Honing your competitive edge – the value of culinary competitions

Participating in culinary competitions isn’t just about benchmarking your skills against your peers – it’s also a great opportunity to make valuable contacts and network.

As Chairman of the Australian Culinary Federation’s Culinary Committee, André Kropp bears responsibility for ensuring competitions run by the ACF meet the international standards established by the World Association of Chef’s Societies (WACS). He argues that competing is a character-building experience: “It’s not easy to put yourself out there to be scrutinised – most chefs are very comfortable in their own environments where what they put out is the set standard, and they live and die by it. But to put yourself in front of a panel of judges for what you wholeheartedly believe is right, and then to be told there’s a better way of doing it, can be hard. You’re not necessarily being told you’re wrong, but when we compare apples with apples, there’s always one that’s going to be better than another.

“So it can be difficult, and not everybody has success in that arena, but for those who can come back and try again, you’ll find that the more you do it, the more you learn, and the more you build your network of contacts, as opposed to being stuck in your own insular environment. The internet is a great resource for learning, but there’s nothing like learning from your peers - seeing what they do, and going to someone and asking them, ‘I’ve never seen that before, how is it done?’ or conversely having someone come to you and say, ‘That was amazing, how did you do it?’ This is very valuable especially for younger chefs as it also helps line them up for future jobs -there are a lot of chefs who are watching, saying ‘that person’s got talent, I'll keep an eye on them’ because they’re wanting to build their kitchen brigade. So competing can be an alternative to having to go out and look for jobs, rather they can come to you because of the way you conduct yourself.

“You can also end up making lifelong friends. I’m originally from South Africa and am fortunate to have competed internationally, first for South Africa and later Australia, in fact if it wasn't for my competing in South Africa I wouldn’t have met half of the contacts that I did in Australia, who opened doors for me when I decided to emigrate here.  So I can’t talk highly enough about doing competitions - I think it’s an integral part of what we do as chefs.

“I respect the opinion of those who don’t want to do it, but from my point of view I would encourage everybody to get involved. Not only is there the inner growth for yourself and the outer growth for someone else’s business from them taking you, there’s on the growth of knowledge and income for yourself in future years. I don’t really compete anymore, but I will jump in if I need to – I’ve moved into the judging side as it gives me a chance to nurture young chefs coming through and prepare them for competitions.”

Australia punching above its weight in international competition

André says the competitive skills of Australian chefs are highly regarded internationally, given the Australian teams’ showing at the Culinary Olympics and other international events. “Up until recently we were in the top 10 countries in the world – we’ve just slipped out of that for the moment, but with the next Culinary Olympics coming up this month, hopefully our senior and junior teams will come away with some gold medals.

“The Culinary Olympics is the biggest international competition, with up to 32 countries competing, and if we can make it into the first 15 that’s a very good result. Most of the participating nations are from Europe and the event is held in Germany so it costs them a lot less in travel and planning than it does us. We are trekking across the globe just to get there, so we are punching above our weight in many ways.

“At a local level, you can look to Nestlé Golden Chefs Hat which is our top junior competition in the country, and the young chefs who are coming through that are really talented and working with good senior chefs and their skill is evident from what they put on the plate. These days you can easily look at social media to see the standard of food in international competitions and that will give you a good idea of where we are, standard-wise, which is very good.”

Open to any professional chef working in a café, restaurant or commercial kitchen, Chef of the Year is considered the most prestigious chef competition in the country, pitting chef against chef and the clock in a test of creativity, culinary knowledge and ingenuity. The entrants are whittled down to 32 finalists who have one hour to prepare two dishes from a mystery box of ingredients. Their dishes are scored by high profile chefs including Hotel Sorrento culinary director George Calombaris, former ALH Hotels Group Executive Chef Gary Johnson and Head Judge, World Seafood Champion Chef John McFadden.

The latest winner to be awarded the title is 29 year old Tom Hitchcock, who took home $10,000 cash and prizes from major sponsors Unox, Anchor Food Professionals and Bidfood. Tom worked at The Spirit House in Yandina on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast originally as senior chef de partie, then sous chef before leaving for two years and returning as head chef, in which position he has been working for the past 18 months.

Tom began competing at 21 while still a commis chef and his first win was a silver medal in Nestlé Golden Chefs Hat. “Since I was very young I’ve had the goal of being one of Australia’s best chefs, and I saw winning competitions as one of the hurdles I had to jump to get myself over the line,” he says. “If you don’t have anything to push towards, you don’t have any goals. I knew my cooking was good so I wanted to get on stage and prove it.

“Competing is all about pushing forward, not just as an individual but pushing the industry forward too. I wouldn’t have got to be where I am today without doing those competitions and understanding what I can do under those rules – it pushes you to be cleaner, more efficient in your cooking. I think if you can take that feedback and apply it to your everyday work, you’re going to become a great chef because you’re learning these fundamental rules which only push you to be better.”

Tom says the most nerve-wracking part of competing in Chef of the Year was not the finals but the very beginning: “You don’t know the pantry, the equipment or who you’re cooking against so you’re basically going in blindfolded. Once you get through the first stage it’s a big relief, now you know the equipment and the layout so you’re able to plan a little bit in terms of your arsenal. I think the way you win is by being the most flexible with your cooking and having the largest diversity of techniques, plus the ability to use every ingredient you have in front of you.”

Tom adds he has also benefited greatly from contact with the judging chefs involved in the competition. “They’re actually really cool people once you get to know them – they’re there to mentor you, give you tips and advice and help you grow as a chef. It’s a very supportive environment and the social networking I got from just being in the competition was amazing.

 “At the end of the day we're all one industry, even though we may work for different restaurants. I found I was always rooting for someone in the next round even though they might outcook me, but that’s not the point – I want to see the best for everyone around me. If someone does better than you, it’s more motivation for you to keep improving and come back the following year.”