New Zealand Pastry Team placed fourth at the Asia Pastry Cup
Friday 20 April 2012, 2:58PM
By New Zealand Chefs Association Inc.
1,806 views
The New Zealand Pastry Team have just competed in Singapore at the Asia Pastry Cup 2012 and after eight hours Jiemin and Bryan can take a breath, and reflect on a job well done. Months of training and nearly a tonne of sugar consumed in practices they have finished presented their 2 show pieces, 2 gateaux's and 18 plated desserts.
The competition day had many challenges with the team rising at 4.30 am for a 6.30 am start - and eight hours of competition pressure. We know how they feel because the support people here in New Zealand have been keenly awaiting emails all day and waiting for them to finish.. Numerous emails have been sent between supporters and the team support managers.
But the real success for New Zealand is coming FOURTH overall and they now have the opportunity to compete in the World Pastry Cup in January 2013, Lyon, France.
The Results:
AUSTRALIA WON THE ASIAN PASTRY CUP 2012, Second prize goes to Malaysia, third prize to Singapore. A special 'Wild Card' for the New Zealand that will be competing for the first time into Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie! (The World Pastry Cup).
Mr. Gabriel Paillasson, President Founder of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie gave a special wild card to the New Zealand that for the first time was competing in the Asian Pastry Cup and for the first time as well will be competing in Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie in Lyon in January 2013!
The Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie! (The World Pastry Cup) will be held on the 27th & 28th January 2013 in Lyon, France as part of the 16th SIRHA "World event for the Catering and Hotel Industries".
New Zealand will compete against 21 countries. Made up from the winners of the following:
African Pastry Cup
European Pastry Cup
Asian Pastry Cup
Latin America selection
Plus Top 7 teams from; France, Belgium, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan, USA
We are proud of their efforts...
History of the World Pastry Cup
"Since 1989, the biennial World Pastry Cup - spurred on by Gabriel Paillasson together with Valrhona, the event's Official Founding Partner - honours the World greatest pastry chefs. The teams consist of three chefs - an ice specialist, a sugar expert and a chocolate maker - who join forces to take on the challenges in their respective fields. An enthusiastic audience of supporters is always present as a reminder of the high stakes of this unique contest. The chef's performance ends with a parade of sweet chef-d'oeuvres.
Blending sugar, ice, chocolate, and fruit, the World Pastry Cup is the most spectacular contest in its category. This international event brings together 20 teams of pastry chefs from all over the world. These sugar, ice and chocolate specialists are first selected in their country, often after several rounds of competition. When their turn comes, the candidates perform side by side, each focusing on his or her own speciality, in order to prepare a buffet of desserts representative of their country. The resulting creations are then presented on three showpieces made of sculpted hydric ice, chocolate and sugar, which serve to display a frozen dessert, a chocolate dessert, and a plate of desserts typical of the country represented.
While the competitors endeavour to excel in the kitchens, supporters gather in the stands to cheer on their favorite team. In 2005, 300 Japanese, 200 Lebanese, 200 Canadians and 80 Americans made the trip to Lyon, so as to encourage their respective teams. And yet, all the cheering, the hurrahs and hubbub, do not seem to disturb the pastry experts in their work. Thanks to a giant screen placed above the competition arena, one can observe, first hand, the concentration required for blowing sugar, carving ice, or moulding chocolate. It is sinply impossible to remain unmoved: the five senses are called upon - the smell of chocolate, the sound of ice sculpting, the sight of the buffet, the texture of ice, and the taste of the desserts.
The pastry world's biggest names are present
When the different dessert are finally ready, the time comes for the tasting assessment and marking. This is performed by a jury which consists of the very best pastry cooks in the world. The jury members first review the desserts compositions with a critical eye, before setting their taste buds to work in order to decide between the teams. This parade of maestros is quite impressive, and the supporters continue to cheer on from the stands. After two days, the final decisions are made. Although presentation is an important criterion, taste is the key factor in the judging process.
