The Staff Canteen Live at HRC 2022, Day 3

We wrapped up the final day of The Staff Canteen Live at HRC today, once again joined by a fantastic line-up of chefs

First to take to the stage were Nick Beardshaw, head chef at Kerridge's Bar and Grill, joined by Tom Kerridge himself. Nick cooked a dish of English asparagus with a blood orange hollandaise and deep-fried hen's egg.

Both chefs are intent on mentoring chefs, so made sure the Milton Keynes students helping out at the event got stuck in.

Next up, Dom Chapman was joined by his sous-chef at The Beehive Alex Parker, and together they cooked a dish of pan-fried sea bream, thai shrimp curry, crisp noodles, peanuts and coriander. Check out the recipe here.

Third to take to the stage were Roux scholar 2021 and head chef at three Michelin-starred The Fat Duck in Bray Oli Williamson and his senior chef de partie, Sophie McNally.

They prepared an intricate dish called 'Botrytis Cinerea', or Noble Rot. Here is the recipe if you are brave enough to attempt to make it too.

Last but not least, chef founder of two Michelin-starred Ikoyi, Jeremy Chan, and chef Riccardo Manca cooked a dish developed especially for the show, consisting of caramelised sweetbreads with crab custard and smoked rice.

While on stage, the chefs talked the audience through their prepararations and shared their thoughts on issues affecting the industry, about their inspirations and more specific points, like how they rose to prominence in their roles, how to get (and maintain) accolades and how to help train up the talent of tomorrow.

After their demonstrations, they answered the audience’s questions, from practical tips and advice to where they like to eat on their days out. 

All the chefs on stage had the assistance of a student from Milton Keynes College, our TSC Live partners, and ingredients, tools and equipment were supplied by our sponsors -  Hospitality Rewards, Major International, Rational, P&G Professional, Crown Cellars, Quorn professional, Mara Seaweed - as were the goodie bags given to the chefs to thank them for taking part. 

When asked whether as a company, Mara Seaweed had good interactions with potential customers over the course of the past three days, founder and CEO Fiona Houston said: "Yes, we have, because all the chefs have had samples of our products before the show, so it’s been good to actually meet them face to face and be able to actually talk to them about what they’re doing."

Ian Leadbetter, National Corporate Chef at Rational, who, as well as sponsoring the event, sponsored chef Dom Chapman's appearance on stage today, said the event had been a success, having met with many new customers and shown off their oven on the TSC Live stage : "It’s been really good sponsoring [The Staff Canteen], meeting with the chefs and having them working with our equipment and showcasing what we’ve got."

Commenting on the presence of students at the event, and why it's important for them to be involved in events like TSC Live, chef Tom Kerridge said: "It’s so important for us as an industry to be encouraging new blood, new exciting ideas and new people coming into the industry to showcase and show them what a fun place it can be.

"Both myself and Nick have been in the industry for decades now, and you see so many things and you get so many opportunities to travel, take part in things, have fun, but above all else what we want to do is to show it’s a great space to work.

"You have to work hard but the end results you can get out of it, the things you can experience I mean it’s magical. So any support for hospitality training facilities and colleges, anything that we can do, apprenticeships schemes we’ll always embrace."

Oli Williamson, who was cooking live on stage for the first time, added: "As chefs we’re not the biggest social butterflies so it’s quite nice for us to get out of our comfort zone and come and see and talk to people and do other stuff, push yourself."

That these events are even possible again post-pandemic, he added: "It’s relieving I suppose. These things are starting to take place now, everything is getting back to normal now - within reason!"