CREDIT: JOHN SING
Chef Scott Baechler proudly displays the medals he won with Team Canada at the Salon Culinaire Mondial in Basel, Switzerland in November.

When Chef Scott Baechler touched down in Basel, Switzerland back in November, he was ready to cook his heart out at the prestigious Salon Culinaire Mondial competition.

Baechler had months of practice under his belt with the rest of Team Canada, training from coast to coast. “I think the practice was probably harder than the real thing,” he said.

In the end, the chefs walked away from the competition with gold in the Cold competition and silver in the Hot portion.

“We went over there, basically were awarded in reverse of what we thought we would get,” said Baechler. “It's kind of interesting how it played out.”

The chef was impressed by the skills of his competitors, saying the friendly Swiss put out a fantastic product, but that China “stole the show.”

“That's what this show was about,” he said. “It's about sizing everybody else up for the upcoming [competitions].”

While winning medals played an important role in making the experience exciting for him, Baechler almost had a tough time explaining it in words.

“Self-development was great, the experience was great, the pressure was awesome,” he said. “You just can't put it into words; you just have to do it.”

But other than the feeling of butterflies for a brief minute, Baechler said he eased in and felt comfortable in the kitchen during the live Hot show, where viewers and judges could see everything.

“Initially I was going as hard and as fast as I could,” he said. “As time went on and we got into plating, I got very complacent and very relaxed and comfortable. Even though the [viewers] were asking questions in front of me ... I was very comfortable.”

All in all, Baechler was happy with the results.

“All that hard work paid off because people that are watching only see this part of it,” he said. “They don't see all of the practices; they don't see the trips to Vancouver, Windsor, Toronto, Halifax.”

The team has yet to debrief or communicate since, however.

“Right now there's silence in the team, and it's not in a negative sense,” said Baechler. “I think we're all just resting and revising our families so they know who we are. Our first connection will probably be in March.”

Till then, Baechler will be enjoying the downtime he has with his family, and said being engaged to a chef isn't easy.

“[I'm proud of] my fiancée because she puts up with me being away,” he said. “Most chefs talk about their own sacrifices and I'm just as guilty as anyone else, but my own family, my new fiancée, my children who live in Toronto, they're affected by it.”

With this year's show in Luxembourg looming, Team Canada will have lots to plan and prepare for.

“It was a great experience, Basel, but it's only one piece of the puzzle,” he said. “It's a big four-year journey and [Luxembourg] is a serious show. I really want to represent the team well.”

“I want podium, I want to be on that podium. I think we've got some work to do,” he said.