Congrats to Team USA - WPTC

[lepatissier]

Wow, I gotta say congrats to Team USA for winning the World Pastry Team Championships. I must say, watching the entire 13.5 hour competition, all of the teams this year were remarkable and it was a close race between the three "favorite" teams, Belgium France and the US.

But I have to say now, with the US winning this year, it must be such an upset for France and Belgium being that both of their teams were comprised of mostly MOF's. Shows how much good talent that the US has.

The Asian teams from S. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan all really gave everyone a run for their money, I thought. If you had seen S. Korea's sugar dragon showpiece, it would have left you in amazement.

This year, most of the teams moving of the showpieces went sucessfully with some teams losing small parts of their pieces on moving . . but overall every team moved their entire pieces with success!

** Hey Neil, did you get good pictures? Mines were kinda iffy and if you got good ones, can I get copies? **

Again congrats to all the teams, this year was great!

[Bicycle Lee]

** Hey Neil, did you get good pictures? Mines were kinda iffy and if you got good ones, can I get copies? **

Again congrats to all the teams, this year was great!

yes...if there are any pics I would love to see them

[nightscotsman]

I have LOTS of photos which will take me awhile to edit and post. I'm afraid I won't get to it until my "weekend", Tuesday and Wednesday.

It's been interesting hearing some of the behind the scenes goings on. The Japanese team had all their equipment hung up in customs and had to buy everything new. Although I thought their sugar showpiece was beautiful (though very unorthidox), I'm told that it wasn't at all what they had planned. I also heard that although many were sure that Belgium should have taken the gold, the judges thought they broke several technical rules that cost them points. And the French team was very pissed that they didn't win.

Here are the final standings:

Gold Medal: TEAM USA

Congratulations to Jean-Philippe Maury, M.O.F., Patrice Caillot, Claude Escamilla, Chris Hanmer.

Silver Medal: TEAM BELGIUM

Marc Debailleul, M.O.F., Philippe Rheau, M.O.F., Stephane Leroux, Serge Alexandre

Bronze Medal: TEAM FRANCE

Olivier Bajard, M.O.F., Pascal Caffet, M.O.F., Philippe Parc, M.O.F., Alexandre Gyé-Jacquot, M.O.F.

Best Sportsmanship: TEAM SWITZERLAND

Franz Ziegler, Urs Regli, Adrian Bader, Rolf Muerner

Best Sugar: TEAM SOUTH KOREA

Kim Young-mo, Jeong Young-teak, Jeong Chan-woong, Kim Young-hoon

Best Chocolate: TEAM BELGIUM

Marc Debailleul, M.O.F., Philippe Rheau, M.O.F., Stephane Leroux, Serge Alexandre

[nick yc]

i'm extremly jealous. i really wanted to attend this year but between work, school and not being able to afford the admission, there was no way it could happen.

can't wait to see the pictures, though!

[lepatissier]

Sweet, yeah I just got the pictures developed and because I had to use a disposable because my real camera bonked out, i got "decent" pictures, but not great stuff.

Yeah it was too bad that Japan lost much of their items in customs, Im sure they wouldve had a much stronger showing if they had all of their proper tools.

Yeah Im sure the French Team was mad, but Im sure it was a close race between the three top teams. I know that during judging, US was in jeopardy of losing points because of a rule that said that no part of the show piece can extend beyond the edge of the table, dont know if they got points off or not, but Jacque was talking to the judges about it for a while. Like I said before Im sure Belgium and France was mad considering their teams were comprised mostly of MOF's . . I bet they thought they had it in the bag.

No matter what though, every team did a great job and big props to them all! I wonder if having three WPTC's in the Bellagio pastry kitchen now is gonna change anything?

