APU’s own executive chef Daniel Durfort of Tours, France, won the silver medal at the 11th Annual Pacific Region Culinary Challenge. The challenge was held at the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) Pacific Region Conference in March.
The Culinary Challenge puts chef against chef in a contest to prepare the most outstanding entrée. The winners are recognized for their food preparation techniques and presentation skills in front of a live audience of college and university food service managers and industry suppliers.
Winner of the silver medal, Durfort has been cooking for 45 years. Thus far his four-month service on APU’s campus is much different than his prior experiences as a chef.
“Working on a college campus gives me a chance to see different types of cuisine,” Durfort said. “It is a challenge to develop cuisine for this large amount of people, but I enjoy it.”
It was in his first competition in 1970 when Durfort won the bronze medal. The executive chef went on to say it is always important to challenge yourself as you get older.
“Doing another competition makes me feel young again,” Durfort said.
As a 14-year-old chef in a his French hometown, Durfort began with an apprenticeship then moved on to be a chef at various motels in Paris. But his most memorable experience was his year as chef for the French president in 1972, Georges Pompidou.
“I remember one time he came in and gave us a bottle of champagne to wish us all a Merry Christmas,” Durfort said. “Cooking for him was the most honorable experience I’ve had.”
Prior to cooking for the French president (whose favorite dish was lobster), Durfort was a chef in the military. Once his endeavors cooking for the president were over, this cuisine-cooking machine travelled all over the world as a chef for Club Méditerranée.
More commonly known as Club Med, this French corporation of vacation resorts brought Durfort to all sorts of places from Guadalupe Island to the Caribbean Islands. Durfort ended his time with Club Med after it brought him to an island he fell in love with — O’ahu, Hawaii. It was in Honolulu that Durfort found his home for 20 years.
Durfort made his way to the mainland, ending up in Monrovia, Calif. after he said goodbye to his love affair with Honolulu. A few steps closer to APU’s campus, the executive chef cooked for a Parisian restaurant in Monrovia for 40 years then went on to the San Antonia Winery in Ontario, Calif. and the Tower Club in Oxnard, Calif. After all his travels, Durfort has served as executive chef at APU for four months.
“I want to use my experience to bring improvement because there is always a need for improvement in anything,” Durfort said. “Nothing is perfect so I can improve the facilities on campus and I’m looking forward to it.”
What are some of his favorite items to make? Pastries.
“At one point in my life, I had my own bakery,” Durfort said. “I always love a recipe with a story because you know its background — where it came from and why it was made that way.”
Incidentally, Durfort has a cookbook at home written by the chefs of King Louis XIV in the 17th century. The chef went on to say this cookbook has the story of a popular favorite — crème brûlée.
“There are people who love food and who do not,” Durfort said. “But if you love food you will enjoy life to the fullest.”
For the challenge, Durfort prepared a crispy flounder with coconut crust, a vadouvan aoili scallion chiffonade and marcona almonds tabouleh. Translation — silver award-winning entrée. The Vadouvan spice similar to an Indian curry with French influence. It is usually used in gourmet cooking. And although this pastry-loving, world-travelling, cuisine-cooking chef did not win the gold, “it’s all a matter of taste,” according to Durfort.
“Fine foods are a benediction from God,” Durfort said. “He has given us so many great foods to eat, so many spices and flavors we were meant to enjoy.”
The Clause
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
