The Valrhona Pâtisserie Championship 2010
Sponsored by Valrhona & Odaios Foods
Darren Hogarty, Pastry Chef at Chapter One Restaurant, wins the 2010 Valrhona Pâtisserie Championship.
Darren Hogarty, pastry chef at Chapter One Restaurant, is the winner of the second Valrhona Pâtisserie Championship, organised by Valrhona and Odaios Foods. Darren’s recipe Textures of Valrhona & Mint from Pre-Dessert to Petit Fours was chosen out of the six finalists who competed in D.I.T. Cathal Brugha Street on Wednesday, 2nd of June. Darren faced stiff competition from a line-up of top restaurants, including Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, The Merrion Hotel, The Ritz Carlton, The Ardilaun Hotel and Thorntons Restaurant, to win this prestigious award.
The jury, presided by Frederic Cordonnier head chef of The Brown Bear, also included Domini Kemp, itsa..., Feast Catering & food writer, Benoit Lorge, chocolatier of Lorge Chocolates and Lorcan Cribbin, formerly of Bang Cafe. The competition was overseen by Olivia Dollé from Valrhona and Andrew Gravett, pastry chef from l’Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona.
Through nationwide written submissions six finalists were selected to compete in the 2010 championship held in D.I.T. Cathal Brugha Street. The competition required candidates to prepare a plated dessert they had created themselves using Valrhona under the theme Textures. They each had four hours to complete their dessert and they were judged according to their dessert’s presentation, textures and flavour combinations.
Darren chose his recipe because of his love for mint and chocolate and the challenge of trying to create a modern interpretation of this classic combination. His winning recipe contained three Valrhona chocolates, Manjari 64%, Caramélia 34% and Tanariva Lactée 33%, married with different mints. These included pineapple, spearmint and chocolate mint all from Pat Clarke of Naas. His use and range of textures, that led him to victory, included a mint macaron with a chocolate spearmint ganache, a mousse and chocolate mint gel filled chocolate dome, hot chocolate with a pineapple mint froth and chocolate and mint leaves.
As the second winner of the Valrhona Pâtisserie Championship, Darren receives a three day Stage in l’Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona in Tain l’Hermitage, France and a tasting menu in Maison Pic, a 3 star Michelin Restaurant in Valence.
The objective of the Valrhona Pâtisserie Championship is to promote and advance pastry chefs in Ireland with the long term goal of entering an Irish team in the World Pastry Cup, Coupe de Monde de la Pâtisserie. Valrhona has sponsored and promoted the World Pastry Cup since its 1989 inception. Due to the growing interest in and success of the championship the organisers are considering opening the competition up, with a junior version for 2011 and the senior event now bi-annually, with the third edition due in 2012.
Some images from the 2010 Championship
