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Eleven school chefs from across the UK had gathered at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole and together were competing for the coveted title of SCOTY 2022. 

The morning heat got underway amid the usual fanfare and included:

• Clair Edwards, from Rhiw Syr Dafydd Primary School, Oakdale (Wales winner)
• Lee Taylor, from John Gulson Primary School, Coventry (West Midlands winner)
• Terry Howard, from Monega Primary School, Forest Gate, London (London wildcard)

Before the heat even got underway, the seats in the auditorium were all taken, mostly by a huge contingent of pupils from the John Gulson Primary School, Coventry, whose Head Teacher had brought the children along to cheer for their hero, Lee Taylor. In fact, the children had had a big hand in preparing the menu of Aloo Chat Masala with cooked roti chips.

Maintaining yesterdays on trend theme of eastern style menu items, his main course of Keema cottage pie with chana masala was served with an Indian pickled slaw and a sour cream and mint dip. His Indian theme continued with a dessert of Indian spiced apple crumble with mango ice cream and fruit coulis.

Explaining his menu Lee said: “The inspiration came from the pupils within the school - we ran a mini competition to see what would be popular. We have used Quorn products within the dishes as these can be enjoyed by most of the pupils we serve due their religious beliefs, we have also used Quorn in the dessert as an emulsifier to make the dish as creamy as possible.

I was bowled over to see so many of the children sitting on the rows in front of me. It made me try that much harder.”

The afternoon session was sadly reduced to two as finalist James Brown from Queen Ethelbuga’s College, York, was unable to attend, so competing in the last session were:

• Victoria Clair, employed by Stockton Borough Council, and is based at Crooksbarn Primary School, Norton (Northeast & Scotland winner)
• Rose Simpson, employed by Lancashire County Council and is based at Morecambe Bay Community Primary School, Morecambe (Northwest winner)

LACA regional chair, Lynda Mitchell, this year’s Compère said: “One of the things that I have taken to heart this year is the various back stories of the finalists. Some have started off in the Pot Wash whilst others, formally trained chefs, have come from fine dining establishments to get a better work life balance. They have come together in SCOTY on a level playing field and have all produced some amazing results.”

Plant-based foods are on trend and throughout the contest we have seen some interesting dishes and this afternoon we saw Rose Simpson from Lancashire County Council deliver Quorn ‘Beef’ pieces and homemade vegetable teriyaki noodles. Rose said: “I was inspired to create a colourful fusion of flavours because of the increase uptake of children in my school wanting to try more vegetarian / vegan foods.

In the final, the chefs have one hour and 45 minutes to prepare and serve a grab & go savoury snack in addition to a delicious and imaginative main meal, and dessert. Each contestant must use at least one Quorn product in both the new grab & go item and main course and one Bisto product from a list provided in either the snack or the main course, alongside a 50% fruit-based dessert that should reflect school standards, using one Premier Foods product from a list provided.

Now in its 28th year SCOTY is the education catering sector’s ‘premier’ culinary skills competition. The SCOTY champion will receive a £1,000 cash prize, the 2022 LACA School Chef of the Year trophy and an invitation to a calendar of catering industry events. The national second and third place winners will receive £500 and £300, respectively.

This year the judges were:

• Kate Snow (Chair)
• Louise Wagstaffe
• Sharon Armstrong
• Robert Cambers