Spain national round | Bocuse d'Or

The Bocuse d'Or Spain National Academy is an organization directed by the renowned chef Martín Berasategui. They are in charge of directing and managing the representation and participation of Spain in the Bocuse d'Or International Cooking Championship, as well as other issues related to the Bocuse d'Or brand and the development of the great national cooking talents.

For them, the Bocuse d'Or is “the most important competition event in the sector. In addition, it is an essential event to promote creativity and culinary innovation and the perfect showcase for Spanish chefs to demonstrate the enormous growth they have had in recent years ”.

14 participations to the Grand Final: 1987 • 1989 • 1991 • 1993 • 1995 • 1997 • 2001 • 2003 • 2005 • 2007 • 2009 • 2011 • 2015

CARLOS JULIÁN MARTÍNEZ, WINNER OF THE BOCUSE D'OR SPAIN 2023

Spain already has its representative for the European Bocuse d'Or competition to be held in Trondheim on March 19^th and 20^th, 2024.

On May 8^th, the Makro Center in Madrid hosted the national final of the most prestigious cooking contest, Bocuse d'Or. For four hours, the four finalists worked against the clock to come up with the required compositions.

A Technical Jury made up of Félix Noguera, Linkers chef advisor and Rubén Príncipe, professor at the Alcalá de Henares School of Hospitality and Tourism, was in charge of ensuring compliance with hygiene regulations, use of ingredients, correct preparation of cuts, use of utensils and machinery, or the recycling of containers, inside the kitchen box.

For its part, a Tasting Jury valued the culinary proposals of the candidates. This jury was made up of José Veléz, national manager of Makro's hospitality clients and prestigious chefs such as José Manuel Miguel, chef of the Beat restaurant, with a Michelin star; Juan Pozuelo, chef TeatroGoya Catering and Technical Director of the Bocuse d'Or Spain Academy; Miguel Durán, chef El Reloj at Harry & Sally and Íñigo Lavado, chef and owner of the restaurant of the same name.

In this way, both courts, Technical and Tasting, ruled in favor of the candidate Carlos Julián Martínez and his assistant Adrián Cifuentes Adán, whose dishes were: "Message in a bottle" and "Everything is born on earth". The first, with fish as a base, had the requirement that it be a children's dish, for which chef Martínez used a trompe l'oeil or visual deception Starting with black cod with cod brandade, a Valencian titaina and a mini oyster with prawns.
The second proposal, based on meat, is called "Everything is born on earth". It is a duck terrine with mushrooms and morels, accompanied by sour bonbon, leg with white truffle and false tomato.

Carlos Julián Martínez is Executive Chef of the Ampar Restaurant, Hotel Hospes Palau de la Mar 5*, in Valencia. He has been a finalist in the 'Cook of the Year' contest in 2018, finalist 2019 and 4th position in Bocuse d'Or Spain 2019 and Runner-up in Bocuse d'Or Spain 2021. He will be in charge of representing the country in the European contest of Norway in 2024.

DATE : 8/05/2023
PLACE : Makro Headquarters

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