse was a heart-healthy competition. And judging by Chen’s excellent placing (ninth in the world), the judges didn’t mind either.

Congratulations to Chef Chen and his team!

Chef Alex Chen (far right) and his team.