August 7, 2024 • 35 mins
The Bocuse d’Or, established by Chef Paul Bocuse in 1987, is the world’s most rigorous culinary competition. Chef teams from 76 countries compete in qualifying rounds, narrowed down to 24 spots for the finals taking place in Lyon, France, in January 2025. For the first time the Bocuse d’Or Americas was held in the U.S.A. in New Orleans (June 2024) with 9 competing teams. Team U.S.A. won the gold and will compete at the finals. Meet Team U.S.A. Chef Stefani De Palma and Commis Bradley Waddle.
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The Connected Table is broadcast live Wednesdays at 2PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
The Connected Table Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live where your hosts Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple. We
enjoy bringing you the amazing people we know working front
and center and behind the scenes and food, wine, spirits
and hospitality around the world. We love sharing their stories
with you, and I hope you follow us on all
(01:02):
the different podcast channels where you can hear our show. Well.
It is a now August twenty twenty four and we
have been engrossed in the Summer Olympics taking place in Paris.
But in June of this year, June eleven, twelfth, and thirteenth,
we attended the Culinary Olympics at New Orleans Ernest Meril
Convention Center. We're talking about the Boukouz d'Or Americas, which
(01:25):
is part of the global Bokus Culinary Championships that were
established by the late great Chef Paul Bokous and guests
who took home the gold America Team America. We are
so proud and they are going to go on to
compete in January twenty twenty five in the finals, which
(01:45):
will take place in Bokou's home of Leon, France. Hopefully
we'll go. We are honored to have the Team America
gold champions of the Bokuz Americas with us today. On
the connected table. We have Chef Stephanie de Palma and
Chef Bradley Waddle. Stephanie led the team and Bradley was
(02:08):
her Camille, and we are so honored that they have
taken time out of their busy schedule to join us.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Welcome, Hi Melanie, Hi David, Thank you for having us,
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So we're going to talk about your backstories, but let's
just set it up and talk about the Boukou's Door
because this was the first time the bus door America's
regionals was held in the United States, and we're glad
it's in our hometown of New Orleans. Tell us of
what our listeners should know about the Bookou's.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Door, Well, the Bookous Story is a biannual culinary competition
where twenty four countries will compete for five and a
half hours. And they these are chefs coming from very
different backgrounds, very esteemed restaurants, and there's two themes of
(02:59):
this competition. One is those big spectacular platters that you
see parading in front of the audience, and then also
a theme on plate, which is more of a restaurant
focused style dish.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So you had to cook with Louisiana ingredients, which we
understand we're not available to all the chefs who cook
from around the world. Tell us about the ingredients, which
we understand. Emerald Lagasse had a big say in selecting.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
For all of these continental qualifications. The host city really
wants to bring some of their regional ingredients, so it
was very exciting for us to use wild boar and
alligator and grits and some of these ingredients we had
never worked with before. So once we found out what
the requirements were going to be, we tried to find
(03:48):
really close substitutes to practice with, and this will be
the same challenge that we have going into Leon and
we're looking forward to finding out the themes in the
coming months.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You know, we found out when while we attended, we
were talking to some of the chefs from some of
the other countries and they actually said that there were
certain ingredients that were listed that they actually couldn't get
in their home country. In fact, Canada banned wild boar
from being imported into Canada earlier this year, I think, Melanie, Yeah,
and so they weren't even allowed to use ports, so
(04:19):
they had to come up with something else.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Right, This is this is part of the challenge of
the Bookoo store. All these countries from all over the world,
and there are very you know, specific ingredients that are
imposed on each team. And I do think that some
of those countries came to the US a few weeks
earlier so they could practice in the US with the
with the required ingredients. But I think the same thing
(04:46):
we have to prepare for for lyone. Every country is
going to have these similar challenges.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
It's really like the Olympics. I have to go and
practice on the turf to get a feel for this world.
Talk a little bit just you know, for our listeners.
Many of you are in the industry may be familiar
with Bokus or but it was established by Paul Bokuz.
It's I think thirty years this year or maybe over
thirty years, and I think there's only one other team
(05:14):
that has taken the championship, correct me if I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Wrong, from the US, the US one in twenty seventeen
they won gold. In twenty fifteen they won silver.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So this is rigorous and we saw the tension in
the room as we watch. First of all, let's talk.
Let's just step back a little bit and talk about
each of you and how you came together to work
as a team, which is I think really interesting. Let's
start with you, Stephanie. You're a California girl, as is Bradley.
How to tell us each about your backgrounds?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Sure, I grew up in southern California and decided to
go into trade school after high school, which ended up
being culinary school. And I was very fortunate that my
family supported that decision. And once I was finished with
my culinary education, I relocated to San Diego and that
led me to Addison restaurant where I started when I
(06:11):
was nineteen or so, and I started as a pastry
cook there, and the leadership team at Addison was an
incredible team of mentors that really supported, you know, promoting
from within and treating all of their all their staff
with so much respect. And that allowed me to really
(06:31):
flourish in that restaurant and eventually I became the chete
cuisine of Addison in about twenty seventeen, I believe.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Bradley I started working. I skipped culinary school. I started
working in the kitchens as soon as I could. I
was sixteen years old in reading in my hometown, and
they just always focused on work. I loved cooking. I
(07:06):
worked in as many restaurants in my hometown as I could,
and then I got an opportunity to work for Cheptom
Skeller in NAPA and that really boosted my culinari abilities.
I learned a lot of great habits, I learned a
(07:27):
lot about food in a really short amount of time,
met a lot of really great people, and ultimately was
a huge driving factor for my current successes in the industry.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So how did you two come together to work as
a team. What is the process actually for qualifying to
be part of the bokust Or.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So every country will have their kind of national selection.
This happens in Norway, in France and Sweden, so all
these kind trees have a The first step is to
create the team. So I left Addison at the end
of twenty twenty two and we did a lot of
a lot of events with Mentor the foundation that supports
(08:13):
Team USA. So I've known these chefs that are involved
for a very long time. So when they found out
I had left Addison, they said, you know, is this
something you'd be interested in? So it really got the
ball rolling on, you know, training to try out for
the team, and I worked a lot with Chef Devon
Nell and Chef David Braden who worked worked for Thomas Keller,
(08:36):
and Bradley had worked for Chef Devin and he said, hey,
I've got this kid who's the right age because you
have to the Komi has to be under twenty two
by the time of the competition, and so Bradley was
the right age. He had the right mindset and the
same kind of goals that I had going into this competition.
