{"id":10589,"date":"2021-10-18T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/?p=10589"},"modified":"2021-10-18T11:00:56","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T09:00:56","slug":"the-final-countdown-s-pellegrino-young-chef-finalist-paul-prinsloo-prepares-for-the-grand-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/the-final-countdown-s-pellegrino-young-chef-finalist-paul-prinsloo-prepares-for-the-grand-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"The Final Countdown \u2013 S.Pellegrino Young Chef Finalist Paul Prinsloo prepares for the Grand Finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chefs Paul Prinsloo and his mentor Gregory Czarnecki tell us about their preparations for the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Grand Finale in Milan, where Paul will be competing against 11 of the top young chefs in the world for the prestigious title.<\/em><\/p>\n

All around the world the 12 finalists for S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2021 are preparing for the Grand Finale which takes place in Milan from the 28th-30th October. Here in South Africa, where he is now sous chef for G\u00e5te Restaurant at Quoin Rock, Africa & Middle East Region<\/strong> finalist<\/strong> Paul Prinsloo has just completed the fifth practise run of his dish, Bouillabaisse 2.0<\/strong>, guided by his mentor Gregory Czarnecki<\/strong>. Perfection, precision, and accurate timing is the aim.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at 95%,\u201d says Gregory. They have one more practise session before flying to Milan and Paul feels he\u2019s on track. \u201cSince we started practising four weeks ago it\u2019s improved so much, I\u2019m very happy with the end results. There are just a few tweaks I want to fix still.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signature dish<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s dish, Bouillabaisse 2.0<\/strong> is a modern take on a bouillabaisse fish stew, the fishermen\u2019s way of using up unsold fish \u2013 it was traditionally made by poaching whatever fish and vegetables were left over that day, in stock made from all the bones and offcuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve looked at it from a modern chef\u2019s perspective,\u201d says Paul, \u201cadding neatness to the plate. The langoustine is not poached it\u2019s wrapped in kataifi pastry and pan-fried in clarified butter that\u2019s been infused with langoustine shell. The lemon juice is a gel.\u201d The bouillabaisse is reduced to a thick puree that is emulsified with butter to a rich intensity. \u201cWhen you taste it, I want the sauce to make you say, \u2018forget about the dish, just give me the sauce!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul has made one small addition to his dish since the regional finals, adding a slice of poached scallop.\u00a0 \u201cIn South Africa we can only get frozen scallops. Whereas in Italy we\u2019ll be able to get fresh langoustines, fresh scallops still in the shell. Flavour-wise it\u2019s going to be even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been working towards zero waste, using every last part of the seafood. \u201cThe leftover langoustine that you\u2019re not using on the plating goes in the bouillabaisse. Potato offcuts go in as well. That doesn\u2019t change the flavour profile but helps thicken it, and there\u2019s even less wastage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mentoring role<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gregory\u2019s role as a mentor is hands off, he doesn\u2019t do any of the physical cooking. It\u2019s about the mental preparation. \u201cThe most important focus is the procedure of the dish and to make sure that he\u2019s comfortable with the timings,\u201d says Gregory. Paul comments that he gets so focussed he is unaware of the time. At the competition they have five hours start to finish. \u201cSo I\u2019ll ask Chef to put a timer on, when I put something in the oven. I don\u2019t want to see the time. If I think I have an hour spare I\u2019m going to slow down, and that\u2019s where I could start making mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the first time in the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy<\/strong> competition that finalists have selected their own mentors. \u201cIt just made sense to me to pick Chef Gregory as he was my head chef for the four and half years while I was at The Restaurant at Waterkloof.\u201d It\u2019s a year since The Restaurant at Waterkloof<\/strong> closed and Paul moved to Quoin Rock, but Gregory says, \u201cWe\u2019re still very close. Young chefs at this stage of their career learn from each chef and mentor, and his dish at the time was influenced by what I made at The Restaurant, so he felt comfortable asking me to mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mentor\u2019s role is also about protecting the finalist\u2019s head space, says Gregory. \u201cHere Paul\u2019s in a controlled environment, in his kitchen where he works every day. In Milan he\u2019s going to be at a station, next to perhaps Western Europe, and all these big names around you. You can get very destabilised. The point is for me to keep his head in the game and just focus, make sure that every step is taken in the right order and the right time. I\u2019ve got the easy job!\u201d<\/p>\n

The S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul is feeling confident right now, \u201cI\u2019m not really nervous about the actual cooking of the dish. I\u2019m sure on the day there will be nerves, especially because of all the mentors, there are some pretty big names there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole competition is a great platform especially for young chefs to meet people,\u201d says Gregory. \u201cBesides the actual cooking, it\u2019s all about connection.\u201d He\u2019s looking forward himself to the opportunity to connect with chefs from around the world, \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see people that you\u2019ve been following, that have inspired you, to all be in the same room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul agrees, \u201cIn South Africa we don\u2019t get the opportunity to work with Michelin star chefs. To compete against young chefs who are working under those top chefs who have massive recognition, is quite an honour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final preparations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul has one final practise runs<\/span> before the Grand Finale and Gregory is confident that he\u2019s ready, \u201cHe knows exactly what to do at what time. In terms of flavour today he was spot on, that final 5%, well it can only get better having the fresh seafood in Milan, that should take us to 100%!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanpellegrino wishes Paul and all the S.Pellegrino Young Chef finalists the best of luck with their final preparations, as the countdown to the Grand Finale begins.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Young Chef Academy, a further demonstration of S.Pellegrino\u2019s commitment to nurturing the next generation of culinary game-changers, please visit the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy<\/a> webpage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chefs Paul Prinsloo and his mentor Gregory Czarnecki tell us about their preparations for the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Grand Finale in Milan, where Paul will be competing against 11 of the top young chefs in the world for the prestigious title. All around the world the 12 finalists for S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy 2021…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10591,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10589\/revisions\/10591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}