Birmingham chef Adam Bennett talks to food critic Richard McComb about taking on the toughest challenge in global gastronomy.
If you have trouble sleeping at night before hosting a dinner party, spare a thought for Adam Bennett, head chef at Simpsons in Birmingham.
Bennett has been selected to represent the UK at the Bocuse D’Or, unquestionably the biggest cookery competition in the world. He will be going into battle against the finest fingers, palates and brains in the gastronomic stratosphere.
Is he scared? Unfortunately, it’s a lose-lose scenario. Because if Bennett wasn’t scared, he’d have to be mad.
“I feel the pressure but it is interesting to see what that pressure does to you. It is like sport. The ultimate pressure brings out the ultimate performance hopefully,” says Bennett.
The sporting reference is well made for the Bocuse D’Or is the Olympics of haute cuisine – with a smattering of the Oscars thrown in for good measure.
Competitors are tested for creativity, technical finesse, presentation and the exquisite taste of their food in a nerve-shredding cook-off against the clock.
The bi-annual competition, founded by the legendary Paul Bocuse in 1987, takes place in the French chef’s home city of Lyon at the massive Sirha (Salon International de la Restauration, de l’Hotellerie et de l’Alimentation) show. It is judged by the elite of the elite, three-star Michelin chefs such as Thomas Keller.
The next contest sees 24 of the world’s top chefs go head to head in January 2013.
But first for Bennett is the small question of the European qualifier, which takes place in Brussels next March. That’s less than five months away and the eliminator will be tough, featuring the top three (all Scandinavian) countries from the last Bocuse D’Or final.
Bennett, aged 44, who was “born, bred and buttered” in Coventry, was selected as the UK entry by the Academy of Culinary Arts after a final four-hour cook-off against Martin Hollis, resort kitchen manager at Gleneagles hotel in Scotland. This was preceded by another cook-off at The Ritz.
Bennett and Hollis were judged on a saddle of lamb stuffed with a mousse of foie gras and had to serve the dish with three garnishes of their choice.
Bennett shows me some pictures of his winning platter, consisting of six portions of lamb. This is extreme cooking, cooking as high art, insanely intricate and requiring a masterly technical ability. And the food has got to taste as good as it looks, arguably better.
To give an indication of the level of detail, these were Bennett’s garnishes for the UK cook-off: a beetroot fondant with hazelnuts and a warm beetroot jelly; artichoke heart with lettuce and warm pea mousse; and a foie gras bon bon with morels and butternut squash. The dish looks utterly exquisite, but that goes with the Bocuse D’Or territory.
It’s not a bad achievement for a lad who did a City and Guilds in craft catering at Henley College, Coventry.
Bennett recalls how he fell in love with fresh produce when he accompanied his grandfather to his allotment. “I can still smell the tomato vines in his greenhouse,” says the chef. “I think it was my first step to getting interested in produce.
“That led to wanting to work with food.”
The country house circuit was booming in the 80s and Bennett joined The Ettington Chase in Warwickshire. But it was as a 21-year-old that his eyes were opened when he joined The Dorchester. Bennett maintains the range of catering outlets at a five-star hotel offers unbeatable training for a young chef.
He went on to work at Warwickshire’s Mallory Court and Chapel House Hotel, admitting that stayed too long at the latter.