(08:58):
So we paired up, We had a zoom call and
our personalities clicked and we're like, this is this is
going to be good. So he moved back to NAPA
in July of twenty twenty three. We trained for two
months and then tried out for the team, and you know,
obviously a big goal was that I would win first place,
(09:22):
but we also wanted Bradley to win best Komi, which
he did and that that solidified our team to for
the next two years.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Stephanie or Bradley define the two roles of candidate and
komy for us and our listeners.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Sure, the candidate is that it's the candidate the head chef,
however however you want to put it. This is the
chef that's making a lot of decisions for the team
and also representing the team. But the komi is just
as vital and that I have to be able to
rely on Bradley so much for a huge amount of workload,
(10:04):
and we have to be very collaborative in this whole process,
because I'm not the kind of chef that's just going
to tell you how to do something and you don't
have any say in it. So there has to be
that collaborative effort and to really have us be on
the same page throughout the R and D process, the
(10:24):
training process, the timing, and then when it actually comes
to competition, so that we're all really just focused on
the same goal.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You know, winning teams. I noted, we're watching the Olympics
right now. There's always a coach, and you have a
coach Sebastian. Jabron. Tell us about him and what his
role was.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Sebastian. Sebastian competed for Sweden in twenty nineteen and twenty
twenty one. He reached silver in twenty nineteen and he
was one of the kitchen jury for the last America's cycle.
So him and then chef Gavin Casen kind of connected
and said, hey, this might be a really good opportunity
(11:10):
for the US to have an international coach. So he
was brought on board to be the coach for the
team and the and the role for that coach is
to keep track of the run throughout the competition, make
sure that we are hitting our timing. We know when
you know, we have ten minutes left before we need
to start plating. And he's also really the spokesperson for
(11:33):
the team during the competition because Bradley and I aren't
going to talk to media or interviews while we're mid competition.
So the head coach really is is the spokes person
for the team so that he can really make sure
that our you know, vision is is shown how how
we want it, and everyone kind of knows where we're
(11:54):
how we're approaching this competition.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You know it. It really is amazing how much it
sounds like you know, athletics, you know, timing is everything.
You could feel the pressure cooker in the room. It
was intense talk about what it felt like in the
kitchen stadium and how you manage the pressure and also
(12:18):
how you manage the pressure just in your work all
together because we know how hard it is each of you.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I think the pressure it's going to be there no
matter what. But as long as we feel very I
don't want to say confident, but comfortable in what we
are going to execute. We practiced a lot, and we
practiced how we wanted to perform, and that's all we
(12:46):
could do. We can We weren't going to try to
do anything more than what we had practiced because that
would have been a little risky. It was just we
knew we had our timing down, We hit our time,
our flavors how we had practiced, and I think we
had a pretty good outcome.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, you won the goal, pretty good.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
That was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
You're heading to Leone.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
You know, we talked earlier about the fact that you
had to use Louisian ingredients like wild boar and grits
and alligator. Tell us about that process, what that was
like a sourcing because alligators aren't native to California, right,
But tell us about that process and how you found
working with really such foreign ingredients to your everyday lives, and.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Also how you ended up creating the presentation. Describe it
for our listeners. Both presentations.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I think the wild Boar was was a lot of
fun because we were tasked with presenting the wild boar
in two pieces, and whether you wanted to do those
two pieces identical or different, that was up to the team.
So we you know, wild boar rack comes on the bones.
We wanted to make sure we present it at least
(14:04):
one piece on the bones so it looked it looked
like food, not like competition food. Right. We wanted it
to look delicious and had like an aroma. We finished
it with some apple would smoke and then the second
piece we did a softer texture of a riette with
some stewed apples and thyme and garlic. And as far
(14:26):
as the alligator, we actually practiced with like a pork
and dewey sausage because we didn't source the actual sausage
in our time of training, so we just we looked
at the ingredients of what the required product was and
found a similar pork and dewey sausage and practiced with
that as much as we could.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You know, I think it was the Colombia, No, the
Canadian chefs who said they could get well where they
all said they practiced with chicken. With the alligator, you
made a corn dog, right, yes, talked to us about
the corn dogs. That's like so all American, and you know,
give us a sense of what it looked like and
what it tasted like, because we didn't get to taste
anything that was really fun.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
We were in a huge brainstorming R and D process,
trying to think about what we're gonna cook and how
we're going to prepare these ingredients that were not necessarily
normal things that we cook. I would not say that
I've ever cooked with alligator sausage at home, So I thought,
(15:34):
what is more American than a corn dog. It's quintessential
American food. So we had an opportunity to take a
really nice alligator sausage and make it super light and
flavorful with our own touch, and then we battered it
with the corn dog batter, using grits as one of
(15:56):
the required ingredients, and really just did our own spin,
our you know, fine fine dining spin on a corn dog.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
And it was awesome. It was delicious.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
It was super fun and playful and really played to
the United States.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
In a very refined way.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Of course, Yeah, I think it's something that should be
on menus here in Louisiana. I just think it's yeah, yeah,
I mean, you know, it's so quintessential Louisiana, while boor is,
you know, more universal, and god knows, we eat enough
of it when we go to Italy. And of course
grits is just such an indicative dish of the South.
