Young National Chef of the Year 2018: Danny Young, February 2018

Young National Chef of the Year 2018 winner, Danny Young on Obsession 18 and his recent fishing trip to Norway with Norwegian Seafood.

In his latest blog, Danny talks about cooking with unusual ingredients at the annual Obsession event at Northcote and his fishing trip to Norway.

Since my last blog I have been rather busy: going from Obsession straight into my trip to Norway and then completing the dinner at the Norwegian Embassy has been a challenge but I’ve loved it!

Obsession 18 was a complete success but it is all over and done with now. It was interesting to see a trend in some of the food that we served.

Venison, caviar and truffles seemed to be the most frequently used ingredients across the 18 days. The best bit though was seeing the different way each chef prepared and treated their ingredients, and getting introduced to foods that are either very rare or completely unknown to the UK.

For example we had Mexican chefs who brought grasshoppers, cactus fruits and cassava root – all very new to me and the team. Birch syrup was a really interesting ingredient too and we have started trying to incorporate it into some of our cooking here at Northcote, even better as there are British manufacturers who are supplying it to the restaurant industry.

As the last couple of days drew to a close at Obsession, it was time for me to take my NYCOTY prize and go on the fishing trip to Norway. I arrived on a Friday night in Tromsø, a city of culture in the north of Norway, and went to our hotel in a town called Sommarøy, where we were welcomed with a large fresh seafood feast! This gave everyone time to get to know each other and relax after travelling.

Saturday morning we headed out into the Scandinavian cold to board our boat and go line-fishing for Norwegian skrei, a member of the cod family. I caught 3 which was an average catch, the locals said the fishing was a bit on the poor side but you can’t control nature. That’s my excuse anyway!

After a couple of hours on the boat, we went back to a local fish factory where we had a tour and were entertained by a local family who cooked us some traditional Norwegian skrei dishes; it was interesting to see how they utilise the whole fish and make almost no waste.

In the evening, we went back to Tromsø city and had chance to cook some skrei dishes with a group of local college students. Of course, as the day came to an end, it only meant one thing for all the chefs on the trip – sampling the local beers and nightlife!

On Sunday morning we set off out in the Norwegian wilderness to go dog-sledging, which is a fantastic experience, one I would highly recommend, if you ever get chance, and that brought my trip to a close, coming home on the Sunday afternoon.

Catch me in my next blog to find out about my preparation for the dinner at the Norwegian Embassy and how that all went!

About Danny Young:

Danny is Young National Chef of the Year 2018 having won the competition at the Restaurant Show at Olympia London in October. Danny is currently sous chef at Northcote in Lancashire. His first experience in fine dining came after he left school when he secured a job working in a Michelin starred kitchen. Danny has come in second place in the Young National Chef of the Year competition for the last two years and was North West Young Chef of the Year in 2014.

More images from Danny Young:

fishing for Nrwegian Skrei low res — fishing for Norwegian Skrei

danny young dog sledding in Norway low res — danny young dog sledding in Norway

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