Addicted to adrenalin

For some chefs, competition is an interesting excursion from daily life; for others, it's a burning need. Amanda Marcus checks with some addicts preparing for their regular Hotelympia fix.

Life as a chef is hard work at the best of times, yet for some, putting in extra hours to compete in national culinary competitions is a not a chore, but an irresistible challenge. For others, it goes further than that - it's an addiction.

This year's Salon Culinaire classes at Hotelympia promise to be as challenging as ever, and some hard-core competitors are entering not one but several categories.

For example, Peter Joyner, craft development executive for business and industry at Sodexho, is hoping for his fourth consecutive gold win in the Team Grand Prix at the show. He and team-mates Willie Pike and David Hunt (this year's captain) have won the event for the past three years and they just keep coming back for more. The competition combines the scores of the team for La Parade des Chefs with the cold buffet in the display salon, and Joyner, the team manager, feels that this year will be their toughest yet, because "people don't like to see the same team keep winning".

Joyner admits that competitions are a massive amount of work. "People think contract-catering chefs have more time to practise, but we put in a lot of hours at weekends and evenings," he says. "My wife thinks I'm just one up from a train spotter because I can spend two hours cutting a carrot. It's addictive. When you've done it once, you come back trying to find exactly what the judges are looking for, searching for new ideas and ways to improve."

Too complicated Sodexho's strategy for La Parade this year is to concentrate on flavour above all. "We made the dessert too complicated last year and that worked against us," says Joyner. "We want people to come and think, ‘That's good, I'll put it on my menu.' Competition work has to be fairly complicated but you need to find clever ways to do it."

For La Parade, Sodexho's senior team members have taken on a course each, and have practised to perfection in their own kitchens. The whole menu was run through before an invited gathering of Sodexho clients and chefs, and the team will do another run before the day of competition.

Marc Podro, directors' chef at PricewaterhouseCoopers, is in charge of the starter - a lightly smoked royale of salmon, served on a pan-fried crab cake with a warm shellfish and dill vinaigrette. He'll be supported by Steve Kendall from Merrill Lynch, who was Sodexho's National Chef of the Year in 2001. (With more than 5,000 chefs in the company, Sodexho holds its own Salon Culinaire every year and invites those who do well to compete in external competitions.)

The dessert itself is a confection of exotic fruit, warm apple barrel filled with a pineapple and passion fruit curd, chocolate-encased coconut and Malibu teardrop, crÅ me fraÅ'che sorbet and exotic fruit salsa.

Once Tuesday is over (the team's day to compete in La Parade), their focus will turn straight to the buffet event on Thursday. "We went for an Icelandic theme last year, with penguins - the lot. This year will be more minimalistic," says Joyner. Filling a 12ft by 10ft table will involve creating a fish platter, a meat platter, two restaurant hot plates and a selection of canapés, and that's just for part one. Part two is a selection of canapés, four main courses and a five-course gastronomic meal. Section three requires a six-plated dessert, a plate of petits fours and a centrepiece.

The will to win
Contract catering giant Compass UK and Ireland has 46 entries across the Salon Culinaire classes. Team manager Trevor Nelson, Compass's food service training and development manager, says that culinary competitions can be compared to any great sport - "Once you have the bug," he says, "that's it. You want to win and you want to be known as the best."

For Compass employees, there's no doubt that winning a prestigious event at Hotelympia also brings rewards within the company. Nelson explains: "We really make a fuss of them. The chief executive gets the main team members together for a meal and we sometimes take a few chefs to Chicago. Ones that do really well also get to compete in the World Culinary Olympics. We are a food service company and we're very much about recruitment and retention."

Most of his team intend to meet on 1 February at Windsor racecourse, where Compass's Letheby & Christopher division holds the catering contract, and will use it as a base to prepare their exhibits. Mark Hill, executive chef at London Weekend Television and Granada Media, is one of Compass's keenest competitors and a veteran of Hotelympia. He started competing in 1972 and was the Craft Guild of Chefs' Competition Chef of the Year in 2000. "It's a way of testing yourself," he says, "of finding and then trying to create new trends. The only way to break the addiction is to pass on what you've learnt to younger chefs and nurture them."

James Lester was one of Hill's protégés. After winning the Craft Guild of Chefs' Young Chef of the Year title in 2000, this year he is on another Compass team - the Baxter & Platts' brigade for La Parade. But nurturing future stars hasn't quite cured Hill's "addiction" - he's still very much a competitor this year.