(16:44):
Did you you know, did you eat a lot of
grits in California? Or is this something fairly new to
you as well?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
It's fairly new to us too. I mean, there are
restaurants that serve grits, but I think the best advice
on cooking them was actually from one my uber drivers
in New Orleans and he said, put a lot of
cheese in there, a lot of butter, just whip it
as much as you can. So and this was like
two days before the competition, so we enjoyed using the
(17:13):
products so much and knowing that Chef Emerald Gassi had
had a big hand in choosing it, and we had
to we had to show really well.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Went a winning recipe from your uber driver, So that means.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
You know, you never know, the next suber driver could
be a top chef. Just remember that. Well, I grew
up eating grits. They are the most tasteless things, tasteless
dish unless you add the cheese and the butter or
something like that. And of course shrimp and grits is
a quintessential dish throughout the South. So did you have
a chance to I know you were under pressure while
(17:51):
you're here in New Orleans, but did you have a
chance both of you to go out and enjoy restaurants
or enjoy New Orleans?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Absolutely. The day that we competed, Nna Compton was graciously
hosted us at Bywater with just our very close friends
and family that had come to the to New Orleans
to watch us compete, and that was such a special
evening because we were exhausted and just to be able
to spend that time with you know, our close friends
(18:19):
and family. It was really special and her food was
absolutely delicious. And then beyond that, we had a welcome
dinner at Meryll's where Chef Emerald hosted us, and that
was a lot of the Mentor chefs that came and visited,
and some of our family came and attended. So and
I think we had we had some spare time after
(18:42):
all was said and done. We tried Beignet's and I
think some chefs had had gumbo and all the tried
to hit all the spots.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Well, you have to come back, you know, the city
of New Orleans is angling to get the Bukusdor America's back.
I have to say I was personally tickled pink when
Thomas Keller asked me where to dine out in New Orleans,
and I kind of got tongue tied. You know, let's
talk about what's your favorite is. Let's talk about Mentor
(19:14):
because it had an integral role in your participation. Explain
the organization and who is behind it.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
So Mentor was created from Chef Thomas Keller, Chef Daniel Bealuda,
and then Chef Jerombocous And this was really a goal
from Chef Paul Bocous to get the US on the podium.
And you know, he tasked these three chefs with build
a foundation that will support Team USA. And that's only
(19:47):
one small part of what Mentor does. They also do
a huge grant program for young chefs that they'll send
them to do a stage for for a number of
months at different restaurants, and it's really just opening opening
doors for young chefs that maybe don't have the opportunity
to do so, and just bringing a lot of exposure
to the Book of the Bocus Door to the US
(20:09):
because chefs know about it, but they don't know how
attainable it is. And we're hoping that the more we
talk about it, the more chefs will want to get
involved in whatever capacity they can.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, I'd love to see you when you're you know,
through competing through a little tour to culinary schools. You
know in New Orleans they have some wonderful smaller culinary
schools and I think just to hear from people like
you about what could could be and what Mentor is
doing is incredible. I'm just looking at the Mentor website
(20:46):
right now, which is mentorbkb dot org and the program
is awarded almost two million dollars in grants since twenty
fourteen to young chefs across the United States. That's really
fantastic because we know that stodges don't pay. We know
that many young chefs come from humble origins and they
have to work their way through low paying jobs for
(21:08):
a really long time to get anywhere. So that is
just incredible because it brings hope to chefs of all ages. Really,
you don't have to just be young, you could be
career changers too. It was interesting that there is an
age requirement for the bokust Or. I'm not sure why
that is, but and I know if that's something you
could talk to it is it specifically for younger chefs?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Well, the age restriction is I think the most significant
one is the Komi having to be under twenty three
at the time of the competition. Those are young chefs
and that's really just fostering that idea of right a
mentor and their protege type type environment. So the candidate
(21:54):
is there an age requirement for the candidate above twenty three?
About twenty three. I couldn't imagine doing this at twenty four,
twenty five years old. I just I didn't have the
organization experience, the repertoire. So I think there is that
kind of balance of, you know, having en up training
to represent the team, and then also having a comi
(22:14):
that is not completely fresh, you know, out of their
first job, but having some technical background.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So to underscore. The Boco's door has been called, quote,
the world's most rigorous culinary competition. Was there something when
you entered this process? What surprised you about the process?
I'd love to hear from each of you.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well, this is a it's a rigorous competition in the
fact that it takes roughly two years out of a
chef's career. You dedicate two years that goes from the
continentals or the country selection into the Continental qualifier and
then actually training for the final. This is a big
(23:02):
commitment for chefs, and you're in the kitchen every day.
The rigor comes a little bit down the road when
you're doing time runs, maybe three, four or five days
in a row, and these are time runs where you're
cooking for six hours at a time, and it's definitely
you know, there is wear and tear. That is a
(23:22):
very different environment than a restaurant. So there is a
lot of mental focus and physical training that goes into
preparing for this.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
You know, that's probably why they have an age limit
because I don't think older people and I am one
of them, could could handle the stamina. It takes a
lot of stamina to do that and as well as
mental focus, so I think that's important to underscore. So
you're training for January twenty twenty five, right, I know
(23:53):
we can't talk about the ingredients, but do you know
what they are yet? Is they have they been revealed?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
No, and we won't know because there are still commental
qualifications going on in September, so we won't find out
until all those are complete and every qualifying country knows
that they have on their spot, and then we'll find out.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Do you know some examples of what has been done
in the past, because I think I saw something like
in one of the past years it was you kids
food or something. Give us examples of what it's like
in leone.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Right, last year, their main protein they had to use
was monkfish, and then their theme on plate was feed
the Kids, where they had to make a three course meal.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
That was.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Children appropriate, approachable, I guess, but also very refined and
could be served in a restaurant.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I'd like to see what people did with chicken fingers
that seems to.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Be in the shape of a dinosaur pieces.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
I used to hate kids menus as a child. I
felt they were all insulting, so I'd be interesting in that. Well,
that's kind of exciting. You don't know what it is,
so then you kind of find out in the fall,
and then you have to train and practice for the
finals in late January.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
So do you go to Leon early to work in
that kitchen stadium? And where is it? Like you did here?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
The competition is held in the your expo stadium, and
we will go a couple maybe two weeks ahead of time,
just to get fully situated in the new time zone
and sourcing product there. A lot of things will bring
from home, but we will do we will plan to
do to practice runs in Leon.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
While we're there.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I have a question, what are you allowed to take
with you? Is there any can anything be pre prepared?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Only things like basic stocks so just like a blonde
chicken stock or a blonde noveial stock, things like that,
nothing can be reduced. Though they've started and new I'm
not sure if this will carry through for Lyon, but
they've started to allow fermented products. But you have to
(26:11):
submit documents that just show all the ingredients that were
used in it and the method and things. But a
lot of these these pre made things have to be
pre approved with plenty of time for them to review
it and let you know if it's okay or not.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
I would also think in some areas, getting things from
one country to another are challenging. I remember when we
did the World of Relay Chateau as an event here
in the United States and items were being confiscated left
and right with our international chefs. That was before nine
to eleven, and you could carry knives on a plane.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, that's that's a little We had a little bit
of a hiccup on our way to New Orleans. Our
food got it didn't make it on the plane with us,
and the lady at United was such an angel and
she tracked it down and got it to us. It
was just on a delayed plane that landed in Houston.
