ACF Pittsburgh

10/13/2026

10/13/2026

Good luck Chefs!!

Cheering so loudly for every single chef competing this week! Remember that simply showing up and giving it your all is already a massive victory. Go shine bright out there! 🧑‍🍳💪In all.categories 🔪🍳🥩🥓🥬🍰🫕🦞🧁🍪!!

10/13/2026

A.W. Beattie Career Center will host out “Sandwich Brigade” event next week. We can’t wait to be there!!

10/12/2026

10/12/2026

CHEF LEGENDS:
EUGÉNIE BRAZIER — THE WOMAN WHO MADE HISTORY IN FRENCH CUISINE

In 1933, a French chef achieved something extraordinary: six Michelin stars across two restaurants at the same time. Her name was Eugénie Brazier, known as La Mère Brazier, and her influence on French gastronomy deserves far more recognition.

Born in 1895, Brazier opened her first restaurant in Lyon in 1921 and a second establishment at Col de la Luère in 1929. Her cooking celebrated the traditions of Lyonnais cuisine, combining excellent local produce, disciplined technique and carefully executed dishes without unnecessary theatrics.

One of her signature preparations was poularde demi-deuil, a Bresse chicken with thin slices of black truffle inserted beneath the skin before cooking. As the truffle darkened the flesh beneath the pale skin, the dish acquired its evocative name, meaning “chicken in half-mourning.”

Brazier was also an influential mentor. Among the young cooks who trained in her kitchen was Paul Bocuse, who would later become one of the most recognised figures in French gastronomy. Her legacy was not simply a collection of celebrated dishes, but a professional standard passed from one generation of chefs to the next.

Her story challenges the way culinary history is often told. Behind the celebrated names of French cuisine stood women whose skill, discipline and leadership helped shape the profession long before celebrity chefs became a global phenomenon.

Brazier's example still speaks to working kitchens today: respect your ingredients, organise your work properly and understand that consistency is earned through practice, not shortcuts.

Great cooking starts with knowledge, discipline and respect for the product.

👨‍🍳 CHEFS, WHO TAUGHT YOU THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON YOU STILL USE IN YOUR KITCHEN TODAY?

10/11/2026

This looks cool!

10/11/2026

CHEF LEGENDS: PAUL BOCUSE — THE CHEF WHO PUT INGREDIENTS FIRST

“You cannot forget the good ingredients. If there are not good ingredients, there is no good cooking.”

— PAUL BOCUSE

Long before chefs became international celebrities, Paul Bocuse helped change how the world saw the people working behind the pass.

Born in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, near Lyon, in 1926, Bocuse trained under influential French chefs Eugénie Brazier and Fernand Point before taking over his family's restaurant in 1956. In 1965, his restaurant earned its third Michelin star, beginning a distinction it maintained for more than five decades.

Bocuse became one of the leading figures associated with nouvelle cuisine, a movement that challenged some of the excesses of traditional grand cuisine by placing greater emphasis on fresh ingredients, lighter preparations and cleaner presentation. Yet he never abandoned his roots in Lyonnais cooking, where good produce, generous flavours, butter, cream and carefully made sauces remained central to the experience.

His influence went beyond the plate. In 1987, he launched the Bocuse d'Or, an international culinary competition that helped bring professional chefs into the global spotlight. He also invested in culinary education and the transmission of knowledge to younger generations.

Bocuse understood something that can easily get lost in modern gastronomy: technique matters, presentation matters, but neither can rescue an ingredient that was poor to begin with.

For the working chef, that is more than a philosophy. It is a daily decision made at the market, during mise en place and every time a product reaches the pass.

Great cooking starts before the pan gets hot.

👨‍🍳 CHEFS, WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOU WHEN JUDGING A DISH: THE QUALITY OF THE INGREDIENTS, THE TECHNIQUE OR THE FINAL EX*****ON?

10/09/2026

Congratulations!

SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED: Best Mental Health Campaign / Event, sponsored by Tofoo & Co

This award recognises creative, impactful campaigns and events that have sparked conversation, raised awareness or driven action on mental health in hospitality.

Congratulations to our shortlisted campaigns and events:

👏 Doncaster College Hospitality & Catering Department
👏 FEAST - Foodservice Elevated Accelerated by Specialist Talent
👏 Leah Dunnigan
👏 Tribe Apparel
👏 Nestlé Golden Chef's

🎟️ Join us to celebrate the winners on Monday 2nd November in London. Get your tickets here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/theburntchefproject/2397516