[Skwerl]

Hi guys! Just got home and I have to get up early to go out of town again, but I wanted to post a few pics from the competition really quickly before I go to bed. The quality is poor since I had to use a flash (left my tripod at home) and I was trying to sneak snapshots in while trying to beat people off the showpieces. I have recompressed them so they're a manageable download at the cost of detail. Sorry I don't have time to "captionize" these, but at least they're something to look at! I wish I had gotten decent photos of the US and Japanese sugar showpieces...

The Netherlands' chocolate showpiece

France's chocolate showpiece

USA chocolate showpiece

Australia's chocolate showpiece

Belgium's pastillage

Belgium's chocolate showpiece

Poor photo of Japan's sugar showpiece

Belgium's sugar showpiece

Base of US sugar showpiece

South Korea's sugar showpiece

Base of Japan's sugar showpieceAustralia's sugar showpiece

Rowdy eGullet Party Squad

[smgarsh]

wow thanks for the pics.

But there is something wrong with the

"Poor photo of Japan's sugar showpiece" pic

[lepatissier]

Thanks for the pics! Those are awesome compared to the ones I got . . .

[duckduck]

There was also a new category this year for "pastry student of the year" which was given to Redmond Cole, a legally blind high school student who won a recipe competition. He has speciallly made measuring cups and equipment and they blow his recipes up 400% so he can see them. It was a very inspiring story. When asked if he could do a competition like the one we were at he replied "If you could tell me what it should look like, I could make it happen." Great story.

[nightscotsman]

The controversy continues - apparently the Belgium team has "returned" (to put it politely) their medals in protest over the US team's win. And the French team announced that they will not be back to compete in the future.

Ah, the drama...

[lepatissier]

Oh wow! The drama does continue . . . thats quite

Hey, Neil, or anyone else that went . . . what do you think about all this?

Im really interested in seeing what the score breakdown was, and Im sure that it will be posted in time at the pastrychampionship.com site

I bet the scores were really close, but Im sure that it has much to do with the whole MOF thing. It is really hard for me to believe that scores were slanted in any way, because of the way that they are tallied, and the variety in the jury of judges.

I guess well see what happens . . .

[tan319]

Can you put names with the faces for the 'gullet party pic?

Would love to put it together.

Also, whu are all these teams pissed?

More suspect stuff from the Schneider crowd?

Not an indictment!

Just curious...

[FWED]

Hi All. I was there (I am the one in the hat in the group picture) and I must say I was very impressed with the judging and the lengths that they, and Michael Schneider, went to to be fair to all the participants. If questions or problems arose the judges got together with the head judge, Jacques Torres, and the matter was solved. There were 24 judges ( 2 from each country involved) and during the 2 days that I was there and watched I never saw them act in any way other than professional and dignified. If you want to know who the actual judges are I suggest you go the the web page for the competition where they are listed.

During my life I have been involved in several competitions. Flower arranging, garden design, boat restoration, and music and I have to say that it usually comes down to a few points that separate the winners from the runners up. When I have not done as well as I thought I should have it is usually because I have not placed as much importance on some aspect of the rules or procedures as I should have.

Much has been said about the sugar and chocolate showpieces but it must be remembered that point wise they are not all that significant. Degustation has far greater impact point wise that anything else and this may have been the key factor in the US team win. I know for a fact that one team's Entremet (not the French or Belgian) was so salty that it was all but inedible and it is suspected that someone had, in the heat of battle so to speak, mistaken salt for sugar. I can't say why the controversy arose but it is interesting to note that the two teams involved are the second and third place teams not the other nine competing teams.

It will be interesting see what happens as the details become known. In the mean time I think we need to be respectful of all parties involved.

Edited July 11, 2004 by FWED (log)

[mckayinutah]

I am hoping that all that were able to attend this great event would be kind enough to give their opinions on it, both good and bad, so that those who weren't there could live vicariously through them.

Also, do you think the 5 day seminar program was worth it? I am considering attending it in the future, but would like the opinions of those who were there in person attending, to see if it is worth the $$.

