Word: chef
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Perhaps nothing symbolized the U.S. team's efforts at the Bocuse d'Or better than its beef cheeks. At the world's premier chef's competition, which ended on Jan. 28 in Lyon, France, the Estonians transformed the cheeks - a required ingredient in this year's contest - into pot-au-feu; the Brazilians stuffed potatoes with them; and the Malaysians spiced them up into rendang. But the U.S. competitors, Timothy Hollingsworth and his assistant, Adina Guest, braised the meat until it was silky, set it on a tiny round of baby turnip, and topped it with a floret of broccolini...
That newfound support stems in large part from the key figures leading the team. President Thomas Keller, chef of the French Laundry, signed on when he was approached by none other than Bocuse himself. "When Monsieur Bocuse asks you, you say, 'Yes, chef,' " Keller explains. He transformed his father's old house, located next door to the Napa Valley restaurant, into a training center for Hollingsworth and Guest. Together, Keller and honorary Bocuse president and New York City four-star chef Daniel Boulud were determined, as Boulud says, "to show what amazing food we cook...
...oxtails in hand-painted ceramic pots from home. The British team's national touch came in the name they assigned their beef filet: Henry V. "It's a bit of fun," says team coach Roger Hulstone. "Britain beating the French at Agincourt and all that." Adds his son, chef Simon Hulstone: "It's a good thing this contest isn't being held in Germany." (See pictures of what people around the world...
...befits Spain's current reputation for culinary invention, the Spanish team took the most radical approach. Chef Angel Palacios hollowed out whole eggshells, then filled them with spherified scallop coral, made to look like yolks, and gelatinized algae broth that had the slippery, translucent appearance of albumen. "We wanted to pay tribute to Ferran," said coach Paco Roncero in reference to famed molecular gastronomy chef Ferran Adrià. "And we also wanted something transparent to show off the scallops...
...ahead of the classically trained jury. "You have to stay in the comfort zone of the judges," says Roland Henin, the U.S. team?s French-born coach. "They can't be tasting or looking at something they don't know, because you'll lose them." Innovative Copenhagen chef Rene Redzepi, who served on the jury, was a little regretful about that comfort zone. "I was hoping it wouldn't be luxury item upon luxury item, that they would strip away the pretension," he said after tasting his way through 12 plates of beef on the first day, "But that wasn...