(27:12):
And then had to go on another plane to New Orleans.
So we got it just a few hours passed when
we expected.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay, that stresses me out, nail body, but it is
something to think about because items are frequently confiscated or
get loss and you have to plan. It's interesting. Did
you notice with David Banks a lot here that the
humidity and low sea level in New Orleans impact how
you prepare food? Did you notice anything different from say,
(27:40):
where you cook in California and do you take that
into consideration.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
We didn't notice a difference, but we did take that
into consideration when we were doing R and D. There's
certain things that are sensitive to humidity. But then also
we have to imagine things that we're putting on the platter,
they won't get served for maybe fifteen twenty minutes. So
either way, we're taking time and temperature into consideration.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
We've noticed everything kind of like kind of matures, as
we say, quicker down here when we buy fruit and vegetables,
and definite, yeah, definitely it's a big consideration here and impacts.
We interviewed the Leidenheimer family, the bread baking company that
does those wonderful piece selects, and they have to adjust
the temperature of baking every season because of that. It's
(28:31):
ivel very interesting. Yeah, So how else are you preparing
for leone? And how often are you working together? Now?
What will the timeline look like for you working together
in your time commitment?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
So we're in the kitchen five days a week, and
for right now, we're r indean possible garnish components because
that's something that's been pretty consistent. There's always going to
be vegetable based garnishes on the plattern. That's that hasn't
changed for the past maybe three four cycles. So that's
really all we can R and D right now. And
(29:07):
we're also working with our designer that's designing the platter,
so in pretty early stages of that, and then also
some kitchen design elements that we're working through.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Is there anyone you're working with you want to get
a shout out who's been helping you other than obviously
your coach, any other companies? Are people you mentioned your designer?
That's so interesting because I sat next to somebody who
was like, I designed the plotter, the actual big giant platter.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, Martin Kassner is and his business partner Joshua Lancy.
They are platter designers. They have designed the platter for Temui,
say for the past I don't know, ten, twelve, fourteen years,
something like that, and they are just an amazing team
of creative individuals. We also have chef Robert Sulatake involved
(30:03):
with us every day in the kitchen. He's more of
a general manager of the team, so taking care of
a lot of logistic and call situations, but also helping
manage the team, making sure we're staying on track. And
we do have a team of we're calling them culinary
advisors that are coming to very frequent tastings and we'll
(30:23):
be helping throughout the r and process.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Wow, you don't think about how much goes into this.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
You know, every chef always says you're only as good
as your team, and the team is a lot more
than just the people in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Speaking of team, how are your families handling this? You
guys had a huge cheering section, by the way, but
with all this dedication and time, how are each of
your families handling this. I don't know if you know
what your personal status is, but tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
For me, I know that my family's super supportive. Always
has been of my dreams and culary aspis they I
had a lot of family come out to New Orleans,
which was awesome. You know, first time that the competation
has been held in the United States, so it's easier
for family to come from several different states to New
(31:14):
Orleans to cheers on, which was so cool.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Obviously we weren't.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Looking up and watching them while we were cooking, but
we could hear them. Yeah, we could definitely.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Hear the.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Super super cool to have so much support in the crowd.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
What about you, Stephanie.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Ye the same. Yeah, my my my dad had the
megaphone and everyone going off on it and it would
it would make me smile, and it was just it
was kind of comforting knowing like it's going to be
over in a little bit, they're going to be there.
I can have them when it's done. And but throughout
this they're everyone's very supportive to the commitment that this
(32:00):
is taking and they understand it's this isn't the next,
you know, ten years of my life. I'm committee and
this is just a two year, very challenging, very very
rigorous competition. But they're incredibly excited and supportive of it.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
You know, it was nice to see some notable chefs
cheering you guys on as well, including all shout out
Paul Bartoloda and who else, Gavin Cason of course, and
Frank Brixton and Christopher Gross. It was kind of like
a little reunion to see these amazing chefs who flew
into New Orleans as well. And of course we want
to give a shout out to New Orleans and company
(32:39):
who got behind this two hundred and fifty percent because
we want you to come back. So we have to
ask us when this competition is over, and hopefully you're
bringing home the global gold or at least gold or
silver whatever we hope because this has not been Team
America's last gold. I've got it up here as Matthew
Peters in two thousand and seven Team I think it
(33:00):
was a protege of Thomas Keller, right, yes, yeah, yeah,
Well the Kellor touch, the Kellor touch. What are you
going to do after this competition is over?
Speaker 3 (33:13):
It's hard, It's hard to think about anything but this
for right now really focused on the present and our
goals are dedicated to competing successfully as Tamosa and the
goal is the top of the podium, and I don't
really want to focus on anything else besides that.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I agree, well, you know what, we want you to
stay focused because we want you to win again. This
is by the past thirty five years, the Boku's Door
has been the unrivaled international event that inspires the world
of gastronomy. It is rigodous, as our team USA has explained,
is much like the Athletic Olympics that we're watching on television.
(33:54):
And the finals, which will be global finals, will be
held in late January, and leone, I think it's January
twenty fifth or twenty sixth, I believe. We want to
give a shout out to Jerome Bokus, who is the
son of Paul Bokous and president of the competition, who
continues Chef Bekouz's wonderful legacy. He actually lives in the
(34:15):
United States and he was there and it's nice to
see this continuing and it's nice that Chef Bokou's left
such incredible legacy, and we want to congratulate you again.
You guys did a great job. It was we could
feel the tension. You handled an amazingly under pressure. You
did a beautiful presentation and we hope that you take
(34:36):
home the gold. Thank you so much, thank you very much,
it is our pleasure. Again. We have been talking to
a Team USA chef Stephanie Diploma and Herkomi chef Bradley Waddell.
