The Harvest Fine Foods Yes Competition organised by The Enterprise & Skills Company, an education and not-for-profit business that creates opportunities for students to create a culture of enterprise and entrepreneurship, culminated on Monday 19th March as the 40 guests sat down to a wonderful lunch featuring a Pasta main course followed by a Panna Cotta.
As the guests socialised and enjoyed a sumptuous feast worthy of any top quality restaurant, the finalists, four students from Bournemouth, Poole & Dorchester based schools, paced nervously in the kitchen as the chair of judges, Gary Kilminster, from Bournemouth & Poole College, picked apart the offerings, sampled sauces, tested temperatures, while feasting on the flavours that the students had created.
Robert Sharpe and Tom Redcliffe fromTwynhamSchool, Sean-Paul Phippard from Lytchett Minster and Gianpiero Placidi from The Thomas Hardye School were the four worthy finalists who made it through 3 rounds of the competition. Slimmed down from an initial field of 84 students from over 9Dorsetschools, 25 budding chefs were selected then placed in a semi-final hosted atBournemouth & PooleCollegecatering kitchens. Put under scrutiny and culinary challenges the young cooks worked to create the best dish over a 2 hour intensive ‘cook off’. The Judges oversaw the students throughout, sampling the dishes to whittle down the field of students to the final four. As a reward for their achievements all finalists received their very own set of embroidered Chefs Whites supplied by Stalbridge Linen Services.
On Monday each student prepared enough food to serve 10 guests and the all important judges. Each student was given the same ingredients, kindly donated by Harvest Fine Foods, to interpret into a sumptuous Pasta main course of their own creation and a Panna Cotta to finish. To aid each student in their mission, a chef from The Carlton (headed up by Head Chef Richard Allsopp) became an assistant to the finalist taking directions to help prepare the meals to the highest quality.
As a prize for reaching the final stage of the Competition the four finalists will be visiting The Pig Country House Hotel & Restaurant in Brockenhurst for a ‘Kitchen Experience’ working alongside acclaimed Head Chef James Golding. As an additional surprise they also received a signed booked by acclaimed and world renowned chef Michel Roux Jr. organised by Richard Strongman, CEO of Harvest Fine Foods.
Standing alongside his fellow finalists, Sean-Paul Phippard from Lytchett Minster School celebrated a very nerve racking day by being awarded the Harvest Fine Food ‘Yes Chef!’ 2012 title. He was awarded the top prize, a set of professional chef knives kindly donated by principle competition sponsor, Harvest Fine Foods.
As the Harvest ‘Yes Chef’ Competition winner, Sean-Paul will take part in the coveted ‘Wimborne Food Festival’ alongside our chair of judges, Gary Kilminster MCGB, on Sunday 28th October 2012. He will participate in a live cookery demonstration, recreating his winning main course dish in front of the Food Festival audience.
Phil Clark, Key Account Manager from Harvest, said he was amazed with the quality and presentation of the food produced by the students and how much each of the students had benefited from this now annual county wide competition.
The aim of the programme ‘Yes Chef!’ is to create practical activities for young people by equipping them with the skills necessary for future careers. The cooperation between The Enterprise & Skills Company, Harvest Fine Foods, Bournemouth & Poole College, Stalbridge Linen and The Carlton Hotel is a very important liaison to overcome the skills shortage that the catering industry is currently suffering and the need to revitalize the image of Hospitality and Catering in the local area. The programme was borne of the desire to demonstrate to students that there are high profile opportunities in Dorset in Hospitality and Catering.
