German Chef Reaches for Stars in France

The Talblick restaurant is a modest establishment, just a stone’s throw away from the local town church in Wildberg, a spa town in the Black Forest with a population of 10,000. But last year, its young chef won a prestigious international cooking award, making a new star out of the rustic country inn on Germany's culinary landscape.

On Thursday, Weitbrecht added another feather into his hat, placing third at the international cooking competition Bocuse d'Or.

Sturgeon specials

Claus Weitbrecht completed cooking school in Heidelberg in 1999 and expanded his culinary talents working for three star cooks in Germany and France.

The 29-year-old (photo) had already won numerous competitions when he was named the winner of the German Bocuse d'Or competition in October last year after serving the jury his concoction “miscellaneous from sturgeon with Imperial caviar.”

In November 2002 he took over his parents’ business, the Restaurant Talblick in Wildberg. As Bocuse d’Or German Master he will cook for Germany at the international competition in Lyon, France that runs from January 27 - 30.

The Golden Bocuse

The Bocuse d’Or takes its name from the eminent French chef Paul Bocuse, who established the competition in 1987.

What makes the Bocuse d’Or different from other culinary prizes is that competing chefs cook in front of an audience, so the public can see how much work it takes to make a fine meal. The competition takes place each year during the Culinary Sector Exhibition in Lyon, Bocuse’s hometown and one of the world’s capitals of fine cooking.

Looking for the original

So far German chefs won bronze medals in 1995 and 1997. If Weitbrecht wins at the international competition in Lyon, he will be the first German winner of the illustrious prize. But it won’t be easy to outshine his competitors who represent 23 other countries.

"You have to make something, that has never been made,” Weitbrecht explains. “And that’s very difficult in the kitchen because there are thousands of very good cooks, and they have all written very good cookbooks. And then to find something that no one in the top-class jury has ever seen…. The air gets thin at the top, it’s like in competitive sports."

The specifications are the same for everyone: filet of beef bouchère, Norwegian fjord trout and oxtail. The chefs determine the side dishes themselves. They have five hours to cook recipes that must be original, professional and tasty. Few people are aware of the costs and the effort that go into it.

Stiff competition

"The Scandinavian countries have sponsors and sponsors’ funds at their disposal that Germany can only dream of…. The Norwegians especially, they have €500,000 – 600,000 with which they can do what they want,” Weitbrecht comments. “Six months before the event takes place in Lyon, the [Norwegian] candidate starts training, so he will have cooked his dish at least 10 or 15 times racing the clock, under pressure."

Weitbrecht trains with his assistant, Ludwig Heer. But he does it at the same time as living up to his daily responsibilities. One guest orders Viennese sausages with lentils, another orders schnitzel. In the meantime, the postman comes, delivering a package from France: a kilo (2.2 pounds) of fresh truffles. They are for filling the trout at the competition.

Racing the clock

Over and over the chef and his assistant talk through the recipes, practicing until late in the night. Cutting and chopping, pureeing and garnishing, everything is measured with the stopwatch, since in Lyon every minute counts. Ludwig Heer is still dissatisfied: preparing the pastry takes too long. "We'll have to do it another five times," he says, and then maybe we’ll make it." Heer aims to cut the time down from the current 15:25 to 12:25: "then it will work."

At his restaurant in Wildberg, Claus Weitbrecht makes three and five course meals, but only on those occasions when guests specifically order them. Otherwise, he cooks according to Talblick’s menu. He hopes that that will soon change, and that more customers will be enticed to take a seat at his restaurant just to sample his wares.

"My dream is that we will win something down there [in Lyon], and another dream is to have a Michelin star sometime,” he admits. “But the most important aspect is that the guests that come here leave the place satisfied. It’s not worth cooking for a star at any price.”