Shout out to coach Sebastian Gibrond and to Team Mentor
(34:58):
who has been behind this and the founders of that
which include Daniel Blue and Thomas Keller, and we just
hope and want to cheer you on. You've been listening
to another edition of The Connected Table with Melanie Young
and David Ransom. We hope you will follow Bokus d
Or and cheer our team on and of course we
(35:19):
hope to be in Leon and we hope that you
will stay insatiably curious. Thank you,
Topics and opinions expressed in the following show are solely
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(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live where your hosts Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple. We
enjoy bringing you the amazing people we know working front
and center and behind the scenes and food, wine, spirits
and hospitality around the world. We love sharing their stories
with you, and I hope you follow us on all
(01:02):
the different podcast channels where you can hear our show. Well.
It is a now August twenty twenty four and we
have been engrossed in the Summer Olympics taking place in Paris.
But in June of this year, June eleven, twelfth, and thirteenth,
we attended the Culinary Olympics at New Orleans Ernest Meril
Convention Center. We're talking about the Boukouz d'Or Americas, which
(01:25):
is part of the global Bokus Culinary Championships that were
established by the late great Chef Paul Bokous and guests
who took home the gold America Team America. We are
so proud and they are going to go on to
compete in January twenty twenty five in the finals, which
(01:45):
will take place in Bokou's home of Leon, France. Hopefully
we'll go. We are honored to have the Team America
gold champions of the Bokuz Americas with us today. On
the connected table. We have Chef Stephanie de Palma and
Chef Bradley Waddle. Stephanie led the team and Bradley was
(02:08):
her Camille, and we are so honored that they have
taken time out of their busy schedule to join us.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Welcome, Hi Melanie, Hi David, Thank you for having us,
Thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So we're going to talk about your backstories, but let's
just set it up and talk about the Boukou's Door
because this was the first time the bus door America's
regionals was held in the United States, and we're glad
it's in our hometown of New Orleans. Tell us of
what our listeners should know about the Bookou's.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Door, Well, the Bookous Story is a biannual culinary competition
where twenty four countries will compete for five and a
half hours. And they these are chefs coming from very
different backgrounds, very esteemed restaurants, and there's two themes of
(02:59):
this competition. One is those big spectacular platters that you
see parading in front of the audience, and then also
a theme on plate, which is more of a restaurant
focused style dish.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So you had to cook with Louisiana ingredients, which we
understand we're not available to all the chefs who cook
from around the world. Tell us about the ingredients, which
we understand. Emerald Lagasse had a big say in selecting.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
For all of these continental qualifications. The host city really
wants to bring some of their regional ingredients, so it
was very exciting for us to use wild boar and
alligator and grits and some of these ingredients we had
never worked with before. So once we found out what
the requirements were going to be, we tried to find
(03:48):
really close substitutes to practice with, and this will be
the same challenge that we have going into Leon and
we're looking forward to finding out the themes in the
coming months.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
You know, we found out when while we attended, we
were talking to some of the chefs from some of
the other countries and they actually said that there were
certain ingredients that were listed that they actually couldn't get
in their home country. In fact, Canada banned wild boar
from being imported into Canada earlier this year, I think, Melanie, Yeah,
and so they weren't even allowed to use ports, so
(04:19):
they had to come up with something else.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Right, This is this is part of the challenge of
the Bookoo store. All these countries from all over the world,
and there are very you know, specific ingredients that are
imposed on each team. And I do think that some
of those countries came to the US a few weeks
earlier so they could practice in the US with the
with the required ingredients. But I think the same thing
(04:46):
we have to prepare for for lyone. Every country is
going to have these similar challenges.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
It's really like the Olympics. I have to go and
practice on the turf to get a feel for this world.
Talk a little bit just you know, for our listeners.
Many of you are in the industry may be familiar
with Bokus or but it was established by Paul Bokuz.
It's I think thirty years this year or maybe over
thirty years, and I think there's only one other team
(05:14):
that has taken the championship, correct me if I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Wrong, from the US, the US one in twenty seventeen
they won gold. In twenty fifteen they won silver.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So this is rigorous and we saw the tension in
the room as we watch. First of all, let's talk.
Let's just step back a little bit and talk about
each of you and how you came together to work
as a team, which is I think really interesting. Let's
start with you, Stephanie. You're a California girl, as is Bradley.
How to tell us each about your backgrounds?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Sure, I grew up in southern California and decided to
go into trade school after high school, which ended up
being culinary school. And I was very fortunate that my
family supported that decision. And once I was finished with
my culinary education, I relocated to San Diego and that
led me to Addison restaurant where I started when I
(06:11):
was nineteen or so, and I started as a pastry
cook there, and the leadership team at Addison was an
incredible team of mentors that really supported, you know, promoting
from within and treating all of their all their staff
with so much respect. And that allowed me to really
(06:31):
flourish in that restaurant and eventually I became the chete
cuisine of Addison in about twenty seventeen, I believe.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Bradley I started working. I skipped culinary school. I started
working in the kitchens as soon as I could. I
was sixteen years old in reading in my hometown, and
they just always focused on work. I loved cooking. I
(07:06):
worked in as many restaurants in my hometown as I could,
and then I got an opportunity to work for Cheptom
Skeller in NAPA and that really boosted my culinari abilities.
I learned a lot of great habits, I learned a
(07:27):
lot about food in a really short amount of time,
met a lot of really great people, and ultimately was
a huge driving factor for my current successes in the industry.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So how did you two come together to work as
a team. What is the process actually for qualifying to
be part of the bokust Or.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So every country will have their kind of national selection.
This happens in Norway, in France and Sweden, so all
these kind trees have a The first step is to
create the team. So I left Addison at the end
of twenty twenty two and we did a lot of
a lot of events with Mentor the foundation that supports
(08:13):
Team USA. So I've known these chefs that are involved
for a very long time. So when they found out
I had left Addison, they said, you know, is this
something you'd be interested in? So it really got the
ball rolling on, you know, training to try out for
the team, and I worked a lot with Chef Devon
Nell and Chef David Braden who worked worked for Thomas Keller,
(08:36):
and Bradley had worked for Chef Devin and he said, hey,
I've got this kid who's the right age because you
have to the Komi has to be under twenty two
by the time of the competition, and so Bradley was
the right age. He had the right mindset and the
same kind of goals that I had going into this competition.