Thanks,

Jason

[gibfalc]

I thought the seminars were excellent. I did not expect to learn much but I learned lots. Not only were they informative but the level of professionalism exhibited by the chefs and their willingness to share techniques and ideas was awesome I came back really charged up. As for the competition I had some problems being so far away from the competitors it is hard to see what they are doing despite the best efforts by the carymax people trying to describe what is going on. Maybe they could have more screens and instead of all the screens showing the same thing they could possibly show different kitchens on each screen. The showpieces were absolutely awesome. I have seen or been involved with competitions since the mid 80's and I cannot believe how far the pastry field has come in this area. The photos just don't do the work justice. I was taking photos with a chef who has competed in the coupe du Monde and he was completely blown away. We both couldn’t stop taking photos. As for the Belgium team returning their medals, I am not surprised. At one point at the awards ceremony when the announcer said let’s hear it one more time or team USA. Someone standing about ten feet away from me with the Belgium flag on their jacket screamed out --- holes, and stormed out of the room. It was really an awkward and not to mention embarrassing moment. The Belgium Teams pieces were awesome and they did do a great job but I can't imagine with all those judges scoring on all those categories that it wasn't legit. Taste is still the most important score and the USA team apparently won that decisively. Their showpieces were awesome as well. There were at least 4 or 5 chocolate and sugar pieces that were great. I thought the entire forum was outstanding and I will go out of my way to be there again. Sorry I didnot get to meet with some of you but I had the family there and I wanted to spend some time with them.

PS I thought the french team really took some chances with there plated dessert and the style of their centerpieces. I thought it was a departure for them. any comments?

[Skwerl]

Well jeez, the French are pissed. What a shocker. Guys, I tasted virtually everything but the plated desserts, not knowing what was what at the time, but after reviewing photographs I have been able to piece together the origins of some of the things I tasted. Everything from the U.S. team that I now recognize was excellent. Nothing aside from the salty entremet that FWED mentioned stood out as being truly *obviously* inferior to the U.S. team's work, but I am certainly no expert. I didn't feel that any of the teams went out of their way to create any "new" flavor combinations, though. It was all pretty safe stuff- coffee, raspberry, hazelnut, chocolate. I found the petit gateaux from the two protesting teams were all too sweet, but this was after eating 30+ bonbons for breakfast. In normal situations, they might have been just fine.

Michael Schneider seems like a decent guy and I have absolutely no doubt that he, Norman Love, and the rest of the Carymax folks did everything they could to ensure that the judging was fair and unbiased. For each judging, the highest score and the lowest score are each discarded. The judges also were unaware of the order in which the desserts were brought to them, and were located in a different room altogether. The judges were also divided into two "juries," of which each tasted different items. The juries' memberes were seated 1-2-1-2-1-2... down the table so that judges tasting the same item could not talk to one another. At the awards ceremony, Schneider came right out and said that the top teams were very close in all but one category- degustation. The United States' team held a comfortable margin above the others in that category. I don't know all the details of exactly why the French and Belgium teams were so irritated, but I do know that Michael Schneider told at least one of the teams that they were behaving like boys and it was time to grow up. I'm sure they didn't enjoy hearing that, but after experiencing the chefs' arrogance first-hand, I doubt Mr. Schneider said anything that was not deserved. It sounds like egos were bruised and two teams' hubris have gotten them into trouble. At this point I am wondering if any of the instructors from the forum and some of the judges from France and Belgium might boycott the event either next year or the following year's world competition. Certainly the show must go on, but I'm curious. If the aforementioned teams do not want to compete, that will leave spaces open for two other countries. I would be interested in replacing them with teams from South America, since that was the only continent not represented this year, Antarctica excluded. My two cents...

[Skwerl]

Can you put names with the faces for the 'gullet party pic?

Would love to put it together.

Also, whu are all these teams pissed?

More suspect stuff from the Schneider crowd?

Not an indictment!

Just curious...

From left to right:

FWED, DuckDuck, Skwerl, Christina (real name), Kelly (real name), and 1020

I forgot a couple of the eG handles!

