Professional Cookery students reach national cooking competition finals!
For the third year running, Professional Cookery students from Ayrshire College have reached the national finals of the Country Range Student Chef Challenge, after being announced as one of eight finalists.
The long-running Country Range Student Chef Challenge provides hospitality students with the perfect platform to improve cooking skills, knowledge and technique, while developing real life experience under intense pressure and competition situations.
Professional Cookery students from the Kilmarnock Campus, Vivienne Beresford, Gabriella Crawford and Shaun Bell, prepared and produced a three-course menu in 90 minutes, testing their knowledge of both classical cooking and modern methods of the last 25 years.
Annmarie Farr, Hospitality Lecturer, said “the students have worked exceptionally hard to reach the finals and have committed many hours of extra practice over and above their normal studies. The dedication shown has been outstanding and I am extremely proud of their achievements.”
The Ayrshire College menu featured:
Starter - Sea bass with a popcorn seaweed crumb, yaki gyoza, pickled mushrooms & radish, warm broad bean and mango salad, pea and wasabi puree, coconut foam.
Main - Home smoked duck breast with red cabbage, duck, apple and chestnut pithivier, root vegetable terrine, sour cherry sauce.
Dessert - Chocolate & hazelnut parfait, rose & pistachio meringue, Turkish delight gel, cocoa tuille, pink grapefruit and blood orange sorbet.
The standard of cooking in the semi-final heat and by all the college teams was outstanding with some fabulous skills, techniques, tastes and flavours on show.
Chris Basten, the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Chairman of Judges, said “A huge well done to the Ayrshire College team and good luck to them all in the final stage. The quality of dishes presented by the students was sensational, showing real technique, creativity and attention to detail with every ingredient. If this is a sign of what’s to come then I can’t wait for the final.”
The students will now compete for the overall title and cook their dishes in front of a live audience at Scotland’s largest hospitality show – ScotHot 2019 on Wednesday 13 March.
21 February 2019
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