Meet Thibaut Ruggeri
Bocuse d'Or 2013
Thibaut Ruggeri trained at restaurants Les Près d’Eugénie, Le Splendid and L’Alexandre, before joining Le Taillevent in 2003. He went on to head the savoury creation team at Lenôtre for six years, and won many competitions, among which the prestigious Bocuse d’Or in 2013. In late January 2014, he was hired as head chef by XXX hotel. Meet this extraordinary artist and technician.
- What is your signature dish?
- It varies, depending on the time of the year and the place where I am. I always try to make my dishes both exceptionally flavourful and exceptionally beautiful, by working only with local and seasonable products.
- You won the Bocuse d’Or last year, what did it mean to you?
- The Bocuse d’Or is a mark of accomplishment in French gastronomy. However, it’s not one man’s victory; it rewarded the work of a team. This victory crowns not only French culinary know-how, but also French craftsmanship in silverware and flatware. Contestants are expected to cultivate their local specificities and we took this competition as a chance to pour ourselves into every element. I decided to honour André Le Nôtre, as 2013 was the 400th anniversary of his birth, so we picked the garden as a recurrent theme that influenced recipes, colours, volumes and designs.
- Like Joël Robuchon or Michel Roth before you, you created menus for Air France’s business class…
- I immediately saw the appeal of the challenge. We serve tourists their last French gastronomic meal. This last experience has to meet high expectations. And airline service requires accommodating a number of specific constraints. It is a unique challenge for a chef! The menu I created consists of six dishes that change every two weeks. I also developed three dishes to be served regularly.
- You have a passion for culinary photography. How does it inspire your cuisine and influence your designs?
- I started photography when I arrived in Paris, in 2003. I would always go wandering around in the city after my shift at Le Taillevent. I wanted to immortalise these late-night strolls. It was not long before I had the idea to photograph my dishes as well, and became a professional. Photography gave me a chance to refine my sense of aesthetics and changed the way I look at food design. It is also an excellent way for me to let go of the pressure. Without abandoning my kitchen altogether!
- Thibaut Ruggeri tips to make a shortcrust pastry (sandy method).
- When preparing the shortcrust pastry, the goal is to trap little ’pellets’ of butter into the dough. This point is essential for the shortcrust pastry to acquire a nice buttery taste and for small cavities to form inside the biscuit during baking. It is those cavities that give the shortcrust pastry its sandy, crumbly texture. For this to happen, the dough should not be worked for too long, to keep it from gaining elasticity. The butter should also be cold enough so as not to combine with the other ingredients.