Cecile Thiery wins 2016 Classic Fine Foods Christmas Entremet competition
Cecile Thiery of private members' club 5 Hertford Street, Mayfair, London has been revealed as the winner of this year's Classic Fine Foods Christmas Entremet competition.
During the live final at TheTasteLab at Classic Fine Foods in west London's Park Royal today (1 November), all five chefs had three hours to prepare two 10-portion, Christmas-themed entremets using at least one Valrhona chocolate, one Capfruit fruit purée and one PCB item.
Competitors included: Jeremy Lesongeur from Harrods; Francois-Xavier Cocherel from Rhubarb; Cecile Thiery from 5 Hertford Street; Lyece Major from the Langham hotel, London; and Jessica Huang from the Berkeley hotel, London.
Judges praised both the flavours and the pared down but beautiful style of Thierry's ‘Christmas Tree Forest' Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate entremets with Capfruit raspberry and blackcurrant purées.
Thiery wins flights and accommodation to attend a two-day Valrhona chocolate workshop at its new chocolate school in Brooklyn, New York. Major was second runner-up, and receives a three-day course at the Classic Fine Foods Taste Lab, while third runner-up Lesongeur wins a dinner for two in a Michelin-starred restaurant in London.
The judges, led by last year's winner Maxime Michelot (now demi chef de partie for the Shangri-La hotel at the Shard), awarded marks out of five for both visual appearance and taste. Technique was also taken into account.
Judges also included food writer Catherine Black; food writer Edd Kimber; Glenn Ratcliffe from Seasoned by Chefs magazine; Peter Marshall from Chef magazine; food writer Judith Lewis; Hannah Thompson from BigHospitality; Luke Frost, Valrhona's UK pastry chef; Denis Dramé, TheTasteLab pastry chef; and Katherine Price from The Caterer magazine
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