World Pastry Forum 2005

[tan319]

Yes, would be nice to share

Open it up, please!?

Thanks

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

Wendy,

I only have a minute to reply, but to let you know, Team Lhuillier won. You can actually go view photos from the Championship at:

http://www.pastrychampionship.com/

I would say that I was pretty underwhelmed with a lot of what was being presented to the judges, but then again I don't get to taste them. As one person commented to me, all the best Americans have stopped competing.

I'll report more when I've got some time.

[adoxograph]

Some winners, quickly:

Winner of Chocolate Showpiece competition: Vincent Pilon

Winner of the Pastry Daredevils: Stephane Treand

Winner of the NPTC: Team Lhuillier - Laurent Lhuillier, Jim Mullaney, David Ramirez

Pastry Chef of the Year: Donald Wressel

[boulak]

The sugar piece by Louise Chien was my favorite piece in the competition. It was especially amazing as this was her first competition and she has only concentrated on sugar work for six or seven months.

Random thoughts on the week:

1. Carrymax staff: A+

2. Hotel staff: A+

3. Trade show: Needs to be larger

4. Level of competition: More sponsorship/funding needed to level the field

5. Dinner off property with En-Ming, Thomas Haas, Ciril, Michael Joy, et al: A++

6. Food at the hotel: Well..............

7. Night seminars: Well attended and well received.

8. Volunteers: A+

9. Teachers: A+

I had a behind the scenes view to the event this year as well as last year, and I really feel that this year the World Pastry Forum was indeed a forum. After classes, people mingled and the exchange of ideas and sharing of information was everywhere. Yeah, the food was weak, but when you're sitting at the lunch table with MOFs and other pastry world giants, if that particular meal is your focus, you should give your seat to someone else. This was a great event, and unlike last year in Las Vegas, I was able to meet and connect with so many more people who share the same philosophy and appreciation for things that I do. The facility was very nice and the the staff in all of the kitchens helped beyond belief.

My deepest appreciation goes to all who were there and made the event so fantastic: the sponsors, the organizers, the attendees, the teachers, the volunteers, the hotel staff, everyone made this year one for the books.

[tan319]

I would say that I was pretty underwhelmed with a lot of what was being presented to the judges, but then again I don't get to taste them.  As one person commented to me, all the best Americans have stopped competing.

I'll report more when I've got some time.

←

That's a shame...

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

Boulak,

I would agree with your assessment of the Forum...it was pretty much overall an "A" with a few "Fs," all of which are fixable. (God forbid they ever let a sponsor "dictate" the content of a class again...as was seemingly done with Gelato...everyone was completely disappointed, and frankly quite ticked off.)

The JW Marriott was a great venue, although the food was not so terrific. Sad really...here, you have some of the finest chefs in the world at your door, and you stick to mundane, expected and poorly executed banquet food.

I was very surprised when I asked a Carymax rep on the final day where they thought the Forum might be held next year. They said they hoped it would be back at the Marriott. I was surprised as I had it from good sources they had a heck of a time getting people to come to the event since who wants to come to Phoenix in the middle of summer?

And, it's why the trade show was so small...many exhibitors pulled out fearing a lackluster turnout. But, as you and others have pointed out, this isolated resort is exactly what made the Forum so wonderful. Everyone stuck around during the evening, and the networking and comraderie amongst the students and Chefs was amazing. Truly a very special event for all of us who attended.

I wish the Pastry Championships had produced as much in terms of stunning design and flavor combinations as the Forum did. I fear that the comment made to me about all of the best Americans having retired from competition holds a ring of truth. I wish Team Lhuillier the best of luck in the World's, but it's going to be a lot of work. We need to see something new coming out of the US Team to hope to compete on a world platform.

When I asked a fellow student what he thought the most exciting thing he had seen coming out of the Championship, he responded..."it didn't come out of the Championship, it came out of Kanjiro's class...the Dragon Ball." I must say...it was beautiful...a sunset ball of blown isolmalt filled with coffee/cocoa nib mousse and praline ice cream served on a bed of creme brulee. The presentation was what was so lovely. When I asked Chef how often he served this, he said, "not often...usually only for the Emporer or the Iron Chefs." He was kind-of joking, but kind-of not. The dessert has a million possiblities...

[duckduck]

Just got back and totally exhausted but had to comment that I talked to a couple of people that got some useful things out of the gelato class. Not everyone was disappointed with it. I'll stand by what I said last year that it really is geared to professionals/business owners and they seem to get the most out of it. The lunch food could be better but the facility was a great place to hold it. It wasn't nearly as hot as it was in Vegas last year. How could they not go back there next year after what we witnessed this year? The relationships you could see being formed around you make it obvious that they stumbled onto an absolutely amazing thing. And I've heard that the tradeshow will be bigger next year. I just got off the plane an hour ago and already I can't wait to go back. I'll get back to my notes and more details later, Wendy, I promise.

[Wendy DeBord]

I looked over at the linked site www.pastrychampionship.com and couldn't find any photos from this years competition. Can someone please show me a link or explain how to navigate their site to find current photos and info.? thanks

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

Wendy,

All of the photos scrolling below the announcement of the winning teams are from this year.

[Jenifer]

Hello Fellow Egulleter's,

I too just returned from the forum and championship. What can I say, the whole experience was fabulous. This was my first year attending so I was really blown away to see so many talented Pastry Chefs in one place. It was really cool to have everyone at the JW including the chef's. I didn't stay at the JW but just to walk around the hotel in the morning and catch the chef's at Starbuck's was really cool. I noticed Stephan Glacier and En-Ming enjoying their coffee one morning before class. Or my personal favorite, Jacques Torres serving salad at the buffet line at the Gala Dinner. It was great to meet so many other people that are passionate about their work. I took over 500 pictures so as soon as I get them downloaded I'll post some for all to see. And I have to agree with WhiteTruffleGirl the Dragon Ball dessert was truly unique and beautiful. Really the only two low points of the week were the Gelato class and the trade show. I was really disappointed with the trade show, I thought it would be much bigger than it was.

Jenifer

[duckduck]

I'll take things a chunk at a time on my lunch hours now that I'm back to work. We'll start with Franz Zeigler. We were at the gala dinner and I don't remember what started the conversation but he ended up hanging all evening with the hands on students asking what they thought of the program and he wanted to know what we wanted to learn next year. He talked about the whole MOF thing and compared it to a PhD. I didn't realize there are MOFs in every profession in France. He talked about how we're learning the science of tempering chocolate compared to the way he learned by tempering for several weeks and learning it all by "feel". He started telling us about Felchlin's new Cru Sauvage. Apparently they found a grove of wild cacoa trees in Bolivia which is very rare since they are pretty much all cultivated nowdays. He said the beans are much smaller and they had to redo their way of working it because the beans wouldn't work with the machinery they currently use. He said he was involved through the whole process and helped to develope the packaging for it which has a feather on the front of the package and on the bars of chocolate. They are beautiful. What I heard is that there is a legend among the people of the area where the beans come from about a bird that calls out when the pods are ripe. He lead us through a tasting of the chocolate. I think the most intense memory of the evening for me is remembering the look on his face when he told us that one of the most beautiful experiences in the whole world is sucking on the inside of a fresh cocoa pod. The look in his eyes will probably haunt me forever and now it's something I definately want to experience someday.

Edited July 13, 2005 by duckduck (log)

[duckduck]

Did anyone ever get pictures of the dragon ball uploaded? I can't seem to get mine to work. It uploaded black pictures. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I was going to write a little on the Asian Desserts class but writing about the dragon ball won't be nearly as interesting without pictures.