No time for sleep Mark Fitzmaurice, executive chef for UBS Warburg, is lucky he doesn't need much sleep. As team captain for Compass Group UK and Ireland in La Parade, as well as entering a display salon class (plated five-course gourmet meal and restaurant platter of crustacea), he'll be on his feet most of the week - literally.

His schedule will look something like this: Sunday - begin preparation, work all day on exhibit for Tuesday's show; help junior colleagues with their entries for Monday. Monday - go to work as normal, then work through the night.Tuesday - up early to deliver the exhibit, then visit the rest of the show; catch up with team at Windsor and work till late to prepare for La Parade. Wednesday - La Parade; up at 5am for 7am start - "a mad day"; catch up with family Wednesday night. Thursday - go to work as normal, then work through the night preparing for Friday exhibit. Friday - deliver exhibit; back to work to check all is OK for Monday.

Is it all worth it? Fitzmaurice thinks so. In the past six years he has won six golds, two silvers and one bronze medal at Hotelympia. "It's all about adrenalin, teamwork and the will to win," he says. "I have Omero Gallucci, executive development chef for Eurest Corporate Accounts, to thank for seeing the potential in me and nurturing me. Since then, there's been no stopping me."

Entering both La Parade and static display tests numerous skills, which appeals to Fitzmaurice. "La Parade is pure restaurant craft, physical food," he says. "Some people think the static displays are just about looks, not taste, but the judges can cut into everything if they choose to. The food needs to look as fantastic at 1pm as it did at 7am, and it's all about grabbing the judges' attention."

Fitzmaurice was reluctant to give away any secrets about his entry this year, but his past winners have included an inspired dessert called Clockwork Orange with chocolate cogs, tuile hands and painted Roman numerals. And winning so often hasn't diminished its appeal. As he says: "You just want to push that much more each time."

Salon Culinaire - the events explained

This year's classes are divided into three main areas: La Parade des Chefs, Live Theatre and Display.

La Parade is a team event in which a brigade of six chefs must produce a three-course lunch for 85 covers, sold to a paying audience for £25 per head. Each competing team has access to a glass-walled kitchen from 7am and is allowed to start preparation from 8am, with service commencing at 12.30pm. The team manager is not allowed to touch the food but can work the hotplate.

Live theatre is running all week with 10 purpose-built workstations in front of seating for a 300-strong audience. The majority of competitions are short, running for between 30 minutes and an hour, and there are some 30 different classes (all for individuals), ranging from Fish and New Zealand Lamb classes to PÆ'tisserie, British Pepper and Spice, London Clubs Chef of the Year, Chinese New Year Masterclass and the Masterchefs' Grand Prix. Establishments can present one entry per class but chefs can enter a maximum of three live theatres.

Display is the final category, with more than 30 different classes ranging from team buffets to individual exhibits in kitchen/larder, pastry and restaurant plates, as well as school catering and junior displays. Chefs can enter as many displays as they wish. But, warns Mark Hill: "It's better to enter one class and do it well than several and do badly. Make sure you can cope with more than one first."

Top tips for the big day

Steve Munkley, executive chef at London's Royal Garden hotel, is managing the hotel's team at La Parade this year. Himself a keen competitor in previous events, Munkley says entrants shouldn't expect to win at their first attempt. His advice is: "Blank out the audience. The first three to four minutes are the worst, but then you get into it. Don't refer to notes, just go for it."

Munkley's team will go through three or four practice runs, pulling in people who enjoy food to test their menu. "Chefs love pretty pictures on plates but they can forget to taste the food," he says. The food has to be ready for service within an achievable time, too, since by midday the team needs to have 85 covers on the tables - "90% of customers are sitting down within the first 15 minutes of service opening," Munkley says, "so don't overstretch the team, and avoid being too intricate."

The Royal Garden's menu this year includes a trio of desserts because, says Munkley, experience has taught them that the judges look for as many different skills as possible, and three small desserts are likely to gain higher marks than a single one. Pastry chef Nick Hollands likes working with chocolate and has come up with a trio offering something warm, something cold and something at room temperature - a soufflé, chilli ice-cream and a tart. These will follow a pav‚ of salmon and crab with its own cappuccino and a roulade of English beef fillet wrapped in sweet potato served with cabbage tian.

Compass Group UK and Ireland teamLa Parade des Chefs

Team manager: Omero Gallucci
Team members: Mark Fitzmaurice, Allan Thistleton, Mark Hill, Gary Richmond, Richard Bowden

Menu

Seared mackerel on a scallop coral and horseradish risotto
Roast loin of lamb, caramelised tongue, marjoram potato fondants, tomato-scented jus
Dark chocolate and coconut set cream, redcurrant daiquiri, banana ice-cream