Danielle Heron and Chelsea Taylor from The Manchester College have been announced as the winners of the Young UK Chef of the Year Competition 2011.
The Grand Final has been held at the Grimsby Institute's Gallery Restaurant with the judges and invited guests sampling a three-course meal, produced by the finalists and served by Grimsby Institute students.
The Young Seafood Chef of the Year Competition was originally founded by the Institute in 1997, who have strong ties to the Seafood Industry through its links with Humber Seafood Institute (HSI), and has now grown to become one of the foremost competitions of its kind.
This year the competition has attracted over 50 entries from colleges nationwide and the final saw two teams from each of the competing colleges battle it out for the title. Finalists include teams from the Grimsby Institute, The Manchester College, Nelson & Colne College, City College Norwich, Oxford & Cherwell Valley College, Stratford-upon-Avon College and Yorkshire Coast College in Scarborough.
Competition Manager and the Grimsby Institute's Programme Leader for Hospitality, Paul Robinson, explained why the competition was so important, Paul said:
"This competition is a fantastic opportunity for young chefs to compete on a National platform within the educational sector of professional cookery training. The seafood our sponsors supply is sustainable and we therefore feel it is important to promote this in the competition."
The Manchester College, were awarded 1st place, with Oxford and Cherwell Valley College taking 2nd Place and City College Norwich, coming in a close 3rd.
Merits were awarded to the teams from the Grimsby Institute, Yorkshire Coast College in Scarborough, Stratford-upon-Avon College, Nelson & Colne College and City College Norwich.
The winners of this year's competition receive an extensive prize package that includes the Seafood Championship Trophy, one-year membership to the Craft Guild of Chefs, a one-week placement at either Youngs Development Kitchens or Mitch Tonks Restaurant and a day cooking at Jean-Christophe Novelli's Academy.
One half of the winning team, Danielle said:
"We cooked smoked haddock risotto with curry oil and crispy skin, and pan-fried scallops for the main course. We wanted to cook foods that went together, forming a classic combination and also that would bring out the flavour of the fish, as much as possible.
"We entered because our tutor said it would be fun, so we started off lightheartedly and couldn't believe it when we made it to the final. When we got here we took it very seriously and I'm so happy that we've won, I was literally shaking when they announced it.
Chelsea added:
" It's so important that we've got the chance to part in this competition. We've had some amazing feedback from the chefs and judges, and it's really improved our skills."
Judges for the prestigious final of the competition includes Great British Menus' Tom Aikens, Franck Pontais from the Food Channel, TV's Mitch Tonks, Managing Director of Billingsgate Market, Chris Leftwich, and Head Chef at Youngs, Serge Nollent, and they were impressed with the quality of the food they were presented with, Chris said:
"It was so close between the top three competitors, but we had to award it to the team from The Manchester College because the standard of the dishes and the presentation was excellent."
Mitch added:
"Danielle and Chelsea were also amazing in the kitchen, very much in control, knew exactly what they were doing and were very relaxed. If anyone had eaten their scallop dish, in any restaurant in the country, they would have said wow, it really was incredible."
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Tom Aikens - In The Kitchenby jamesaowen11,502 views
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