José Carlos Fuentes: Chef of the Year 2010
March 26th, 2010
José Carlos Fuentes, one of the favourites for the Chef of the Year 2010 competition, organized by Alimentaria as part of their International Food and Drink Exhibition, was awarded the prestigious honour in Barcelona yesterday.
The Barcelona born chef, aged just 29 years old, is currently the head chef at the Palacete Rural La Seda in Santomera, Murcia. He drew on all of the experience he has gained over the years, including when he worked his way to become second chef to Carme Ruscalleda from 1999 to 2007, Ruscalleda is widely regarded as the best chef in the world with five Michelin stars.
In the final of the competition Fuentes came up against six other rivals, who all had five hours to prepare a four course menu, from ingredients that cost less than 16 euros.
Fuentes’ winning menu consisted of:
An appetizer of oyster with strawberry, lime and algae, followed by a first course of boiled red tail prawns with tomato bread smothered in olive oil. His second course was skinless red snapper with powder coated pork rind and a juice concentrate infused with cactus spines, while dessert was served as a Chinese flan with ground Japanese green tea and kumquats.
The prawn dish was unanimously praised by the jury that included star chefs Martin Berasategui, Jordi Cruz, Dieter Müller, Quique Dacosta and Mey Hofmann, along with the expert food critics Jaime Drudis and José Carlos Capel. “It was a beast of a first course, the dish was perfect” said Jordi Cruz, owner of Michelin starred L’Angle in Sant Fruitos del Bages and winner of the first edition of the competition.
An elated Fuentes was clearly exhausted after the final round, but managed to define his cooking philosophy simply, by stating “I’m just looking for fun, a spark of magic and happiness.”
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