Prince Carl Philip has sent congratulations as “The Chef of the Year” competition took place in Stockholm.
This year’s winner is Gustav Leonhardt and he received a special message from Prince Carl Philip. The prince, who did not have the opportunity to attend this year’s competition in person, sent a digital greeting to this year’s eight competing chefs and the champion.
In his message, His Royal Highness said: “I know that there is an incredible amount of work behind what you have presented today. Hours and hours of toil, both in the kitchen and outside. Not least during the year we went through with a pandemic, where the restaurant industry was hit extra hard. For several years, I have had the privilege of following Chef of the Year very closely, including as a jury member. During all these years, I have seen Sweden’s absolute culinary elite in creativity and genuine food joy”.
The eight competing chefs, Anders Isaksson, Christian Siberg, Gustav Leonhardt, Luqaz Ottosson, Henric Herbertsson, Martin Karlsson, Louise Johansson and William Brittsjö began the day by cooking a hot main course with yellow onions as the main ingredient. As a second task, the finalists prepared an optional dish on a raw material basket with the main ingredients of legumes and scallops. The dish, which could be served hot or cold, has to contain both dried and fresh legumes.
As the last competition task, the finalists prepared a main course of wild boar curry where the meat would be roasted whole and filled or stuffed. When serving, only meat and sauce were allowed on the plate and the sauce was mandatory and had to be included in the final dish. The finalists were given an extra ingredient, which could appear visually or taste-wise.
Throughout the competition, the finalists were also judged on how they organized their kitchen, minimized raw material waste, communicated with their commis (assistant) and kept to the specified time and competition tasks. The Academy of Gastronomy’s gold medal went to Gustav Leonhardt from the restaurant, Agrikultur. This year’s chef is the official Swedish championship in professional cooking. Prince Carl Philip is the patron of Chef of the Year.
