Two Army chefs win gold medals in American cooking competition

Two gold medals and one silver brought back from the USA, Julien, aged 30, and Franck, aged 44, had a modest victory. It is at the Guibert barracks in Montauban that the two chefs who have practiced their talents for almost ten years on the pianos of the Caylu military camp, looked back on their gastronomic success across the Atlantic.

“This inter-allied competition which brings together the best military chefs, especially from the armies of Germany, Great Britain and the United States, is something of a holy grail for our chefs,” assures the Chief Commissioner, Francis Urvois, Corps Commander of the Montauban Defense Base Support Group (GSBdD).

To achieve this level of excellence, former soldiers, now civilian army personnel, had to first earn their place at the Golden Trident. This national military competition organized by the Army Commissariat Service (SCA) brings together the elite leaders of the French Army.

“I failed in 2017, I didn’t think I would try the competition again,” confides Franck, who left the Air Force in 2009 before joining the kitchen at the Caylus camp. Finally in June 2022 with Julien replacing at short notice a colleague suffering from a long illness, the two chefs won second place in the 2022 Tridents d’Or at the Paul-Bocuse Institute in Écully, in Greater Lyon.

This first victory in the pocket opens the doors to the 48th edition of the International Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Gregg-Adams, in the state of Virginia, in the United States. Having traveled at the end of February last year with two cooks serving in the 17th RGP (Parachute Engineer Regiment) and 31st RG (Engineer Regiment) from Castelsarrasin, the two cooks had to learn to adapt to the American context during the events that took place from 4 . until March 8, 2024.

“They are the ones who supply the products, and they are not the same as in France,” says Franck, used to working with noble and local products.

At the American competition table, all products are pasteurized, no real butter or cheese and everything is extremely sweet.

“The way of working with the products is also very different”, confirms Franck, without mincing words, describing the Yankee kitchen “fixed on the standards of French gastronomy from Escoffier”.

The chefs also learned the hard way, during the buffet test, that their competitors did not bother to prepare their fish, as the jury did not taste the dishes. “They judge everything on the aesthetic aspect,” laments Julien, also highlighting the use of glutamate by some English teams. This food additive is used as a flavor enhancer by the food industry. It is far from the standards of our Tarn-et-Garonne chefs.

It is an understatement to say that the culinary apprentices from American schools did not fail to photograph the French team’s bakery buffet in all directions. The latter won a gold medal, as did chef Franck’s revisited Norwegian omelette. Julien’s rack of pork and asparagus inserts won a silver medal.

Having just returned from “this OPEX” (external operation) in the USA, the two gastronomes are already working on a new final of the Trident d’Or 2024 on May 28 in Marcy-L’étoile (Rhône). The star chef Christian Tetedoie, Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) and president of Master Chefs of France, awaits them.