The Best Bread in Paris!

One cannot think of Paris without also thinking of French bread or more correctly beautiful baguettes. Long and tapered, elegantly crisp on the outside yet cloud light on the inside, they reflect the wonderful duality that is the City of Lights itself.

So as you might expect, the quality of the city’s famed baguettes is a matter of no small importance to the citizen (and the government) of Paris.

This year Lyne Cohen-Solal, the Deputy Mayor in charge of Paris’ trade and crafts, headed a skilled jury that was composed of personalities from the Industry and catering sector, including past winners as well as every day citizens of the city.  

Once assembled, the judges initially accepted 202 rods or”wands” of bread as the Paris bakers refer to them.  Each was banded with a number to insure equally fair evaluation. Fifty-two were then quickly rejected as not meeting the entry requirements of size and weight.

To win the final grand prize, registered baguettes had to be between 55 and 65 cm (21.6-25.5 inches), weigh between 250 and 300 grams (8.8-10.5 ounces) and have a salt content level of 18 grams per kilo of flour. Now those are precise standards but, after all, this Paris and this is about bread!

In the end 151 sticks (another trade phrase that the city’s bakers use) were accepted for consideration. Now the fun began. For the next few afternoon hours, every one of those 151 rods was smelled, visually evaluated and finally tasted. And the Grand Prize winner was…

Ridha Khadher, the artisan baker of Au Paradis du Gourmand in the City’s 14^th arrondissement, a district that had never won the prestigious award before. Indeed, the award had previously been claimed for six years in a roll by esteemed bakers in the Montmartre section of the City.

But, as the unanimous final vote demonstrated, things (especially those of a culinary nature) are always subject to change.  Just consider this year’s winner, Ridha Khadher.

Unlike many previous winners, he was not born within the culinary heritage of France. Instead, he was born in Tunisia and came to Paris when 15 to seek a better life. But  he would be the first to tell any other insightful baking chef, success did not come overnight.

It took many jobs and many long hours over 24 years of work to prefect his winning recipe. His secret he says is not a change of ingredients because then what would be produced would not be a true baguette. Instead, the secret is hard work and insightful skill. What chef wouldn’t agree with that?

His award winning (more on that in a moment) bread require 24 hours of labor and attention to create, compared to the traditional five hours used by many other bakers. Many of those additional hours are involved in hand kneading and patiently waiting as the dough matures and ripens.

As a result, his bakery can only produce between 800 to 1,000 wands of bread a day but they are more than worth the wait.  Some of these much sought after loafs are now going to be delivered daily to the Élysée Palace as that is part of the winning prize along with € 4,000 (USD $5,230). Very Nice!

When asked if the money (and the fame) would encourage him to expand or modernize, the 42 year old master baker just smiled and said no. Life (and his bread) are fine just as they are - thank you.

Now that’s truly winning.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2013

Learn Who Is the World's Best Chocolate Chef

There is no place like Paris and nothing sweeter than the taste of chocolate.

Combine these two and you have the legendary World Chocolate Masters, the major confectionary competition studied by all in the industry for trend identification. 

Unlike many other contests that focus on a team effort, this feat of culinary mastery highlights the talents of a single supremely skilled chef, seeeking to be the best among the very best.

Each year the WCM is a breath-taking pageant of skill, artistry, hope and heartbreak as both the basic and the nearly unbelievable, all crafted in chocolate, are present to a panel of the world’s toughest culinary judges.

Congratulations to this year’s winners: Chefs Frank Haasnott, Yoshiaki Uezaki and Palle Sorensen, representing the Netherlands, Japan and Denmark respectively – truly the new masters of chocolate!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

KINGS OF PASTRY Is a Must See Great New Culinary Film

The acclaimed filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker have created a stunning new documentary, Kings of Pastry, that follows Jacquy Pfeiffer and 15 other very talented chefs through the rigorous three day pastry competition at the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF).

Granted permission to film only one day before the famed competition began, the MOF directors demanded that the filmmakers follow very strict guidelines: no camera booms, radio mics, lights or other equipment could be used.

In addition, each day’s filming was conditional. Yet after the first day, the chefs amass approved their return because they recognized that, like themselves, these filmmakers were masters of their media.

For three days Hegedus and Pennebaker filmed the intensity and stunning talents of the competing chefs. But their camera recorded far more then spun sugar and curving chocolate. It captures the strength and courage that great creativity requires.

This remarkable film, which anyone who loves food should see, is a treasury of truth about the meaning of vocation, so passionate it becomes, dispute stress and effort, joy and truth itself… a truth that the filmmakers described as “like ice, like fire.”

Every scene seen in Kings of Pastry is genuine, full of those real moments of icy concentration and burning conmittment that those, who have also labored for love of expression, know are so seldom seen beyond the kitchen.

You will cry and you will cheer the final ribboned collar awarded and understand why, as only one who loved the profession can, the justice of the Judges' decision. 

Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!!!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Legandary Chef Anton Mosimann to Create a Royal Champagne Wedding Dinner for Kate and William

When it's a royal wedding, only the best will do, especially when it's combined with a regard for both innovation AND tradition. And no one but no one can create that blend better than Chef Anton Mosimann.

Born in Switzerland, Chef Mosimann first ventured into the kitchen at the age of six when he first assisted his parents in a Nidau based restaurant. By the time he was 15 he was apprenticed to another regional restaurant in the Hotel Baeren in Twann. He would go on to receive his chef de cuisine diploma at the early age of 25!

