Young Chef of the Year Competition: World Final update

A good crowd of us from the Bailliage de Grande Bretagne were delighted to be in Helsinki this September for the World final of the Young Chef of the Year (YCC) competition. Bailli Délégué Philip Evins and Conseiller Culinaire Vic Laws, together with a great party from Yorkshire lead by Bailli Derek Wright, were all there to support our competitor Tom Spenceley. Tom works at the Swinton Park Hotel in Masham, was there to represent GB with contestants from 20 other countries. His trip began on Tuesday 14 September when he met the rest of the contestants, many of whom could not speak English, and this started a camaraderie which, we are sure, will last for some time.

Wednesday and Thursday found the group touring suppliers in Helsinki and visiting Chez Dominique for lunch being a ** Michelin restaurant. On Thursday afternoon they explored the culinary college where the competition would take place the following day and the draw took place for the cooking order. Tom thought his luck was in when he was drawn last to compete which was the same as when he won in GB.

Friday morning saw Simon Crannage, the executive chef from Swinton Park, taking Tom through his recipes and cooking techniques but then the wait until 1300 when he was due to leave to compete. We met up with him in the evening and you could see that he had had a very trying but enjoyable time. The black box contained such items as sirloin of beef, whole perch, chanterelles, reindeer and crayfish.

Tom was part of the socializing on Saturday, which included a harbour cruise and a beer sampling session prior to lunch and then to the awards ceremony and intronisation in the evening.

As the group gathered for this the tension was mounting but regretfully Tom did not make the first three places, which were taken by South Africa, Germany and Canada.

However we were delighted that Tom received his competitor’s medal and was inducted in the presence of Philip Evins our Bailli Délégué.

Young Chefs Competition 2011

As has been previously announced the competition has been re-named Young Chefs rather than a ‘commis’ competition and we are delighted that this means that any chef under 27 at September 2011 will be able to take part. The only residency condition is that they must have been in Great Britain for at least three years. With our multi ethnic workforce this will enable us to broaden the base from which you can select your candidate.

We are very pleased that Gaggenau will again be one of our sponsors and I am delighted that Philipp Mosimann, our National Chargé des Mission, will be chairing the panel of judges.

The competition will again take place at Westminster Kingsway and will be held on 17th March and the world finals will be in Istanbul from 6th to 10th September 2011.

For further information on next year’s competition and the full rules please email me, or download the Rules and Nomination forms from the Young Chefs Competition section of the website. In any case, let your regional Bailli know who you will be entering next year.

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Date postedNovember 17, 2010
Author Vic Laws

This news item is from the Grande Bretagne Bailliage, see more Grande Bretagne News.

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