A larger selection of competitors
The selection event for the World Pastry Cup are currently being held throughout the world in order to determine the teams and countries that will earn the honour of competing in Lyon. The final event will take place on January 2011 during the SIRHA trade exhibition in Lyon."
http://www.cmpatisserie.com/
Background information:
The Asian Pastry Cup
Singapore
The first ever New Zealand Pastry Team has been formed to compete at the upcoming “ASIA PASTRY CUP 2012” in Singapore. This major international event is held in conjunction with the biannual Food Hotel Asia trade show, which will take place between 17th - 20th April 2012. (www.asianpastrycup.com)
It is a competition within itself but also serves as the official competition at which four teams out of twelve from the Asia Pacific region are pre-selected to compete at the “WORLD PASTRY CUP 2013” (Coupe de Monde de la Patisserie) in Lyon, France.
At the actual competition, a team of two must produce one chocolate and one sugar showpiece of a high international standard, eighteen plated desserts and two chocolate Entremets all produced in a time of eight hours in a live competition scenario.
Where it all begun:
New Zealand is a small country where the Pâtisserie industry consists literally only of a handful of Pastry professionals. Many of them have immigrated to New Zealand for the beauty and relaxed lifestyle this country has to offer and not necessarily for the competiveness and high end Pâtisserie industry either on a national or international level!
The continuous development of the Pâtisserie industry in the Asia Pacific area and the introduction of the ‘Asian Pastry Cup’ in 2006 as truly first class Pâtisserie competition finally opened the door for New Zealand’s young and upcoming pastry chefs and like minded Pastry professional weighing up the possibility of representing New Zealand.
In 2007 Marcus Braun, Senior lecturer from the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology made a first attempt of forming a possible team. It was soon clear that through a lack of industry support and interest it was yet too soon to attempt such an undertaking.
It quickly became apparent that the future of New Zealand Pastry lay in the hands of our pastry chefs of tomorrow. Due to the initiative of like minded and experienced pastry chefs it was clear that there was a need to first build up a national identity by targeting local and national competitions which helped to develop our future pastry chefs.
Connecting and forming a team become a major focus. In March 2011 the first team was formed and Auckland was chosen as its base. It was decided to join alliance with the New Zealand Chefs Association to take advantage of its large network. This was necessary due to fact that most of the people involved were residents of Auckland.
Auckland University of Technology’s School of Hospitality & Tourism had then been chosen as practical training ground.
Who are we?
The official team consists of:
Team Captain/Coach: Björn Svensson (Owner ‘Criollo Chocolates’)
Team Member 1: Jie Min Aw (Pastry Chef Sky City)
Team Member 2: Bryan Bae (Pastry Chef Sky City)
The official organizing committee consists of:
Business Manager: Robert Bok (Executive Pastry Chef SkyCity)
Public Relation: Renny Aprea (Programme Leader AUT)
International Judging Adviser: Arno Sturny (Senior Lecturer Pâtisserie AUT)
Technical Support: Marcus Braun (Senior Lecturer Pâtisserie CPIT)
Finances/Accounting/Media Keith Clark (Financial Director NZCA)
The team itself has its own Gold Medallist; Björn Svensson a previous Pastry Chef of the Swedish National Team competing at the Culinary Olympics in 2004. This experienced pastry chef; owner of “Criollo Chocolates, with Jie Min and Bryan as competitors and the added support from a strong team of passionate pastry chefs within the industry are now well underway in their training for the Asian Pastry Cup 2012.
Arno Sturny and Renny Aprea of AUT are offering the appropriate training facilities helping the team to fulfil their obligations and creating a nurturing environment.
Marcus Braun the initiator of ‘competitions’ of lending his vast expertise in the area of technical support. Renny Aprea, together with Keith Clarke forming the link necessary with the New Zealand Chef’s association.
Sponsors:
It has been a long journey of discovery and hard work. We now have developed a network of support and are especially fortunate to have on board Reso Tech Foods, the best suppliers for all pastry products and equipment in New Zealand.
We are delighted that that their vision for pastry is in line with ours, trying to create the best possible working environment for pastry chefs and offering the best Pâtisserie products on the market.
Whilst we have not yet reached the state of internal national competitions of deciding of future team members we nevertheless began the journey of developing the future of Pâtisserie in New Zealand.