Victorian chef Joshua Pelham will step up to the plate to represent Australia at the world’s most gruelling gastronomic competition, the Bocuse d’Or, in 2021.

Held every two years in Lyon, France, the Bocuse d’Or sees 24 teams from countries around the world compete in a haute cuisine cook-off.

Teams are made up of two – a chef and a commis chef – who are tasked with producing a two-course meal, made from mandatory ingredients, in five and a half hours.

The courses are critiqued by 24 highly-credentialled judges, which in the past have included Heston Blumenthal and Ferran Adrià.

Australia’s highest ever result was 8^th place, which was achieved by chef Dan Arnold and commis chef Ryan Cosentino in 2017.

“It really is the Olympics of cooking,” says Pelham. “It’s very hard – frustratingly hard – as you’re competing at the level of perfection.

“You’re also up against such a high calibre of talent, and at the end of the day, the difference can come down to the tiniest of details.”

The Australian team for 2021 will consist of Joshua Pelham, who is currently the executive chef at RACV Cape Schanck Resort in Victoria, and his commis chef Harrison Caruana, who is an apprentice at RACV City Club.

The duo have been training under head coach Scott Pickett for the past four months as they prepare for round one, the Bocuse d’Or Asia-Pacific qualifier.

“In terms of training, you start with a concept and an idea, and then you build it out from there. There’s a lot of trial and error going on, so there’s a lot of note-taking and cataloguing, but we’re seeing improvements every day.”

“At the moment, I’m training for a couple of hours every day after I finish work, that includes cooking as well as all the other things I need to do, like sourcing ingredients and organising custom-made pieces for the presentation of dishes.”

The next step for Pelham and Caruana is the Bocuse d’Or Asia-Pacific Selection 2020, where just five out of 12 competing teams will be selected to compete in Lyon in January 2021.