Dessert storm
WARRANT Officer Lou Jones is pitching for a unique double. He was captain of the American team which became World Champions of the Armed Forces at the last Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt. This autumn he takes the British side to Luxembourg for the Military World Cup.
Though he says the Chef of the Year title has been the ultimate accolade, if he wins with the team in Luxembourg, his Chef of the Year title may seem like small fry.
Competition work has its own particular ground rules. It is a part of the chef's profession which tests all the technical and organisational skills. There are rewards for pragmatism and for flights of fancy. Judges will penalise the slightest mistakes, but give credit for guile at attempts to cover them up.
What do you do, Jones asks, if you drop the fish on the floor? Answer: you plan against the accident happening in the first place.
From the time that he did his dummy runs, in the early rounds of the Chef of the Year competition, at the World of Hospitality Exhibition, through to the final he worked with the same commis, Sergeant Richard Mutz of the Quartermaster Centre and School, Fort Lee, Virginia.
For all the military precision of his approach, it is the taste, textures and the colours of his cräme Sophia which earned him his title.
CREME SOPHIA
The dessert is a clean-looking, simple dish, but it requires a great deal of planning, technical know-how and dexterity to prepare in the heat of battle.
It is a balance of tart citrus fruits, smooth cream and rich, sweet caramel. Jones chose the ingredients to cleanse the palate after his rich venison main course.
Its design is built around the American trick of serving contained sauces - building three little dams on the plate and filling them. To do this, Jones used templates in the competition.
CrÁ¤me Sophia tests a whole range of separate techniques and kitchen skills: making two pastry mixes, two sauces, one classic crÁ¤me, plus deftness at cutting up fruit, zesting and piping.
As each element requires its own preparation, planning is critical.
The judges would have noted that even without the piped choux on the plate, the dish would still be attractive and practical for restaurant service. n
