World's Best Chef

March 1998

Next week Gary Farrell will represent Australia in the first individual cooking championship to find the world's best chef. Gary, who is Executive Sous Chef of the Hotel Sofitel will be one of 19 chefs doing cooking heats at Melbourne Central from March 15-18. The winner will be announced at a Gala dinner on March 19.

It's a real coup to be holding this competition in Australia as part of the World Association of Cooks' Societies Congress during which more than 500 chefs (plus partners) are expected in Melbourne. Lobbying goes on all over the world to hold the congress and it took some eight years to get Melbourne the opportunity. Not only is this Individual Cooking Championship a world first (cooking competitions are usually team affairs), it's open to the public (they are usually held in colleges) who can get to see some of the world's top chefs in action.

And speedy action it will be. Each chef has just 90 minutes in which to prepare and cook two portions of two different main courses and two portions of two different sweets. They are each provided with a whole fillet of beef, a whole chicken and a selection of vegetables. No pre-preparation is allowed except for basic stocks (but not sauces) and for pre-washing (but not cutting) of vegetables.

It's an incredibly difficult ask and the chefs have been in training for months. Just as Olympic athletes have intensive coaching and training to break that elusive world record, so these chefs have been cooking and re-cooking their dishes to get the timing right. They will lose points if they take too long, waste ingredients, or do not work cleanly and safely.

In Gary Farrell's first attempt he was 40 minutes over time so he decided to change some of the elements in his dishes. Next go was 22 minutes over and, a month ago, after another 50 "cook offs" he got it down to seven minutes. When I spoke to him last week he was nearing the 60th attempt and was still fighting against two minutes. Hardly surprising when you realise the complexity of the dishes and accompaniments he has chosen and the number of different cooking processes and time required.

Gary was horrified at the idea that he could have improved his chances by doing something simpler. "The food should be the best that a five star hotel can offer and should reflect what the cooking of my country is about. I wanted to do something which shows off some skills, some knife techniques, some classic dishes because these days, people don't see the classics done enough. I want to go in there and put myself under pressure, not go in there and do something easy. It would be no competition if the chefs went in and did something easy and slick."

He learnt that he had been chosen to represent Australia last October (after returning as Captain of the Australian National Culinary Team in the Culinary Grand Prix held in Scotland) and spent three months of intensive training with Raymond Capaldi, former executive chef of Hotel Sofitel. "Raymond helped me so much. We worked out the choice of dishes together, he planned my training, forced me to practise when I was tired and has tasted the results about 20 times. We'd work late at night after service at the hotel and now (since he's left the hotel) we do it at home. He is an inspiration."

Meanwhile the international chefs have been practising in their countries with advice (by phone/fax) from their "host" chefs. Each visiting chef has been given a host whose job it is to advise on ingredients here, to meet them at the airport (most are flying in on Friday) and show them where they will be working. They cannot, however, help in any way with the cooking. Ashburton chef Bill Ludwell (now retired) explained about his assistance to Victor Gielisse from Dallas, "I can only help with supplies, I can't cook nor can I comment. It's a bit like being a caddie with a golfer. If they make a rotten shot you just shut up . . ."

But the chefs of the world visiting next week won't be quiet. There will be a lot of industry talk, gossip and networking at the welcome reception for the Congress at the Melbourne Town Hall on Sunday night and during the general Congress sessions over the following three days at the Melbourne Convention Centre. Controversial topics to be covered include an examination of the relevance of global food standards; a session on Feeding the Masses Safely and a number of presentations on world food trends and different cuisines. From Plough to Platter with Serge Dansereau, Executive chef of the Regent Sydney and Dr Mike Richard, CSIRO, will look at how chefs influence the size, shape, type, quality and production of primary product. Over the past decade Dansereau has personally sought out growers for products which he wanted to see in Australian restaurant kitchens and has been influential in fostering their development. The congress will focus strongly on speciality Australian products, wines and bush tucker ingredients.

Bonlac and the Australian Dairy Corporation are major sponsors of the Congress and the cooking competition has been organised by George Hill with cooking equipment for the competition supplied by ComCater and kitchens built by Melbourne Central. First heat of the championships is at 12.30, Sunday March 15. Admission is free. For more information call George Hill on 9761 8889. For congress information call WACS 9820 9115.