Lorna McNee from Andrew Fairlie’s restaurant, is the first female winner of Game Chef of the Year

Lorna McNee, Junior Sous Chef of Andrew Fairlie, was today crowned Game Chef of the Year 2016 following a cook off with nine other chefs from across the UK.

The competition organised by Scottish game processor Braehead Foods has been running for the last five years, and each year the level of applicants keeps getting higher.

The search to find the UK’s best professional game chef began in August with entries flooding in from all over the UK. Lorna has been working at Andrew Fairlie Gleneagles for seven years now, and it was Andrew and Stephen McLaughlin, Head Chef, who encouraged Lorna to enter the competition.

Lorna said: "The reason I entered was to push and challenge myself into places I wouldn’t usually go and to come out my comfort zone. That’s why competitions like this are so  important to be present in Scotland, as well as England."

Lorna’s starter was roast teal, salad of beetroot, apple, mushroom and warm vinaigrette. For her main course she prepared blue mountain hare, smoked game farce and spiced red cabbage. Paul Gayler noted that Lorna’s ‘menu was well balanced, creative and professionally executed – a winning formula.’

Applicants were required to submit two game based dishes, one starter and one main course with the judges looking for fresh, innovative dishes. This year judges noted that contestant’s dishes were very