The Andros Chef Pastry Competition Finals Kick Off at 7:00 AM
After settling at their respective workstations, the 8 finalists began their 7.5 hours of challenges, during which they had to create:
- 3 boutique entremets
- 10 plated desserts
- 10 take-awayy desserts
In addition to these 3 recipes, they were also required to prepare a strawberry caramel infused with a fresh herb.
Our exceptional technical jury
The candidates were supervised by a technical jury that accompanied them throughout the day, evaluating their work, techniques, and workstation organization. This high-quality jury was essential for advising and supporting the young contestants during the competition.
The jury included Aurélien Trottier, François Frauziol, Gabriel Le Quang, Hélène Kerloeguen, Loïc Béziat, and Xavier Berger.
The Theme of the competition, chosen by Arnaud Larher, brilliantly followed by the finalists.
To meet this year’s theme, “Red Fruits and Berries: Fusion of Culinary Inspirations and Flavors of the World,” the young talents showcased exceptional creativity in their proposals.
From Timut and Kampot peppers to black tea and even hibiscus…
The creations of our young talents piqued our curiosity, with worldly inspirations flourishing, guided by Andros Chef’s red fruit ingredients.
For his plated dessert, Romain Marchocki from the CFA of Versailles, coached by Lisa Caillie, uses Andros Chef red fruit compote infused with pink peppercorn:
Asian-inspired creation by Camille Bigone from the Lycée professionnel de Marseille, coached by Manuel Janer, featuring a portable dessert with matcha bao dough and an Azuki bean paste enclosing a filling of Andros Chef cherry compote enhanced with chili pepper:
Meauve Caron from CFA Henriman Formation in Nantes, coached by Thomas Dominguez, uses 100% strawberry puree and strawberry compote for her plated dessert “Italian Strawberry,” featuring mozzarella chantilly, strawberry sorbet, balsamic gel, and black olive ice cream.
For Manon Faure from Campus des Métiers Barbezieux, coached by Grégory Bazin, she created a daring entremets that blends savory sea flavors with wild strawberries, complemented by a crunchy almond-cranberry base, strawberry jelly, Aonori seaweed cream, and raspberry-lime gel. Her entremets includes Andros Chef’s range of semi-candied cranberries and organic strawberry puree.
Kounamory Bourou from Lycée professionnel Jean Drouant, coached by Robert Alcaraz, creates a gourmet entremets that combines black sesame ganache, bergamot mirliton biscuit, and a cherry mousse and filling using Andros Chef cherry compote.
For Baptiste Duchiron from Campus des Métiers Saint Benoit, coached by Florent Belot, he created a take-away dessert consisting of a moist chocolate cake, blueberry compote, and a whipped milk chocolate ganache infused with elderflower.
Jeanne Boissellier, from the Institut Lyfe in Ecully, coached by Joannic Taton, takes us on a summer picking journey with raspberry puree used for her raspberry sorbet seasoned with tarragon, tarragon meringue on a hazelnut crisp. Her plate is adorned with a raspberry tarragon gel flower motif.
William Hu, from EPMT Paris coached by Rosalie Mongazon, presents a gourmet bloom with a crispy granola topped with earl grey tea-infused ganache, garnished with blackberry confit and fresh blackberries.
The deliberation of the tasting jury
From 2:00 PM onwards, the finalists’ plates were to be prepared with the assistance of their respective coaches for the tasting jury. The jury evaluates the creations without knowing the identities of the contestants and is tasked with judging the dishes based on various criteria: taste, visual presentation, originality, and adherence to the announced theme.
The judges :
Candice Ditlefsen, Dani Pierard, Elodie Brun, Franck Lacroix, Marc Ducobu, Marc Vergé, Narae Kim, Pascal Lac, Yanis Ols, Yann Evanno.
Head judge Arnaud Larher, and the sponsor of this edition, Aurélie Collomb-Clerc.
Results
And now, onto the results!
Special award: Audience choice!
To begin with, this year we decided to involve the audience present at the competition, who voted for their favorite contestant using tokens placed in the candidate’s ballot box.
Jeanne Boissellier from Institut Lyfe captivated our audience the most, and she received the award presented by Guy Krenzer and Frédéric Gervoson.
Special Award for Best Entremets
William Hu from EPMT Paris received the award for Best Entremets titled “Le Magnolia.” The award was presented to him by David Real and Marc Ducobu.
William Hu :
“The creation that I am the most proud of, is my entremets. It’s a personal creation that incorporates various techniques I’ve learned throughout my years of training. I’m particularly proud of the piping finish because I practiced to achieve an original piping technique.”
His entremets featured whipped ganache and Bavarian mousse infused with black tea, raspberry confit, sweet basil pesto, joconde sponge cake, and streusel crunch.
Special Jury Award
This prize was awarded to Baptiste Duchiron from Campus des Métiers Saint Benoit and presented by Hélène Kerloeguen and Pascal Lac. Baptiste was accompanied by his coach, Florent Belot, during the award presentation.
The Fruits de Talent 2024 Podium
The competition was won by Jeanne Boissellier from Lyfe Institute in Ecully, who became the 2024 laureate. The trophy was presented by the 2023 winner, Yanis Ols, alongside Arnaud Larher and Florian Delmas. Her coach, Joannic Taton, also received the ANFP Trophy, presented by Jean-Charles Balthazard.
In second place was Romain Marchocki from CFA de Versailles, accompanied by his coach Lisa Caillie. He received his prize from the competition’s godmother, Aurélie Collomb-Clerc, and Maxime Gervoson.
Finally, William Hu from EPMT Paris secured third place on the Fruits de Talent podium. He was coached by Rosalie Mongazon and received his prize from Gabriel Le Quang and Naraé Kim.