(08:58):
So we paired up, We had a zoom call and
our personalities clicked and we're like, this is this is
going to be good. So he moved back to NAPA
in July of twenty twenty three. We trained for two
months and then tried out for the team, and you know,
obviously a big goal was that I would win first place,
(09:22):
but we also wanted Bradley to win best Komi, which
he did and that that solidified our team to for
the next two years.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Stephanie or Bradley define the two roles of candidate and
komy for us and our listeners.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Sure, the candidate is that it's the candidate the head chef,
however however you want to put it. This is the
chef that's making a lot of decisions for the team
and also representing the team. But the komi is just
as vital and that I have to be able to
rely on Bradley so much for a huge amount of workload,
(10:04):
and we have to be very collaborative in this whole process,
because I'm not the kind of chef that's just going
to tell you how to do something and you don't
have any say in it. So there has to be
that collaborative effort and to really have us be on
the same page throughout the R and D process, the
(10:24):
training process, the timing, and then when it actually comes
to competition, so that we're all really just focused on
the same goal.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
You know, winning teams. I noted, we're watching the Olympics
right now. There's always a coach, and you have a
coach Sebastian. Jabron. Tell us about him and what his
role was.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Sebastian. Sebastian competed for Sweden in twenty nineteen and twenty
twenty one. He reached silver in twenty nineteen and he
was one of the kitchen jury for the last America's cycle.
So him and then chef Gavin Casen kind of connected
and said, hey, this might be a really good opportunity
(11:10):
for the US to have an international coach. So he
was brought on board to be the coach for the
team and the and the role for that coach is
to keep track of the run throughout the competition, make
sure that we are hitting our timing. We know when
you know, we have ten minutes left before we need
to start plating. And he's also really the spokesperson for
(11:33):
the team during the competition because Bradley and I aren't
going to talk to media or interviews while we're mid competition.
So the head coach really is is the spokes person
for the team so that he can really make sure
that our you know, vision is is shown how how
we want it, and everyone kind of knows where we're
(11:54):
how we're approaching this competition.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
You know it. It really is amazing how much it
sounds like you know, athletics, you know, timing is everything.
You could feel the pressure cooker in the room. It
was intense talk about what it felt like in the
kitchen stadium and how you manage the pressure and also
(12:18):
how you manage the pressure just in your work all
together because we know how hard it is each of you.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
I think the pressure it's going to be there no
matter what. But as long as we feel very I
don't want to say confident, but comfortable in what we
are going to execute. We practiced a lot, and we
practiced how we wanted to perform, and that's all we
(12:46):
could do. We can We weren't going to try to
do anything more than what we had practiced because that
would have been a little risky. It was just we
knew we had our timing down, We hit our time,
our flavors how we had practiced, and I think we
had a pretty good outcome.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Yeah, you won the goal, pretty good.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
That was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
You're heading to Leone.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
You know, we talked earlier about the fact that you
had to use Louisian ingredients like wild boar and grits
and alligator. Tell us about that process, what that was
like a sourcing because alligators aren't native to California, right,
But tell us about that process and how you found
working with really such foreign ingredients to your everyday lives, and.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Also how you ended up creating the presentation. Describe it
for our listeners. Both presentations.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
I think the wild Boar was was a lot of
fun because we were tasked with presenting the wild boar
in two pieces, and whether you wanted to do those
two pieces identical or different, that was up to the team.
So we you know, wild boar rack comes on the bones.
We wanted to make sure we present it at least
(14:04):
one piece on the bones so it looked it looked
like food, not like competition food. Right. We wanted it
to look delicious and had like an aroma. We finished
it with some apple would smoke and then the second
piece we did a softer texture of a riette with
some stewed apples and thyme and garlic. And as far
(14:26):
as the alligator, we actually practiced with like a pork
and dewey sausage because we didn't source the actual sausage
in our time of training, so we just we looked
at the ingredients of what the required product was and
found a similar pork and dewey sausage and practiced with
that as much as we could.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You know, I think it was the Colombia, No, the
Canadian chefs who said they could get well where they
all said they practiced with chicken. With the alligator, you
made a corn dog, right, yes, talked to us about
the corn dogs. That's like so all American, and you know,
give us a sense of what it looked like and
what it tasted like, because we didn't get to taste
anything that was really fun.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
We were in a huge brainstorming R and D process,
trying to think about what we're gonna cook and how
we're going to prepare these ingredients that were not necessarily
normal things that we cook. I would not say that
I've ever cooked with alligator sausage at home, So I thought,
(15:34):
what is more American than a corn dog. It's quintessential
American food. So we had an opportunity to take a
really nice alligator sausage and make it super light and
flavorful with our own touch, and then we battered it
with the corn dog batter, using grits as one of
(15:56):
the required ingredients, and really just did our own spin,
our you know, fine fine dining spin on a corn dog.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
And it was awesome. It was delicious.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
It was super fun and playful and really played to
the United States.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
In a very refined way.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Of course, Yeah, I think it's something that should be
on menus here in Louisiana. I just think it's yeah, yeah,
I mean, you know, it's so quintessential Louisiana, while boor is,
you know, more universal, and god knows, we eat enough
of it when we go to Italy. And of course
grits is just such an indicative dish of the South.
(16:44):
Did you you know, did you eat a lot of
grits in California? Or is this something fairly new to
you as well?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
It's fairly new to us too. I mean, there are
restaurants that serve grits, but I think the best advice
on cooking them was actually from one my uber drivers
in New Orleans and he said, put a lot of
cheese in there, a lot of butter, just whip it
as much as you can. So and this was like
two days before the competition, so we enjoyed using the
(17:13):
products so much and knowing that Chef Emerald Gassi had
had a big hand in choosing it, and we had
to we had to show really well.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Went a winning recipe from your uber driver, So that means.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
You know, you never know, the next suber driver could
be a top chef. Just remember that. Well, I grew
up eating grits. They are the most tasteless things, tasteless
dish unless you add the cheese and the butter or
something like that. And of course shrimp and grits is
a quintessential dish throughout the South. So did you have
a chance to I know you were under pressure while
(17:51):
you're here in New Orleans, but did you have a
chance both of you to go out and enjoy restaurants
or enjoy New Orleans?
