CHICAGO, Oct 17 ― Chicago chef Grant Achatz has been appointed the honorary president of the 2015 jury for the Bocuse d’Or, an event that could be described as the original 'Iron Chef' in which top chefs from around the world try to bring culinary glory back to their countries.

Achatz holds three Michelin stars for his Chicago restaurant Alinea. He also helms Next restaurant, which pioneered the concept of issuing tickets for dinner seats ― not unlike theater tickets ― and creates a completely different menu every few months.

In 2012, Achatz sat on the jury for the Bocuse d’Or US edition.

Next January, 24 chefs from 24 countries will cook the meal of their lives in the hopes of winning the culinary equivalent of an Olympic gold medal at the Bocuse d’Or, an event held every two years in Lyon, France.

French chef Thibaut Ruggeri, who won the last Bocuse d’Or competition in 2013, will be the president of the international jury.

Ruggeri helms the restaurant Abbaye de Fontevraud, in France’s Loire Valley.

Competitors have 5.35 hours to produce a meat and fish platter. For the 2015 edition, the main meat ingredient will be the Label Rouge farm-raised Landes guinea fowl.

For the fish dish, half of the platter must be vegetable-based.

And to add an extra challenge, organisers will throw in a ‘mystery ingredient’ a day before the competition that must be used in the fish recipe.

Here are the competing countries. New in 2015 is Chile, which will be competing for the first time.

Argentina Finland Japan Spain Australia France Malaysia South Korea Canada Germany Morocco Chile Guatemala Sweden Netherlands Switzerland Denmark Hungary Norway United Kingdom Estonia Iceland Singapore United States

The Bocuse d'Or 2015 takes place January 27-28. — AFP-Relaxnews