World-class chefs compete at Taittinger Prix Culinaire 2022

More than 20 people – finalists, commis, tasting judges and camera crew – are bustling around, darting between counter-tops, walking swiftly between the two aisles of this smoky, crammed kitchen. The space is enveloped by four large glass walls, making the entire venue a transparent, visual feast.

While guests and Cordon Bleu students walk past – some stopping to stare and take a photo of the muted action behind this glass container – the chefs remain entirely focused on the food. They have only three hours and 45 minutes to prepare six plates of their two dishes: the ‘thème libre', which is based on this year's hero ingredient, beef; and the ‘recette imposée', the vegetarian starter. These are then delivered for tasting to the judging panel, who share 22 Michelin stars between them.

On the far left of the kitchen, in full view of the main lobby, Deepak Mallya, premier sous-chef of the Ritz London, slices his asparagus into equal-sized thirds. Following work experience aged 14, he's been at the hotel for the past 10 years, developing his passion for meats and sauces beside his executive chef, John Williams. The 2022 Acorn Award winner won the Taittinger Prix Culinaire UK heat in November 2020, which earned him a spot in the international finals, originally due to take place in January this year.

The renowned Prix Culinaire championship, known for its celebration of the techniques behind traditional French cuisine, was established by Claude Taittinger in 1967, in honour of his father, Pierre, who founded the eponymous Champagne house. Today, the Taittinger family continue to run the competition. Previous winners include Joël Robuchon, Amandine Chaignot and Jonathan Zandbergen, but in the competition's first 49 years few of them were British. It was not until 2015 – when Michel Roux Jr of Le Gavroche in London reintroduced British chefs after a decade-long break from the Prix Culinaire – that the UK began to reap success. Tom Scade of the Vineyard, Berkshire, came third in the 51st edition. And Charles Coulombeau, then head chef of Gravetye Manor in West Sussex and now heading up La Maison dans le Parc in Nancy, was crowned champion of the most recent international final.

Holding out for a hero

Vitalie Taittinger, the great-granddaughter of the founder, took over as president of Taittinger in December 2019. Since her appointment, the Prix Culinaire has changed its emphasis on testing formal, silver-plated French dishes, such as turbot with cucumber beurre blanc (2018) or red deer wellington with croquette potatoes (2017). Instead, it now asks candidates to devise a dish based on a single hero ingredient. This brief was introduced in the 53rd edition of the Prix Culinaire, in 2020, with scallops at the heart of Coulombeau's victory.

She explains that the competition now encourages candidates to cook something you could eat at a more casual restaurant, while still embracing the importance of technique and individual expression. She adds that the competition "will just improve" over the coming years and that "we are on the right track".

Claire Sarazin, marketing and communication project manager at Taittinger, points out that moving the location of the competition from École Ferrandi, where it had "always" been held, to the Cordon Bleu, has had a "more international impact", considering the cooking school's extensive global campus, with more than 35 institutes in 20 countries.

Although the relocation was a natural fallout of Covid-related postponements, it has, in small ways, levelled the playing field between the eight contestants. Sarazin adds: "It's something new for the chefs, because three of [the chefs] already did it – the Swiss candidate, the German candidate and the Dutch candidate – two years ago in Ferrandi. They had other expectations. Here [at the Cordon Bleu], it's smaller, and Ferrandi has a darker kitchen."

The judging starts at 11.45am in the main, sky-lit lobby of the Cordon Bleu. The panel sit in a horseshoe arrangement. They cannot identify who has cooked what: each chef has drawn a random number out of eight, and must maintain complete anonymity for the duration of the competition.

Speaking to The Caterer after the judging process, Dominique Crenn, president of the jury of the 54th Prix Culinaire and the first woman in the US to receive three Michelin stars with her restaurant l'Atelier Crenn, says: "It's my second time here, so it's lovely to be able to see and learn about what the next generation is doing. I'm going to bring some women next year." In anticipation of the inevitable disappointment of some competitors amid a highly competitive final, she adds: "What I want them to know is they just have to push to find their own voice, and that's the most important thing. It's not about winning or losing. It's about feeling good about what you do, getting to know yourself first and making sure that you never copy somebody else."

After 16 rounds of tasting by the jury, which last almost four hours, Mallya has a chance to catch his breath before the results are announced at a lavish evening ceremony in the Palais Garnier. Reflecting on the moment he heard about the vegetable starter, he says it felt "different". "Normally, the Prix Culinaire is an old-school kind of competition, where it's a set recipe. I was expecting maybe something pastry-based, like a tart or an honoré or some of those techniques, but the starter gave so much creation: ‘There's 10 ingredients – make something.'"

When he discovered that the basket of 15 vegetables did not include courgettes or celeriac, Mallya diverted to a pea royale, with fresh peas, broad beans and asparagus in a beurre noisette and lemon dressing, potato crumb and foraged herbs.

Scade, who worked with Mallya for three years at the Ritz London and is someone that Mallya "wouldn't be here without" (not least because Scade personally drove him to Paris) is especially pleased when he sees the elegant plating of the dish. Mallya's main is fillet of beef stuffed with a duck liver and chicken mousse, braised ox cheek, English asparagus, lovage emulsion and Bourdelaise sauce, arranged in a neat circle, decorated with delicate flowers.

Although Mallya's name was not called in the final three – the winner was Ryo Horiuchi from Japan, and the runners-up Louis Cespedes from Sweden and Jan Smink from the Netherlands – he still sees the overall experience as a "positive one". He has since taken some time to "focus on the highlights: getting to meet some great people who I will certainly keep in touch with, the trip to the vineyard, cooking for some of the most renowned chefs in the industry and, of course, representing the UK".

He adds: "Although the result wasn't what I wanted, the challenge pushed me and I learned a lot of things about myself, which will benefit me in my career and future."

Read about Deepak Mallya in the feature on this year's Acorn Award winners