A New Team USA
Timothy Hollingsworth, sous chef from The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., will represent the United States in the Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine Contest this January in Lyon, France.
-- Restaurants & Institutions, November 1, 2008
Timothy Hollingsworth, sous chef from The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., will represent the United States in the Bocuse d'Or World Cuisine Contest this January in Lyon, France. He seeks to become the first American to make the top three in the competitive, biennial competition.
“The toughest challenge for me is developing a menu that I can stick to,” Hollingsworth says. “The competition is all about repetition: developing a dish and then repeating that dish until the recipes, techniques and timing are as close to perfection as we can make them.”
Hollingsworth's candidacy represents a significant shift for Team USA. While past competitors typically worked full-time while training, he has a three-month sabbatical paid by Bocuse d'Or USA to support his training regimen. He is fine-tuning his skills next door to The French Laundry in a new facility specifically designed to mimic the kitchens used in the competition. There, Master Chef Roland Henin is coaching Hollingsworth and his apprentice, Adina Guest, a French Laundry cook who will join him in Lyon. Hollingsworth also has support from some of the country's best chefs, including Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller, as well as the James Beard Foundation.
The changes are intended to improve Hollingsworth's chances at succeeding in a competition that has long favored Europeans. The French team has won nearly every year it has participated, while Singapore is the only non-European country to reach the podium, placing third in 1989.
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