Soon thereafter he was working in restaurants ranging from Rome’s Cavalieri to Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel and from the Swiss Pavilion at Japan’s Expo 70 to Belgium’s Villa Lorraine. Each position offered him a fresh opportunity to discover new ingredients and techniques.    

Using his new insights the young chef won a gold medal in the culinary competition in Lucerne in 1973. This achievement brought him to the attention of Adelrich Furrer, who recommended him Eugene Kaufeler, the famed chef of London’s grand Dorchester Hotel. 

Several interviews later Mosimann found himself the Head Chef of the legendary Dorchester Hotel at remarkable age 28! But several problems lay ahead for this young and very talented chef.

On arrival the Swiss chef discovered that the cuisine of the Dorchester was classic but dated and many among the staff of over 100 employees wondered at the wisdom of appointing such a young chef to a position of high responsibility.

Slowly but surely he won them over, centering all culinary changes around “La Nouvelle Cuisine”. Each dish was to be prepared from only the freshest food and never preped in advance. 

The goal of each assisting chef was to preserve the original taste of the ingredients involved – a chicken should taste like a chicken and not be buried under heavy sauces.

Mosimann also believed that the diner should not be limited to the cuisine of a single nation. Under his direction, French trained chefs learned to appreciate and prepare classic Japanese dishes and visa a versa. With a clarity of flavors and an embrace of diversity, Mosimann chose to reduce portion sizes and also favored a more leisurely paced dining experience.

The result? The first Michelin stars awarded outside of France! But the honors didn’t stop there. Mosimann would go on to receive the esteemed Order of the British Empire from the Queen of England in 2004 as well as to become a favorite of both Prince Charles and many other royals and celebrities who also appreciated his fresh and healthy approach to matters traditional.

Today Chef Mosimann holds court at his own private dining club Mosimann’s. But on the evening of April 29^th, he and his staff will be busy creating the evening wedding dinner being hosted by Prince Charles for Kate and William.

It will be memorable and the champagne to be served is rumored to possibly be Pol Roger, the bubbly favored by another London legend, Winston Churchill.

What a night to remember! Good Luck Kate and William!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Time and Talent Win Anne-Sophie Pic Title as World’s Greatest Female Chef

In a world composed largely of male colleagues, Anne-Sophie Pic has just been recognized by S. Pellegrino’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards as the best female chef in the world. And it’s an honor totally deserved. Not only does Pic come from a great culinary family but she also holds three Michelin stars in her own right – and is the only the fourth woman in history to do so.

Based in Valence (known to seasoned travelers as the southern door of France), she placed ahead of two other very talented female chefs – Spain’s Elena Arzak and Italy’s Nadia Santini. And though Arzak favors the cuisine of Iberia’s Basque region and Santini focuses on the flavors of the sea, Pic reaches back to the clear simplicity of Careme and Escoffier, the legendary masters of classic French cuisine.

Motivated by their heritage, Pic’s creations focus on enhancing the natural flavors of her ingredients, not smothering them with heavy sauces or over dominate ingredients. As a result, her menu most often highlights the use of regional vegetables and fresh fish.

Yet despite her family’s culinary legacy and France’s great heritage of cuisine, Pic did not start her career in the traditional manner of the industry.  It was her brother, Alain Pic, who initially was chosen to continue the culinary dynasty began by her grandfather Andre Pic when he was Michelin rated in 1945. That valued ranking was continued by her own dear father Jacques Pic.

Anne-Sophie chose instead to study at Paris’ famed Higher Institute of Management and then moved to New York City where she worked in marketing for the prestigious firms of Moet & Chandon and Cartier. Her positions there enabled her to travel and thus she met her husband (and future business partner) David Sinapian.         

Still something called her home. She missed the sounds and flavors of France and so in 1992 she decided to return to Valence and apprentice with her father. Everyone who watched them work together noticed the flow, the unspoken ease that existed between them as the famed father taught his daughter one after another the skills of a master chef.

Then abruptly Jacques Pic died of a heart attack. The famed three star restaurant was without a directing head chef.  Anne-Sophie, young and less experienced than some of her staff, stepped into the void and continued the heritage of her family. By 2007 she had regained the Michelin star that traditionally is removed at the death of a great chef and went on to write the truly collectable memoir, Au Nom du Pere, about her beloved father, the history of the Pic family and her amazing life journey that led to discovering her true vocation - cuisine.

That discovery included not only the lessons learned in the kitchen but also the many marketing skills she mastered away from the heat of the stove.  Working together with her insightful husband, the decor of the esteemed Pic Restaurant has been updated, a culinary school launched and a profitable line of extensional products developed and marketed online.

Truly this is a renaissance woman and one to be counted among the greatest of the industry.  If you doubt that, just journey to Valence, enter the subtle elegance of Restaurant Pic and dine on the classic cuisine offered there such as pan roasted Bresse chicken supreme accented with a yellow lemon marmalade, steamed young chards or a farm fresh pigeon poached with a slightly smoked broth. Then consider their unforgettable warm Grand Marnier soufflé served with orange supremes or choose instead an air-light rice pudding. 

Mere words cannot truly express the flavors, the experience. All created by one remarkable woman – one worthy of the heritage of both the cuisine grand-mere (those unnamed country-kitchen grandmothers who inspired so many great chefs to become cooks) and haute cuisine, such as Anne-Sophie’s own renowned grandfather and father created. What can one say but merci, merci, merci Anne-Sophie!  

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011