Young chef team qualifies for final of national competition

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Three student chefs from The Manchester College’s Moston Campus won the regional finals of the prestigious Brakes Student Chef Team Challenge in January. The team will now compete in the finals at ScotHot 2011 in Edinburgh on 2 March.

Each student also won vouchers worth £75 to spend on catering equipment, a personalised chef’s jacket and a trophy. Roxanne Gilbert-Lacy, Chelsea Taylor and Gideon Ingham will represent northern England during a live cook-off at the leading Scottish foodservice exhibition ScotHot with the chance to win a week’s work experience at five star London restaurant County Hall Hotel, £250 vouchers for catering equipment, a set of knives and a prestigious glass trophy. The team will be asked to prepare, cook and serve a regional three course meal for four covers in just one hour and 45 minutes.

The winning regional menu, that will also be used at the finals, consists of a port Lancaster smoked haddock with Lytham shrimp risotto, mace cloud, curry oil and baby chard; a trough of Bowland lamb with fondant, young leeks, carrot, Delamere goats cheese bon bon and jus; and a Cheshire apple soufflé with caramel ice cream, jelly and shard.

Run in conjunction with the Craft Guild of Chefs, the competition is aimed at teams of student chefs studying at VRQ level two and three and is an opportunity for them to showcase their culinary skills.

Andrew Macleod, chef tutor at The Manchester College, said: ‘Both tutors and the students are very excited about this competition and this is the first time the college has made it this far. The students have been putting in lots of effort and practice and it is great to see how they have progressed. It is fantastic that we have such good facilities and equipment for the students to use in preparation for the competition. They are really looking forward to representing the college and their region.’