chargement...
Sheer luck was behind Abdessamad El Idrissi’s achievements. Settled in France, the Moroccan is now the world’s pizza champion, after he participated to a tournament in Italy.
Born in Nador in 1980, this professional cook left school without graduating. He did several odd jobs before getting into photography. While working as a wedding photographer, he met the bride's sister, who became his wife in 2009.
Abdessamad El Idrissi left Morocco to settle in France, where he worked in construction before becoming an electrician. He also worked in supermarkets before getting by chance to the world of cooking. He started working in hotels, where his love for cooking grew even further.
«One day, we received 160 guests at the hotel, but the cook’s assistant was not there. I volunteered to lend the chef a hand, but he refused, as he was not so sure of my culinary skills. When I insisted, he finally accepted and our customers were satisfied with our dishes. Therefore, I was offered to work in the kitchen permanently».
After successfully completing his trial period in the kitchen, Abdessamad became head of one of the restaurant services at the hotel. Being in contact with a number of chefs, he was able to quickly develop his skills, becoming a pillar for his team.
The pizza challenge
While cooking, Abdessamad El Idirissi got very interested in pizza. One day he asked his manager a question about the dish. The pizza maker's reaction to his question was this : «If I show you how to do it, you will end up taking my place».
With that unexpected answer, the Moroccan challenged himself to learn all the tricks of this Italian specialty on his own. Every evening after work, he watched videos on the Internet about all possible recipes. Another accident led the pizza maker to be absent for health reasons. It was then that Abdessamad was asked to make pizzas.
«Even though I refused, explaining that I didn't know where to start to make a good pizza, my chef insisted because we were left without a choice. I remembered what I was watching in the videos and everything went well that evening».
Days passed and Abdessamad El Idrissi was offered the post of assistant to the chef of the restaurant. «I declined the offer because the working conditions were unfavorable to me, which accelerated my dismissal», he said.
Abdessamad El Idrissi then joined a small pizzeria. A few days later, the owner who wanted to sell his restaurant proposed to the Moroccan chef to take it over. «Every day after dropping my kids off at school, I used to head to my shop kitchen to try new ways until I found the best pizza recipe», he said.
After having acquired a certain know-how, Abdessamad El Idrissi cherished the dream of taking part in famous Italian cooking competitions, in particular those held in Paris. But when he took the first step, the cook came last in the ranking. However, he was not discouraged and decided to apply for other competitions. A week later, he decided to try another competition still held in Paris, then ranked 90th out of 165 competitors.
A month later, Abdessamad El Idrissi decided to participate in the world pizza championships organized in Italy. He came ninth, which was already a source of pride for Nador-born cook. In October 2019, he participated in the same competition for the second time, and managed to win the title of world champion, ahead of 350 participants.
Regarding the recipe that allowed him to differentiate himself, the chef told Yabiladi that he was inspired by his childhood. «During the holidays, we went fishing and I gave my mother what I brought home. She would prepare a dish out of it. I used one of her recipes while trying to add a modern twist to it».
«After I got the title, I called my mom. She was deeply moved when I announced my victory to her», he recalled. Abdessamad’s love and interest in pizza led him to consider setting up a new project, this time in Morocco, where he comes every year to spend his holidays with his family.