[Steve Klc]

Much has been said about the sugar and chocolate showpieces but it must be remembered that point wise they are not all that significant. Degustation has far greater impact point wise that anything else

How sure of this are we--was the scoring breakdown disclosed or discussed with the audience this year? I didn't see anything about it on the website--though in previous years we were given the percentages in advance of the comp. Final scores were never released publicly nor put up on the website, though they were shared with the competitors, one year handed to us at the airport as we were about to fly home. And for those of you in attendance--how did it seem the US, French and Belgian teams worked--did it seem one guy mainly did the chocolate piece and another guy mainly did the sugar piece and another guy mainly cranked out all the degustation? Or have any team philosophies evolved to the point where there was serious overlap and collaboration--with lengthy periods where all the chefs were doing non-showpiece aspects or multiple chefs doing sugar or chocolate for their showpieces (one person air-brushing pastillage, another pulling or blowing sugar, etc.)

For those of you who were there the whole week--one thing I thought was interesting (and different from the 3 years I did this event) was how pastillage was handled: it had to made by one person only, on-site in Vegas, on Sunday in a limited time period, two hours I think. Did any of you attend--was the public allowed to watch the chefs work with pastillage? Also, were any judges present judging how the chefs worked the pastillage--or was this not judged and scored in terms of work, hygiene, etc? I like this wrinkle, and respect its intent, I wonder if anyone discussed it or noticed it?

Was there any talk of Spain and Italy being absent this year and why?

Does anyone have a better idea if the French and Belgian pastry chefs have aired any "substantive" complaints in terms of process, work, scoring, logistics, fairness? Or is it just that they disagreed with the assessments of taste and artistry, which are inherently subjective anyway?

A lot of fence-mending will probably take place in the coming year--since losing the support of the French/Bajard/Caffet MOF block and the Belgian/Wybauw/Debailleul MOF block would be a crippling blow: Bajard, Wybauw and DeBailleul got this comp off the ground by lending the most international stature and independent credibility amongst the judges, and since this remains a French-styled pastry competition which just happens to be taking place in the US--this is a turn of events the sponsors would surely notice and might potentially impact their willingness to fork over money for a future international event. I wouldn't be surprised to see this resolved somehow, after the passion of the moment has passed.

[Matsu]

In terms of the pastillage, in the past, the USA team was deemed to have a slight

advantage since they did not have to transport their pastillage very far.

Also, since the pastillage was made ahead and brought to the competition, there was no way to verify

that the team members had actually done the work. This year,

all teams were required to come early (one team member only)

and make their pastillage on Sunday to give the pieces time to dry.

This leveled the playing field more and let them get more intricate

details on the pastillage because the issue of air transport was eliminated.

Some of the pastillage pieces were showpieces in themselves (e.g. Belgium).

At last year's competition (which was only the USA teams), many of the pastillage

pieces were also very beautiful.

[Steve Klc]

Agreed, I think it's a good rule, as far as rules go, and that's exactly what I was thinking--because when it came to pastillage you had to work backward (design-wise) from whatever the airline's carry-on dimension limit was and what you thought you could fit inside a box in the overhead. Otherwise it sure was a hometown advantage, though only for all the Vegas hotel pastry chefs and anyone close enough who could drive. For me getting intricate details and transporting pieces safely wasn't too much of an issue--anything thin and delicate could be hand-carried--it was more the size limitation.

If this event continues, my recommendation to the organizers is to open up the pastillage day so it is publicly viewable--since pastillage is a dying art anyway it would be an unparalleled opportunity to raise awareness of something no one gets to see outside taking a master class: how to work well at the highest levels with pastillage.

