The Craft Guild of Chefs has announced that entries are now open for the UK’s most prestigious annual chef competition, the National Chef of the Year 2016.
The National Chef of the Year was established in 1972 and winners have established great careers, including Gordon Ramsay, David Everitt-Matthias, Mark Sargeant, Steve Love, Simon Hulstone and Hrishikesh Desai.
Russell Bateman
National Chef of the Year 2014
Current winner Russell Bateman won on his third attempt and said: “It’s a huge honour to win National Chef of the Year. It’s amazing to think my name has been added to that list of wonderful past winners. To be recognised by the fantastic line up of judges was a massive boost for me personally. I look forward to seeing the competition go from strength to strength.”
The competition is open to chefs from all sectors of the industry and all ethnicities, whether male or female. David Mulcahy, Vice President of the Craft Guild of Chefs and the competition’s organiser is looking forward to searching for National Chef of the Year 2016.
He said: “The National Chef of the Year is a benchmark for chef talent in the UK today and a career-enhancing challenge for anyone who takes part. Not only is the award highly respected but the competition process itself provides an unrivalled platform for testing your culinary skills to the max.”
This year, the panel of judges will be chaired by Clare Smyth, chef patron at the three Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. The competition is sponsored by KNORR, Lockhart Catering Equipment, RARE, Nespresso, Continental Chef Supplies and Churchill China. Stefan Horsnell, category marketing director at Unilever Food Solutions, the company behind KNORR, said: “When National Chef of the Year launches it always creates a real buzz in the industry.”
He continued: “Who will enter and who will go on to compete in the semi-finals and finals is wide open at the moment. One thing we can guarantee is this competition attracts chefs from across our industry, who all share the same passion – food. Good luck to all those who are stepping up to the plate to compete for this coveted title.”
Clare Smyth
This year’s brief is to create an innovative menu for four people, focusing on seasonality, technical skills and sustainably sourced ingredients. Entrants have until Friday, April 10 to submit their entry for paper judging, and a shortlist of 40 chefs will go through to the semi-finals in June. Please visit http://bit.ly/1DNy5sN for more details on how to enter. The semi-finalists will be revealed on Tuesday, May 19.
The heats will take place at Sheffield College on Thursday, June 11 and at Le Cordon Bleu in London on Wednesday, June 24. Eight chefs will go through to the final at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday, October 6. By Molly Mileham-Chappell
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