From a kitchen in Sandnes outside Stavanger, a box has been built, completely identical to the kitchen that meets them during the final.
On Sunday, Christian Andrè Pettersen and partner Even S. Sørum will participate for the second time in the prestigious chef championship Bocuse d`Or in Lyon.
The final dress rehearsal is now complete. The last toss down to the smallest detail is done.
– I have spent over three thousand training hours and much of my life on this, he says to TV 2.
Childhood dream
He already has two European Championship golds in the Bocuse d’Or and a bronze medal from the world final in Lyon in 2019, but it is not good enough for someone who dreams of being at the top of the podium.
– From the time I was nine years old, I dreamed of winning the Bocuse d’Or. It has been in the brain since day one. Then I also promised my father before he died in 2013, that one day I would be at the top, Pettersen says.
– Has this become an obsession for you?
– PASSION: The dream is to be at the top of the podium for Christian André Pettersen. Photo: Gunnar Ringen Johansen / TV 2
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– It is the biggest thing you can dream of in the cooking profession today, but it also requires an enormous amount to participate in.
– You bet on the top and there are some risks you have to take, but you have to be willing to take them to reach the top, says Pettersen.
It takes a lot when you participate in the world’s toughest and most prestigious cooking competition.
– People would be shocked
This year, the partners have spent large resources on him becoming the best in the world, and it has been a long and exhausting day for Team Norway.
– DUPLICATE: The training kitchen is exactly the same as what is to be used in Lyon. Photo: Gunnar Ringen Johansen / TV 2
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– In the first task, you have over 600 items to be completed on the plates that are to be sent out to the judges. You have to have the brain of a chess player and the endurance of a marathon runner, says Pettersen.
– I think people would have been shocked if they had known how much is behind such a competition. It’s a huge apparatus with sponsors and subcontractors, so thank God for them, he smiles.
Inspired by the pandemic
Bocuse d’Or has been postponed several times due to the pandemic, and it has been very demanding when it comes to making a plan out of a plan that is constantly changing in the face of such important competition.
There are three dishes to be prepared and served in five hours and 35 minutes, in a huge congress hall just outside Europe’s food capital, Lyon.
The very first dish to be served comes as a result of the global pandemic.
– Restaurants have had to think differently when they have not had guests, so Bocuse d’Or has wanted takeaway to be one of the themes this year. They want to see how the participating countries from all over the world think with such a challenge, he says.
– EC WINNER: Norway won gold during the European Championships in Tallinn in 2020. Photo: Bocuse d’Or Norway
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There are established ingredients from Lyon, and in all three dishes in the takeaway task as an appetizer, main course and dessert, tomato must be used, while a challenging piece of beef from beef (beef of beef) has been selected for the dish.
Everything can go wrong
Team Norway has many secrets lurking, but the actual appearance of the dishes will not be revealed until the day of the competition.
– It is taste, taste and taste that is the most important thing for the judges, but also presentation and appearance mean a lot, says Pettersen.
– What can go wrong?
– Everything! It is the smallest details that decide. It is the last 10 percent that applies in such a competition. You have to be so incredibly focused, concentrated and you have to have the day.
– “ONLY” BRONZE: Team Norway was a little disappointed after the third place they got in Lyon in 2019. Photo: Roy-Arne Salater / TV 2
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– There are so many people and media in Lyon and you feel that you live when you stand there, he says.
Pettersen’s most important helper and clerk (assistant) is Even Sørum (23).
He also participated as a commis in the European final 2020. A commis is a young talent under the age of 23, who is in the competition kitchen with the candidate and can participate in and carry out all operations during the competition.
Goes for gold
Sørum has a background from several Norwegian star restaurants, and has a strong interest in food after growing up at the family business Valdresporten Kro.
– I’m his right hand. For me, this is big. I did not think that this would be real when I started with Christian André in 2019 and that I was selected.
– LEFT HAND: Even S. Sørum is an important assistant during the competition. Photo: Gunnar Ringen Johansen / TV 2
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– We’re going for gold. There are no second or third places here, says Even Sørum.
Coach for Team Norway 2021 is Bocuse chef Geir Skeie, who himself became European champion in the same competition in 2008, and then world champion in 2009.
Since 2009, Geir Skeie has advised several participating countries, especially in Asia. He is also a central shop steward in the Norwegian Bocuse Academy.
– Geir is an ice cold guy and is very experienced. He has a great pondus in such competitions. He speaks French and that is an advantage for us, says Pettersen.
– TASTE: National team coach Geir Skeie has previously won in Lyon and knows how tough it will be. Photo: Gunnar Ringen Johansen / TV 2
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Norway is the most winning nation
One would like to think that it is France that has claimed the most in this competition, but it is actually little Norway that is the most winning nation through the ages.
Since the first championship in 1987, Norway has achieved five gold medals, three silver and three bronze medals.
There are 23 countries hoping to win the world’s most prestigious culinary competition.
– It is a huge circus, and a lot is happening. It is so incredibly important to just lock everything that is happening around you.
– FULL PRESSURE: There are cheerleaders from all over the world and the sound level is sky high during the competition. Photo: Roy-Arne Salater / TV 2
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– If you fall out, it’s so easy to get off the list you have to follow. If you are having an operation, then you have to think through the next ten things that are going to happen. We are so incredibly pressed for time and you have to be focused, Pettersen explains.
Time and emotions
Norway will compete on Sunday with Denmark and Sweden, among others. These are also two nations that have made a name for themselves in the competition.
On Sunday, the shopkeeper must also leave his nerves in the hotel room.
– I admit that I am a bit nervous the night and the night before the competition, but as soon as you put on the equipment and the chef’s hat on the way into the arena – yes, then I am ready for battle and all the nerves go away, he says.
– What if you win gold?
– I feel that I get tears in my eyes from thinking about it. We’ve spent so many hours on it and so much of my life.
– It has been a fantastic device around me. Family and friends who have supported. If you pull this ashore, I simply have no words, says Pettersen, Norway’s hope during the world’s most prestigious cooking competition.
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