News

Britain’s top 10 school chefs will come face to face on May 21st to compete for the LACA School Chef of the Year 2014 title in what is expected to be a fiercely fought cook off.

The competition is organised annually by LACA (Lead Association for CAtering in Education) and is sponsored by MAGGI from Nestlé Professional.

With the last of 10 Regional Finals having been completed today (March 18th), the final line up of 10 school chefs going through to this year’s National Final is now known. All of the Finalists are winners from the regional heats, 10 of which have been staged nationwide between January – March.

The event will take place once again at Food Services Wing, Defence Logistics School, Worthy Down near Winchester, Hampshire.

The Finalists¹ who come from across Britain, will battle it out for the education catering industry’s top award. They represent the East Midlands; Eastern; London; North East & Scotland; North West; South East; South West; Wales; West Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber.

The annual Competition aims to show the high quality of school meals to parents and the important contribution they can make to not only the health and wellbeing of their children but also their physical and educational attainment.

The tough Competition criteria really puts the preparation, cooking, creativity and presentation skills of school chefs to the test. Each entrant is required to produce, in just one and a half hours, a healthy balanced two-course meal comprising of a main course and dessert that would appeal to eleven year olds in school.

A maximum of £1.60 is allowed for the cost of a single meal (i.e. main course and dessert) for one child.

With the Competition rules requiring recipes to reflect the global influences on school meals and the ethnic and cultural mix of a school’s pupil population, competition sponsor, MAGGI at Nestlé Professional has included an extensive selection of its products in the competition basket to help contestants’ enhance the creativity of their menus. Products include MAGGI Liquid Concentrated Fonds, such as MAGGI Asian Liquid Concentrated Fonds, as well as MAGGI Coconut Milk Powder, MAGGI Devil’s Jam, and MAGGI Rich & Rustic Tomato Sauce. Also included are MAGGI Original Vegetarian Gravy, MAGGI Mashed Potato Flakes, MAGGI Béchamel Sauce, Docello Crème Brûlée Mix and Docello  Panna Cotta Mix. The contestants are required to incorporate a minimum of two MAGGI® products in their main course and any Nestlé product can be used in their dessert.

An exciting line up of highly creative and mouth watering dishes packed with imaginative touches will impress the judges at the National Final. The dishes of many of the Finalists feature have been inspired by cuisine stretching from the Americas to Europe, Asia and the Far East.

They range from Spiced Beef Kebabs with fragrant Coconut Rice; Spanish Chicken Cocido and Indonesian Style Fish with jewelled Rice to Sesame Seed Turkey Bites with Sweet & Sour Sauce, Wok a Noodle Doo – Chilli glazed Chicken with Noodles and Apple, Mango & Mint Sauce and Chinese Quorn Steak in a Tortilla with Sweet & Sour Sauce.

Desserts, too, capture exotic flavours with spins on classic puddings as well as highly tempting new creations  – from Creamy Spiced Coconut & Ginger Tart with Exotic Fruits: Apple & Cinnamon Samosas and Tropical Fruit Trio – Coconut Sponge with Pineapple Panna Cotta & warm Mango Sauce to Manchester Tart with a Modern Take and Crema de Sant Josep – Citrus Caramel Egg Custard baked Madeleine Sponge with Fruits & Mint Salsa.

Chair of the Judging Panel at the 2014 National Final will be Justin Clarke, Food Development Chef for MAGGI at Nestlé Professional.  Also on the Judging Panel is a professional chef judge, an education catering professional (Jacqui Webb, LACA), a leading dietician (Jasmine Challis, British Dietetic Association), the 2013 LACA School Chef of the Year, Corinne Du Preez from Berkshire and an 11-year-old boy and girl from a local Hampshire school.

Commenting on the standard of craftsmanship and cooking he has witnessed at all the Regional Finals, Justin Clarke, Food Development Chef, Nestlé Professional said: “This is my third year as Chair of Judges and, again, what an amazing year it has been!

“I love judging this competition and look forward to it because every contestant really wants the title of LACA National School Chef of the Year. Many contestants re-appear each year to take up the challenge. There’s no doubt that the culinary standard of food, creativity and technical ability has far more imagination than ever before, with many dishes of global influence hitting food trends.”

Anne Bull, LACA Chair says: “It is great news to hear from Justin that the standard and culinary skills of contestants this year has been so high.

“With each year setting yet another new precedent for the next Competition, LACA School Chef of the Year continues to represent a positive way of communicating the benefits of striving for a high quality school meals service in order to help safeguard the health of the next generation.  Parents should be reassured that our talented education catering teams not only prepare tasty and imaginative dishes to tempt the taste buds of discerning children and young people but also nutritious meals that can make a major contribution towards altering eating habits, improving diets and decreasing obesity levels.

“The Finalists and all of the contestants that have taken part this year should serve as a real inspiration for the food and beverage service in every school nationwide”.

Adding her comments, Head of Food at Nestlé Professional, Susan Gregory, said: “With the biggest investment in school catering since 1945 as a result of free school meals, school dinners have risen even higher on the news agenda.

“LACA School Chef of the Year is an inspiring initiative and an important opportunity to showcase the talent and passion of the people who feed our nation’s children. Every year we are impressed by the chefs’ ability to create healthy, nutritious and tasty meals on a limited budget.

“It is a fantastic achievement to reach the final of the competition and we wish all of the finalists the very best of luck”.

The 2014 National Finalists are:

East Midlands School Chef of the Year 2014
Gail Boyce, Bolsover C of E Junior School, Bolsover  (Derbyshire CC)

Eastern School Chef of the Year 2014
Tanya Watkin, Woodland Middle Academy School, Flitwick, Beds (Beds CC)

London School Chef of the Year 2014
Shereene Weston, St Mary Magdelen Catholic Primary School, Lewisham (LB of Lewisham)

North East & Scotland School Chef of the Year 2014
Bridget McCulla,  Jarrow School, Tyne & Wear  (S Tyneside Council)

North West School Chef of the Year 2014 
Debbie Sidlow, Meadowbank Primary School, Manchester  (Manchester City Council)

South East School Chef of the Year 2014
Alison Dombrick, Bentley Primary School, Bentley, Hampshire (HC3S)

South West School Chef of the Year 2014
Jodie Pearce, Wembury Primary School, Plymouth, (Devon Norse)

Welsh School Chef of the Year 2014
Kate Davies, St Gwladys Primary School, Bargoed (Caerphilly CBC)

West Midlands School Chef of the Year 2014
Vicky Brammer, Crescent Academy, Stoke on Trent (Stoke on Trent Council)

Yorks & Humber School Chef of the Year 2014
Katherine Breckon, Westcliffe CP School, Whitby (N Yorkshire CC)