Young Chefs provide inspiration for us all
Red House winner of Young Chef 2008 competition
Four young chefs left the starting gates at Chester Racecourse for the final of the Young Chef of the Year 2008 competition. The cook-off, part of Chester Food & Drink Festival, saw entrants from across the county.
West Cheshire College hosted the qualifying round to shortlist to the four finalists on stage in the Festival’s Rangemaster celebrity kitchen.
Robert McDermot, 23, of The Red House Brasserie at Cheshire Oaks presented loin of Cheshire rabbit, wrapped in smoked bacon with prunes in port, haricot beans, whole grain mustard, cream and cracked pepper, served with glazed baby carrots and leeks. Robert’s career started in kitchens at the Hotel du Vin in Birmingham, associated with celebrity chef, James Martin. Here he learnt tips like taste everything, serve on hot plates and add sugar and salt to boiling vegetables.
Ian Winqvist, 20, of The Macdonald New Blossoms Hotel, St John Street, Chester served up lamb noisettes on a new potato and spring cabbage cake in an orange and herb sauce. This dish is not currently on the menu at the New Blossoms Hotel but could well appear soon! His influences include Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay but he wasn’t supportive of Ramsay’s kitchen style, enjoying his job at the New Blossoms; “Fun but disciplined”.
Richard Lovell, 20, of Bar Lounge, Watergate Street, Chester, prepared fish pie with a double mussel velouté sauce. The cod was wrapped in a pig’s caul.
Artur Hebel, 25, of Pastarazzi, Grosvenor Street, Chester, plated red pepper and basil stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in parma ham served with potatoes and creamed leeks. Artur arrived in Britain two years ago, found work in kitchens and decided he wanted to become a chef. He had changed his dish from salmon to chicken for the final.
Judges were Jane Casson, of Made in Cheshire and Derek James of chefsonstage.com, who sees most of the UK’s celebrity chefs cook first hand at over 120 celebrity cooking events a year. Both were the first to taste the dishes which were judged on use of local produce, concept, appearance, control of heat, presentation, hygiene, seasoning and most importantly, taste.
After deliberation the winner was Robert McDermot, followed by Artur Hebel and Richard Lovell. The judges commented on the very high standards of the skills shown and the increasing complexity of the dishes year on year. Winner Robert McDermot added; “It is fantastic to win such a great competition. I want to do more of this kind of thing and winning will give me the opportunity. It was important to use Cheshire produce which is great and I wasn’t really nervous once I got up there. I hope to do well in the profession and this is a real boost.”
Robert’s prize will be to compete in the regional Young Chef of the Year competition and he will also receive his award “Chester Young Chef of the Year’ at the gala dinner and awards for Chester Food & Drink Festival at the Racecourse on 25th March.
For more information about other events happening over the Chester Food & Drink Festival please visit www.chesterfoodanddrink.com. Chester’s Food and Drink Festival is organised on behalf of Chester City Council with support from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Visit Chester & Cheshire; the tourism board for Cheshire and Warrington, Cheshire County Council, Made in Cheshire and North West Fine Foods.
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The young chefs had to be under 25, with less than two years paid experience in the food industry.
The Gala Dinner and awards ceremony will ensure more than 400 people sample a gourmet menu sourced from leading producers in the North West. This will be held on Tuesday March 25th 2008.
Return to Chester Food & Drink Festival 2008 listings
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