Speaker 5 (17:57):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (17:57):
Absolutely. The day that we competed, Nna Compton was graciously
hosted us at Bywater with just our very close friends
and family that had come to the to New Orleans
to watch us compete, and that was such a special
evening because we were exhausted and just to be able
to spend that time with you know, our close friends
(18:19):
and family. It was really special and her food was
absolutely delicious. And then beyond that, we had a welcome
dinner at Meryll's where Chef Emerald hosted us, and that
was a lot of the Mentor chefs that came and visited,
and some of our family came and attended. So and
I think we had we had some spare time after
(18:42):
all was said and done. We tried Beignet's and I
think some chefs had had gumbo and all the tried
to hit all the spots.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Well, you have to come back, you know, the city
of New Orleans is angling to get the Bukusdor America's back.
I have to say I was personally tickled pink when
Thomas Keller asked me where to dine out in New Orleans,
and I kind of got tongue tied. You know, let's
talk about what's your favorite is. Let's talk about Mentor
(19:14):
because it had an integral role in your participation. Explain
the organization and who is behind it.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
So Mentor was created from Chef Thomas Keller, Chef Daniel Bealuda,
and then Chef Jerombocous And this was really a goal
from Chef Paul Bocous to get the US on the podium.
And you know, he tasked these three chefs with build
a foundation that will support Team USA. And that's only
(19:47):
one small part of what Mentor does. They also do
a huge grant program for young chefs that they'll send
them to do a stage for for a number of
months at different restaurants, and it's really just opening opening
doors for young chefs that maybe don't have the opportunity
to do so, and just bringing a lot of exposure
to the Book of the Bocus Door to the US
(20:09):
because chefs know about it, but they don't know how
attainable it is. And we're hoping that the more we
talk about it, the more chefs will want to get
involved in whatever capacity they can.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Well, I'd love to see you when you're you know,
through competing through a little tour to culinary schools. You
know in New Orleans they have some wonderful smaller culinary
schools and I think just to hear from people like
you about what could could be and what Mentor is
doing is incredible. I'm just looking at the Mentor website
(20:46):
right now, which is mentorbkb dot org and the program
is awarded almost two million dollars in grants since twenty
fourteen to young chefs across the United States. That's really
fantastic because we know that stodges don't pay. We know
that many young chefs come from humble origins and they
have to work their way through low paying jobs for
(21:08):
a really long time to get anywhere. So that is
just incredible because it brings hope to chefs of all ages. Really,
you don't have to just be young, you could be
career changers too. It was interesting that there is an
age requirement for the bokust Or. I'm not sure why
that is, but and I know if that's something you
could talk to it is it specifically for younger chefs?
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Well, the age restriction is I think the most significant
one is the Komi having to be under twenty three
at the time of the competition. Those are young chefs
and that's really just fostering that idea of right a
mentor and their protege type type environment. So the candidate
(21:54):
is there an age requirement for the candidate above twenty three?
About twenty three. I couldn't imagine doing this at twenty four,
twenty five years old. I just I didn't have the
organization experience, the repertoire. So I think there is that
kind of balance of, you know, having en up training
to represent the team, and then also having a comi
(22:14):
that is not completely fresh, you know, out of their
first job, but having some technical background.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
So to underscore. The Boco's door has been called, quote,
the world's most rigorous culinary competition. Was there something when
you entered this process? What surprised you about the process?
I'd love to hear from each of you.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Well, this is a it's a rigorous competition in the
fact that it takes roughly two years out of a
chef's career. You dedicate two years that goes from the
continentals or the country selection into the Continental qualifier and
then actually training for the final. This is a big
(23:02):
commitment for chefs, and you're in the kitchen every day.
The rigor comes a little bit down the road when
you're doing time runs, maybe three, four or five days
in a row, and these are time runs where you're
cooking for six hours at a time, and it's definitely
you know, there is wear and tear. That is a
(23:22):
very different environment than a restaurant. So there is a
lot of mental focus and physical training that goes into
preparing for this.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
You know, that's probably why they have an age limit
because I don't think older people and I am one
of them, could could handle the stamina. It takes a
lot of stamina to do that and as well as
mental focus, so I think that's important to underscore. So
you're training for January twenty twenty five, right, I know
(23:53):
we can't talk about the ingredients, but do you know
what they are yet? Is they have they been revealed?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
No, and we won't know because there are still commental
qualifications going on in September, so we won't find out
until all those are complete and every qualifying country knows
that they have on their spot, and then we'll find out.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Do you know some examples of what has been done
in the past, because I think I saw something like
in one of the past years it was you kids
food or something. Give us examples of what it's like
in leone.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Right, last year, their main protein they had to use
was monkfish, and then their theme on plate was feed
the Kids, where they had to make a three course meal.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
That was.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Children appropriate, approachable, I guess, but also very refined and
could be served in a restaurant.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I'd like to see what people did with chicken fingers
that seems to.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Be in the shape of a dinosaur pieces.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
I used to hate kids menus as a child. I
felt they were all insulting, so I'd be interesting in that. Well,
that's kind of exciting. You don't know what it is,
so then you kind of find out in the fall,
and then you have to train and practice for the
finals in late January.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
So do you go to Leon early to work in
that kitchen stadium? And where is it? Like you did here?
Speaker 3 (25:18):
The competition is held in the your expo stadium, and
we will go a couple maybe two weeks ahead of time,
just to get fully situated in the new time zone
and sourcing product there. A lot of things will bring
from home, but we will do we will plan to
do to practice runs in Leon.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
While we're there.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
I have a question, what are you allowed to take
with you? Is there any can anything be pre prepared?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Only things like basic stocks so just like a blonde
chicken stock or a blonde noveial stock, things like that,
nothing can be reduced. Though they've started and new I'm
not sure if this will carry through for Lyon, but
they've started to allow fermented products. But you have to
(26:11):
submit documents that just show all the ingredients that were
used in it and the method and things. But a
lot of these these pre made things have to be
pre approved with plenty of time for them to review
it and let you know if it's okay or not.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
I would also think in some areas, getting things from
one country to another are challenging. I remember when we
did the World of Relay Chateau as an event here
in the United States and items were being confiscated left
and right with our international chefs. That was before nine
to eleven, and you could carry knives on a plane.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, that's that's a little We had a little bit
of a hiccup on our way to New Orleans. Our
food got it didn't make it on the plane with us,
and the lady at United was such an angel and
she tracked it down and got it to us. It
was just on a delayed plane that landed in Houston.
