Philip Tessier - When the U.S. Team won Bocuse d'Or

When we look at the Bocuse d’Or competition from a distance it is chefs and white jackets doing maybe French style cuisine to some degree and a lot of people don't resonate with that especially in today's world where casual food is the craze. But when we went to compete in 2015, the best we'd ever done was sixth place and for years nobody expected anything of the US. In fact we are kind of seen as the burger and hotdog country to a lot of people. And so when we came in and took silver everything changed. The level of respect for the country changed. And winning gold in 2017 just kind of cemented the US as a key player in the world of high level cuisine.

What we covered In this episode

Learn who is Paul Bocuse and what are the Bocuse d'Or.
Chef Philip Tessier explain what the international competition called the Bocuse d'Or is all about.
“Le Diner de Grands Chefs” at the Bocuse d'Or.
In 2013 in the French Stadium in Lyon, Chef Philip Tessier decided to compete in 2015.
What steps did he take to prepare himself for the 2015 competition.
His connection with Martin Kastner from Crucial Detail.
Learn everything about the dish that Chef Tessier and the team prepared for the competition.
The US had never done better than sixth in 28 years (in the competition) and Chef Philip Tessier won silver in 2015.
Chef Philip Tessier explains the Bocuse d”Or scoring system for the competition.
The difference of being a candidate (in 2015) and a coach (in 2017) at the Bocuse d'Or.
The book “Chasing Bocuse” is a story about real people and about the human experience of competing.
How winning the Silver Bocuse and Bocuse d'Or change his life.
His role as Director of Culinary and Media at Hestan Culinary.
Working on connecting what we know in the world of technology with cooking.
His time with Chef Roger Vergé in France, with Chef Éric Ripert in NYC, with Thomas Keller in NYC.
Chefs he most admires are Chef Thomas Keller and Chef Grant Achatz.

Technology gives today the level of quality in the kitchen the consumer wants

There's a lot of technology out there that's really exciting but it actually doesn't deliver anything better. We're in the game to really help people get better food and partner with people who are going to help us give people better access to ingredients and connect that to the cooking experience and give them all the information they need. So you're not on YouTube or on some recipe site and somewhere else. Everything is right there in front of you and you're literally learning how to cook by putting food on the table as opposed to trying to download a bunch of information and then try to execute on your own