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Chef Matthew Kirkley – Plate Online

In January 2017, the American team at the Bocuse d’Or competition in Lyon, France, made history when head chef Matt Peters and commis Harrison Turone took the coveted gold for the first time in history. Plate was there for the grueling five-hour competition—a culmination of more than two years of intense training and rule-restricted recipe development. This year, Team USA head chef Matthew Kirkley and commis Mimi Chen will endure what’s been called the Olympics of the culinary world to try and bring home another gold statue. As a follow-up to our award-winning long-form feature on the Bocuse d’Or, we are proud to host this blog series, “Behind Team USA at the Bocuse d’Or,” which will explore before-and-after insights pre- and post-competition. We’ll capture the personal, behind-the-scenes perspectives of past and present chefs, captains, coaches, program directors, and others as the team prepares to head back to Lyon in January.

From Chef Matthew Kirkley……

It’s starting to hit home.

As cooks, we aim to please. I believe that it takes a servant’s heart to be a great cook. That desperate need to please, to make people happy. Our profession demands long and stressful hours, but it’s all worth it for that payoff of serving others; the genuine enjoyment of service, if not instant, then certainly daily gratification.

I’ve found it to be one of the greatest challenges of being the candidate for Team USA Bocuse d’Or, the lack of routine and continual feedback that you have in a restaurant kitchen. Over the course of my time with the team, 15 months in all, I will have a grand total of three services. All other days are spent in what are essentially prep, continuous tinkering and developing. You can become lost.

Indeed, we all crave constant, incremental measurement to judge our standing and progress. It is built into us all. The point has been made to me before that it is far more comforting to make $50,000/year than $500,000 in one year and then nothing for nine years. Pacing keeps us comforted.

As the team and I approach our final creative preparations, the thought is constantly with me. Is it good? Is it good enough? What are the other teams coming up with? Have they found something we have not? It can become consuming. Doubt creeps in.

Where I find reassurance is in the work itself. While this might be the medium at its most exaggerated, it remains but food at the end of the day. We ask ourselves this often during development. Is it still food we recognize? Does it still nourish? Not in a caloric way, but in a satiating one. Does it make us happy?

We are eager, nervous and excited. It’s hard to hold onto a secret for this long. We prep, practice, plan, contemplate. While we are all shooting for the top of the mountain, we’re happy to just be on the path.

64 days to go.

Matt Kirkley will serve as the head chef of Team USA for the Bocuse d’Or 2019.

How I Trained Like an Athlete For the Bocuse d’Or – Chef Gavin Kaysen

“Like every cycle year for the Bocuse d’Or cooking competition, you have your ups and your downs during the training. I have many friends who play professional sports and the ethos lived during this cycle is one they live by on a daily basis, which is, “Never get too high when you win or too low when you lose; stay as even as you can, it will help you with the most stressful times.” This is something we keep in mind throughout the year and the training sessions; there is always the grind to get it done, meet the deadlines, create what you think will stand out on the main stage.”

To read more about how Chef Gavin Kaysen is helping Team USA prepare for the 2019 Bocuse d’Or, please visit http://plateonline.com/chefs/how-i-trained-athlete-bocuse-d%E2%80%99or?allowguest=true

Star Chefs Including Dominique Crenn and Thomas Keller Cook at Addison

by Candice Woo of Eater
Photography by Heartwork Hill

Some serious culinary firepower was in the kitchen at Addison this past Saturday, when the Fairmont Grand Del Mar hosted the Robb Report’s annual, two-day Culinary Masters event. The luxury lifestyle publication raised $200,000 for its charity partner, the nonprofit ment’or BKB Foundation; founded by master chefs Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Jérôme Bocuse, it provides grants and internships to the culinary industry and funds Team USA’s participation in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or competition.

Read more about the Robb Report Culinary Masters at Eater.com

The Exceptional Dishes of Robb Report’s Culinary Masters

BY JEREMY REPANICH

The gala dinner brought together some of America’s best chefs to benefit the Ment’or BKB Foundation.

On Saturday night, a collection of the country’s best chefs gathered to cook a meal for a great cause. At Robb Report‘s Culinary Masters William Bradley of Addison was joined in his kitchen by Thomas Keller, Gavin Kaysen, Dominique Crenn, Ming Tsai, Josiah Citrin, Paul Bartolotta, and Jerome Bocuse to create a seven-course gala dinner. Their menu featured the finer things in life, from caviar to truffles to king crab.

The chefs and dinners’ guests were there to benefit Ment’or, a foundation created by Daniel Boulud, Bocuse, and Keller, after Jerome’s famous father, Paul, encouraged the trio to field a winning American team for the Olympics of cooking, the Bocuse d’Or. Under their tutelage, the U.S. took home its first-ever gold in 2017 in Lyon, but the mission of Ment’or has expanded to help young cooks progress in their career, by offering mentorship and grants.

To read more about the Robb Report Culinary Masters, head to Robb Report.

Michelin Guide on How Chef Matthew Kirkley is Preparing for the Bocuse d’Or Grand Final

Follow Michelin Guide’s account of Team USA’s win at the Bocuse d’Or National Selection at the Venetian in Las Vegas to their recent win at the qualifying competition in Mexico City, the Bocuse d’Or Americas Selection. Team USA is now training for the Bocuse d’Or Grand Final which will be held in Lyon, France in January 2019. 

To read more about Team USA’s Road to Lyon,  https://guide.michelin.com/us/chicago/people/matthew-kirkley-bocuse-dor-competition-france/news

10th Annual New Jersey Wine & Food Festival at Crystal Springs Resort

20 Apr 2018 /
 

2018 marks the tenth anniversary of the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival at Crystal Springs Resort. The event takes place from May 4 through May 6, 2018. Crystal Springs Resort has joined forces with Ment’or to jointly celebrate the tenth anniversaries of both organizations. Ment’or was founded by Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, and Jérôme Bocuse to support the next generation of chefs and to fund a team to compete in the biannual Bocuse d’Or competition, which the U.S. team won for the first time in 2017.

To read more visit Jersey Bites.com

Chefs on the Move – New York Times April 17, 2018

By Florence Fabricant

MATTHEW KIRKLEY AND MIMI CHEN, the head chef and commis of Team U.S.A., which has been training to compete in the biennial Bocuse d’Or culinary contest to be held next January in Lyon, France, has secured a place in the finals. The team came in first in the Americas competition, a preliminary round last week in which 11 countries from the Western Hemisphere competed. Team U.S.A. won gold in the 2017 Bocuse d’Or and is sponsored by the Ment’or BKB Foundation run by Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Jérôme Bocuse, the son of Paul Bocuse, who founded the contest.

To read the full OFF THE MENU column from this date, visit NYTimes.com

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