Word: chefs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...rules are precise. The biennial contest assigns the main proteins that all teams use (this year they included Norwegian cod and several different cuts of Angus beef) and gives contestants 5 1?2 hours to prepare the two platters, which are then evaluated by a jury comprised of one chef from each participating country. If 5 1?2 hours sounds like plenty of time, bear in mind that contestants must also complement their proteins with elaborate garnishes, keep their cramped kitchens clean, and stay organized while they cook on a stage, watched by thousands of screaming fans...
Team president Thomas Keller, chef at the French Laundry, signed on when he was approached by none other than Bocuse himself. "When Monsieur Bocuse asks you, you say 'Yes, Chef,' " he explains. Keller transformed his father's old house, located next door to the Napa Valley restaurant, into a training center for Hollingsworth and Guest, and together with New York City?based four-star chef and honorary Bocuse president Daniel Boulud, raised $500,000 for the team. Their aim, Boulud says, was "to show what amazing food we cook...
...Uruguay served their 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. "[England] beating the French at Agincourt, and all that." Adds chef Simon Hulstone, Roger's son, as he rolls a piece of cod in mousse: "It's a good thing this contest isn't being held in Germany...
...befits Spain's current reputation for culinary invention, the Spanish team took the most radical approach. Chef Angel Palacios emptied eggshells, then filled them with spherified scallop coral made to look like yolks and gelatinized algae broth with the slippery, translucent appearance of albumen. "We wanted to pay tribute to Ferran," said coach Paco Roncero in reference to famed molecular chef Ferran Adrià. "And we also wanted something transparent to show off the scallops...
...Scandinavian countries have learned to good effect. "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 René 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 says after tasting 12 plates of beef on the first day. "But that wasn...