[duckduck]

Kelly in the group photo is eG's bakerkel and Christina is her partner in crime. I'm working on a full write up of the classes. It's taking some time since there is soooo much to talk about but it was worth the money and then some. In fact, it was an incredible value and a mind-blowing experience. I would encourage anyone to do it. So much to talk about, so little time. I'm still floating and having a hard time adjusting to normal life now that I'm back. It was very interesting to watch all the politics and I have to applaud the Carymax crew in the fact that they all work very hard to keep things fair and to improve the competition every year. It was great to stand in front of the judges and watch the plated dessert judging. They were great at playing the crowd a little bit and tipping plates forward for us to photograph. It's one thing to watch it all on t.v. It's another experience all together to be there and be close enough at the gala dinner to take close up photos and be right there. Unbelievable experience. And the just the energy in the place...

Edited July 13, 2004 by duckduck (log)

[duckduck]

To answer one of your q's Steve, the pastillage work was done behind closed doors and no, we didn't get to watch. From what I over heard coming from someone that came with the Belgian team, he was continually arguing about showpieces. The impression I came away with is one more time, many people see the showpieces as center stage. As Keegan mentioned at one point, they are the eye candy that gets Food Network interested in filming the whole gig. But it's still degustation that wins the event. I believe, (I'll have to go look) that the Belgian piece was the one that lost points for the sandcasting technique the did in sugar and they left the sugar on their chocolate showpiece that cost them because the rules clearly state that the chocolate showpiece should consist of chocolate and cocoa only.

[nightscotsman]

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember them announcing that 40% of the score was degustation, 30% organization and working "clean", and 30% visual design. Does that sound right?

I haven't seen the final point scores (not sure if these are made public at any time), but I heard that another thing that the Belgians got marked down for was using sugar to glue together their pastillage piece, which is aparently against the rules.

Although it was very hard to see anything of how the teams worked from way back behind the sponsor seating section, I think most teams had one person on sugar, one on chocolate, and one on degustation. I know that's how the US team was organized. The only exception that was noted was the Swiss team, where one chef did both the sugar and chocolate show pieces (but didn't finish the sugar).

The only direct complaint I heard was from the French team who thought the US team was disorganized and didn't work clean. Oh, and the Belgian's complained that they got marked down for using sugar on the surface of their chocolate piece, but other teams used color and gold dust without any issues.

[lepatissier]

Wow, some interesting dialogue we got going on here about all of this stuff.

I agree with skwerl, as far as degustation goes, the last few years we have seen very safe flavor combinations and while some of the countires had interesting flavors presented, the taste was another story.

With all the argument we had in the past about Michael Schneider and his ranting about "French Pastry Chefs" I think with this example it is evident that he is in no way slanted one way or another toward anybody. It shows the integrity of the competition and I say again, from what I saw of the entire competition and judging process, it was thought down pretty well and it seemed very fair to me. With all discussion that I heard about that went on regarding rules and use of items on certain pieces, I am assured in the integrity of the competition. As Steve said, much of the argument that was placed by the arguing teams were "interperative" and based on opinion.

As far as cleanliness went, I thought that the French and US were pretty equal on terms of cleanliness. Of course when someone talks about someone else, its all personal opinion.

I know the scores will be posted on the website in time, so at that time we can really see what the breakdown was.

As far as my opinion on the overall "operation" of the competition, I think its getting better every year, and each year they are being more sensitive to the audiences needs with photography, visuals, and commentary. It was also nice this year for them to put all of the bon bons, entermet and Frozen entremet in the refrigerator cases out in the tradeshow for all to see, where as in previous years it was almost near to impossible to see or get good pictures of them.

Anyway, thats my two cents for now, and Im sure more will come out later ;)

[Skwerl]

Made a mistake, guys. Mary's handle is 2010- not 1020. Here's the list of us in the photo:

FWED (Fred), DuckDuck (Pam), Skwerl (Josh), Christina, BakerKel(Kelly), and 1020 (Mary)

By the way, this group was a lot of fun, and we were the last "civilian" table to leave at the Gala. Feel safe in knowing that eGullet was represented by the rowdy table. :)