(27:12):
And then had to go on another plane to New Orleans.
So we got it just a few hours passed when
we expected.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay, that stresses me out, nail body, but it is
something to think about because items are frequently confiscated or
get loss and you have to plan. It's interesting. Did
you notice with David Banks a lot here that the
humidity and low sea level in New Orleans impact how
you prepare food? Did you notice anything different from say,
(27:40):
where you cook in California and do you take that
into consideration.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
We didn't notice a difference, but we did take that
into consideration when we were doing R and D. There's
certain things that are sensitive to humidity. But then also
we have to imagine things that we're putting on the platter,
they won't get served for maybe fifteen twenty minutes. So
either way, we're taking time and temperature into consideration.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
We've noticed everything kind of like kind of matures, as
we say, quicker down here when we buy fruit and vegetables,
and definite, yeah, definitely it's a big consideration here and impacts.
We interviewed the Leidenheimer family, the bread baking company that
does those wonderful piece selects, and they have to adjust
the temperature of baking every season because of that. It's
(28:31):
ivel very interesting. Yeah, So how else are you preparing
for leone? And how often are you working together? Now?
What will the timeline look like for you working together
in your time commitment?
Speaker 3 (28:44):
So we're in the kitchen five days a week, and
for right now, we're r indean possible garnish components because
that's something that's been pretty consistent. There's always going to
be vegetable based garnishes on the plattern. That's that hasn't
changed for the past maybe three four cycles. So that's
really all we can R and D right now. And
(29:07):
we're also working with our designer that's designing the platter,
so in pretty early stages of that, and then also
some kitchen design elements that we're working through.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Is there anyone you're working with you want to get
a shout out who's been helping you other than obviously
your coach, any other companies? Are people you mentioned your designer?
That's so interesting because I sat next to somebody who
was like, I designed the plotter, the actual big giant platter.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, Martin Kassner is and his business partner Joshua Lancy.
They are platter designers. They have designed the platter for Temui,
say for the past I don't know, ten, twelve, fourteen years,
something like that, and they are just an amazing team
of creative individuals. We also have chef Robert Sulatake involved
(30:03):
with us every day in the kitchen. He's more of
a general manager of the team, so taking care of
a lot of logistic and call situations, but also helping
manage the team, making sure we're staying on track. And
we do have a team of we're calling them culinary
advisors that are coming to very frequent tastings and we'll
(30:23):
be helping throughout the r and process.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Wow, you don't think about how much goes into this.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
You know, every chef always says you're only as good
as your team, and the team is a lot more
than just the people in the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Speaking of team, how are your families handling this? You
guys had a huge cheering section, by the way, but
with all this dedication and time, how are each of
your families handling this. I don't know if you know
what your personal status is, but tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
For me, I know that my family's super supportive. Always
has been of my dreams and culary aspis they I
had a lot of family come out to New Orleans,
which was awesome. You know, first time that the competation
has been held in the United States, so it's easier
for family to come from several different states to New
(31:14):
Orleans to cheers on, which was so cool.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Obviously we weren't.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
Looking up and watching them while we were cooking, but
we could hear them. Yeah, we could definitely.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Hear the.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Super super cool to have so much support in the crowd.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
What about you, Stephanie.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Ye the same. Yeah, my my my dad had the
megaphone and everyone going off on it and it would
it would make me smile, and it was just it
was kind of comforting knowing like it's going to be
over in a little bit, they're going to be there.
I can have them when it's done. And but throughout
this they're everyone's very supportive to the commitment that this
(32:00):
is taking and they understand it's this isn't the next,
you know, ten years of my life. I'm committee and
this is just a two year, very challenging, very very
rigorous competition. But they're incredibly excited and supportive of it.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
You know, it was nice to see some notable chefs
cheering you guys on as well, including all shout out
Paul Bartoloda and who else, Gavin Cason of course, and
Frank Brixton and Christopher Gross. It was kind of like
a little reunion to see these amazing chefs who flew
into New Orleans as well. And of course we want
to give a shout out to New Orleans and company
(32:39):
who got behind this two hundred and fifty percent because
we want you to come back. So we have to
ask us when this competition is over, and hopefully you're
bringing home the global gold or at least gold or
silver whatever we hope because this has not been Team
America's last gold. I've got it up here as Matthew
Peters in two thousand and seven Team I think it
(33:00):
was a protege of Thomas Keller, right, yes, yeah, yeah,
Well the Kellor touch, the Kellor touch. What are you
going to do after this competition is over?
Speaker 3 (33:13):
It's hard, It's hard to think about anything but this
for right now really focused on the present and our
goals are dedicated to competing successfully as Tamosa and the
goal is the top of the podium, and I don't
really want to focus on anything else besides that.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
I agree, well, you know what, we want you to
stay focused because we want you to win again. This
is by the past thirty five years, the Boku's Door
has been the unrivaled international event that inspires the world
of gastronomy. It is rigodous, as our team USA has explained,
is much like the Athletic Olympics that we're watching on television.
(33:54):
And the finals, which will be global finals, will be
held in late January, and leone, I think it's January
twenty fifth or twenty sixth, I believe. We want to
give a shout out to Jerome Bokus, who is the
son of Paul Bokous and president of the competition, who
continues Chef Bekouz's wonderful legacy. He actually lives in the
(34:15):
United States and he was there and it's nice to
see this continuing and it's nice that Chef Bokou's left
such incredible legacy, and we want to congratulate you again.
You guys did a great job. It was we could
feel the tension. You handled an amazingly under pressure. You
did a beautiful presentation and we hope that you take
(34:36):
home the gold. Thank you so much, thank you very much,
it is our pleasure. Again. We have been talking to
a Team USA chef Stephanie Diploma and Herkomi chef Bradley Waddell.
Shout out to coach Sebastian Gibrond and to Team Mentor
(34:58):
who has been behind this and the founders of that
which include Daniel Blue and Thomas Keller, and we just
hope and want to cheer you on. You've been listening
to another edition of The Connected Table with Melanie Young
and David Ransom. We hope you will follow Bokus d
Or and cheer our team on and of course we
(35:19):
hope to be in Leon and we hope that you
will stay insatiably curious. Thank you,
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