Connecting chefs with exceptional ingredientsand the people behind them - from the Principality of Monaco
Encounters

Why the Classics
Still Matter at Sea
with Margot Laurent

From Team France preparation to the superyacht galley, Margot Laurent’s work reveals why repetition, organisation and classical French technique remain practical forms of freedom at sea.

Published
1 September 2026
Location
Captains & Crew Lounge
Reading time
9 minutes
Tags
Captains & Crew Lounge, Margot Laurent, Monaco Yacht Show

A chocolate soufflé begins
its most exposed minute
when it leaves the oven.

In a restaurant, the distance between oven and table may be a few controlled metres.
Aboard a yacht, the passage can involve a narrow galley, a stair, a deck, a change in temperature and the small but persistent movement of the vessel beneath everything.
The soufflé does not care that the view is exceptional. It responds only to heat, air, timing and the steadiness of the hands carrying it.

Chef
Margot Laurent
French-trained superyacht chef
Question
Why do the classics still matter?
Technique, repetition and freedom
Competition
Team France contributor
Bocuse d’Or 2025 campaign
When
25 Sept 2026
14:00-17:00
Location
Monaco Yacht Show
Captains & Crew Lounge

What is the Bocuse d'Or?

A visible performance built on months of collective preparation.

Created in Lyon in 1987, the Bocuse d’Or is an international culinary competition in which national teams complete tightly controlled live tests before a jury and audience. The Grand Final brings together 24 countries and uses a five-hour-thirty-minute format.

France won the 2025 edition through candidate Paul Marcon, commis Camille Pigot and coach Christophe Quantin.

The programme

The Elegance of the Classics

A three-hour peer session on classical pastry, preparation and the working conditions of a superyacht galley.

Programme dates
25 September 2026
Programme format
Masterclasses, tastings and conversations

  1. Introduction

    Why the classics remain practical

    Margot Laurent
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    Classical technique as a working system for contemporary yacht chefs.

  2. Demonstration

    The individual Tarte Tatin

    Margot Laurent
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    Puff pastry, apple, caramel, vanilla crème fraîche crémeux and caramel Chantilly.

  3. Demonstration

    The chocolate soufflé

    Margot Laurent
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    Base, aeration, mould preparation, service timing and professional chilling.

  4. Conversation

    Competition preparation and daily consistency

    Margot Laurent
    – Captains & Crew Lounge

    Questions between peers about repetition, pressure and adapting technique to life at sea.

Margot Laurent · Masterclass

Recipes from the masterclass

Make Margot Laurent’s Tarte Tatin and chocolate soufflé.

Tarte Tatin

Puff pastry and caramelised Grey Canadian apples, with vanilla and crème fraîche crémeux and caramel Chantilly.

Make ahead: the caramel Chantilly rests overnight.

Download recipePDF

View recipeClose recipe: Tarte Tatin

Puff pastry — 500 g

Ingredients

  • 105 ml water
  • 10 g salt
  • 45 g melted butter
  • 190 g flour T55
  • 155 g dry butter 84% fat

Method

  1. Mix the cold water, salt and melted butter into a bowl.
  2. Add the flour and work the dough until it comes together and makes a smooth dough.
  3. Flatten with rolling pin, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  4. In the meantime, flatten the dry butter in guitare paper, make it a rectangle shape.
  5. Roll out the detrempe, enclose the butter and secure the edges.
  6. Roll out the dough until it is three times as long as wide.
  7. Take the bottom third of the dough and fold over the middle third.
  8. Fold the top third over the middle third.
  9. Repeat the process before wrapping and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  10. Repeat the folding one more time.
  11. Rest for another 20 minutes before shaping the dough.
  12. Block in cold before use.

Caramelised apple compote

Ingredients

  • 500 g water
  • 200 g muscovado sugar
  • 100 g butter
  • 8 pieces of Grey Canadian Apple

Method

  1. Bring to simmer the water, muscovado and butter.
  2. Poached the peeled and cored apple in the syrup for 15 minutes.
  3. Dry the apple and reduce the syrup to thick consistency.
  4. Pour the syrup in your mold, arrange the apple slices on top.
  5. Add your puff pastry and cook in the oven at 160°C for 45 minutes.

Vanilla and crème fraîche crémeux

Ingredients

  • 120 g cream 35%
  • 6 g sugar
  • 9 g pectine NH
  • 2 vanilla pod
  • 30 g egg yolk
  • 100 g crème fraiche

Method

  1. Bring the cream and the vanilla at 40°C, add the mix sugar and pectine.
  2. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes to activate the pectine.
  3. Remove from the heat and Add the egg yolk.
  4. Give a mix before cooling it down.
  5. Once cold, emulsify with the crème fraiche.

Caramel Chantilly

Ingredients

  • 90 g sugar
  • 2 g vanilla paste
  • 160 g cream 35%
  • 1 g maldon salt
  • 5 g gelatine powder 200B
  • 22 g cold water
  • 500 g cream 35%

Method

  1. Start by hydrating the gelatine with the water.
  2. In the meantime, bring the cream and vanilla paste to the boil, set aside.
  3. Start a dry caramel with the sugar, once nice and blond, stop the cooking with the cream and vanilla mix.
  4. Give it a good whisk before adding the salt.
  5. Remove from heat and add half the cream to temper the Chantilly.
  6. Add the gelatine and finish by incorporating the remaining cream.
  7. Mix and run through a chinois.
  8. Wrap and set in the fridge overnight.
  9. Once needed, emulsify with a whisk.

Chocolate soufflé

A 70% Guanaja chocolate soufflé, with whipped egg whites and a raspberry liqueur finish.

Freshly prepared batter: bake at 170°C for 10 minutes.

Download recipePDF

View recipeClose recipe: Chocolate soufflé

Chocolate base

Ingredients

  • 300 g milk
  • 20 g cornstarch
  • 300 g guanaja chocolate 70%
  • 60 g egg yolk

Method

  1. Bring to the boil the milk and cornstarch.
  2. Pour onto the chocolate and leave it to melt.
  3. Incorporate the yolk and smoothen the mix.
  4. Prepare the souffle mold by coating them in butter and sugar or use silicone mold if you want to freeze the batter.

Soufflé mix

Ingredients

  • 600 g of previous mix
  • 200 g egg white
  • 80 g caster sugar

Method

  1. Whip the egg white and sugar until stiff peak.
  2. Incorporate the chocolate mix delicately.
  3. Pour onto your mold, either cook immediately at 170°C for 10 minutes or blast chill until use.

Raspberry liqueur finish

Method

  1. Bring it to temperature before you flambed it onto the soufflé, in front of the guests.

Recipes: Margot Laurent

Margot Laurent and the classics at sea
Maison del Gusto

Take the classics back to the galley

Join Margot Laurent at Monaco Yacht Show 2026 or speak with Maison del Gusto about future chef encounters for professional yacht and villa teams.

Contact Maison del Gusto
Stories Encounters, producers and craft behind the Maison del Gusto selection. Frequently Asked Questions Answers about products, experiences, orders and delivery. Contact Us For orders, bespoke requests or questions, our team replies personally.