Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) K2 Chef Paul Moran claimed the title of best young chef in Canada following the regional competition of the prestigious S. Pellegrino Young Chef Competition held in February, and will now be coached by Canadian mentor chef Susar Lee to prepare for a final competition in Milan, Italy.
Moran beat out more than nine other Canadian semifinalists to earn top honours as the Canadian finalist who will travel to Expo Milan from June 25-27 to compete for the crown of S. Pellegrino Young Chef for 2015. The 28-year-old Moran skillfully prepared his signature dish – blood pigeon smoked and roasted with beet jus and charcoal oil, polenta and salsify – to capture the win.
He will compete against 19 young chefs from around the world for the finals, where an international jury of seven famous chefs will select the S. Pellegrino Young Chef for 2015. A twist on the competition will also involve the Kelowna, B.C. native being paired with a Vogue designer.
“What’s going to happen is the top five are going to produce 300 tasting portions of their dish in Milan and people who have bought tickets for that dinner will vote for best chef as well as best designer/chef duo,” said Moran.
“Whoever wins that, basically the designers put forward a concept based on our dish for a San Pellegrino bottle label and whoever wins that will have there designer/chef collaboration label featured on San Pelligrino bottles around the world for the next year.”
Until the next round of competition, each of the 20 finalists will be supported by a mentor chef, a world-renowned culinary talent who will provide coaching in both the lead-up and competition execution in Milan. Moran will be paired with Canadian celebrity chef Susar Lee of Chopped Canada fame.
“It’s a huge opportunity; I’m pretty excited about working with somebody from the east coast because I have a very extensive history with chefs on the west coast – I used to be a sous chef for David Hawksworth and won a competition that he organized two years ago at the Hawksworth Chef Scholarship, very similar to the San Pelligrino competition,” Moran said.
“It’s nice to be working with somebody from Toronto. I lived in Montreal for six months, but that’s about it, so it’s good to see what’s going on in Canada – not every cook gets that chance as well.”
Moran is a Red Seal certified chef who joined CMH Heli-Skiing’s culinary team last season and says he can’t wait to represent Canada against some of the best in the world, with CMH president Joe Flannery agreeing.
“We are proud to congratulate one of our own as the Canadian finalist in such a prestigious global culinary event,” Flannery said. “We look forward to cheering on Paul this June as he competes against such an impressive roster of international talent.”
In all, 200 semifinalists were selected from thousands of applicants across 20 regions to find the best young chefs in the world. In March, Vogue Italia matched the 20 regional winning chefs with 20 emerging designers selected in an international competition where the finalists design a fashion creation inspired by the chef’s signature dishes. The winning designers and chefs will present together at Expo Milan during the S. Pellegrino Talent Awards.
A jury of seven famous international chefs, Gastón Acurio, Yannick Alléno, Massimo Bottura, Margot Janse, Yoshihiro Narisawa, Éric Ripart and Joan Roca, will select the S. Pellegrino Young Chef 2015, while the cuisine and fashion lovers attending the final event will vote for the Best Couple Chef-Designer 2015.
