Schaffhausen star chef serves 700 guests at Aachen equestrian championships

Schaffhausen-born star chef Cornelius Speinle and his team are serving around 700 guests each day at the VIP grandstand of the equestrian world championships in Aachen, Swiss broadcaster SRF reports.

The menu includes finger food and small hot and cold dishes such as mini quiches, small sandwiches, cured salmon, macarons and other sweet specialities. The dishes are distributed directly to guests at the grandstand.

For Speinle, the greatest challenge is not the cooking itself but the logistics, limited space and coordination of staff. Preparing fresh food for several hundred guests is almost as demanding, he says, as perfectly presenting a dish in a star restaurant.

From Schaffhausen apprentice to The Fat Duck

Speinle trained in Schaffhausen and later worked in Basel, Singapore, England and Hamburg. His career also took him to The Fat Duck, a renowned restaurant in England.

Today, he works not only as a star chef. Alongside assignments at international events such as the equestrian world championships in Aachen, he advises hotels and catering businesses, develops products for the Swiss market and teaches cooking courses.

His focus is on how to apply high-end cooking and professional processes outside a star restaurant. While stars and fine dining once attracted him most, Speinle now believes that a top chef should also look beyond the restaurant kitchen. Large events, television appearances and book projects interest him as well.

Self-employment also has disadvantages. Because he is often travelling, he regularly misses birthdays and family celebrations. That makes time with his family in Hamburg particularly important to him.

Italian cuisine plays a major role in the household. Speinle calls it the most honest cuisine and enjoys cooking lasagne, risotto, saltimbocca and piccata Milanese for his family. Italian cooking, he says, is much more than pizza and pasta.