The North West Young Chef competition, Essential Cuisine’s search for the region’s finest young cooks, has undergone a radical format change, brought about by the surge in gifted chefs from the area and the growing recognition of the region’s importance to the talent pipeline.
The contest, now in its fifteenth year, invites young chefs from across Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire, Cumbria and Shropshire, to compete for the coveted title.
In previous years each region had its own local cook-off from which a single representative was chosen to compete in a grand finale. The format will now comprise just two semi-finals, held at Warrington College (Wednesday 5th April) and Kendal College (Tuesday 11th April), respectively, with chefs from multiple regions squaring off in dual high pressure cook-offs.
Two talented chefs – one winner and one runner-up – from each semi will be sent through on merit, with judges choosing two further wildcard picks to compete in a six person final, held at Manchester College in May 2017.
Alongside the title and £500 prize money, the win also brings with it an automatic seed into the semi-finals of The Craft Guild of Chef’s Young National Chef of the Year competition.
This year, three (two previous and one current) North West Young Chef winners cooked their way into the Young National Chef of the Year Competition, making up almost two thirds of the field and demonstrating the weight of talent in the region.
danniiBusiness Development Chef and North West Young Chef judge, Jonathan Harvey-Barnes, comments: “The changes will add a new, even more vibrant dimension to an already tough competition, and reflects of the breadth of talent we have been lucky to have experienced in the past few years. Such is the spread of skill coming through, we wanted to bring everyone together to compete in two showcase semi-finals, rather than separating them into local heats. This has two important outcomes: firstly we get to see more talented chefs square off in one place at one time – while the competitors have more opportunities to benchmark themselves and their skills. Secondly, the heightened spectacle will give these young chefs an even better idea of what it’s like to exist in the bright spotlight of competitive cooking – the rewards, the nerves, the new surroundings and the spectacular food.”
Essential Cuisine’s North West Young Chef competition calls on chefs, aged 23 or under, to produce a restaurant quality, three-course meal for two with an emphasis on the very best of local and seasonal produce.
To find the entry form and full details, visit www.essentialcuisine.com/north-west-young-chef-2017-launches-with-revised-format-to-inspire-even-tougher-competition/?sf_action=get_results&sf_paged=2
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