North West Young Chef 2014 winner, Danny Young, cooked his way to second place in a tense Young National Chef of the Year final, held yesterday in London at The Restaurant Show, with 2015’s winner, Arthur Quinn, also in the running.
A paperwork error meant the 2014 winner – a Chef de Partie at Nigel Haworth’s Northcote – had to wait 12 months before taking the competition stage, but his menu and the way in which he pulled each dish together, did not disappoint, driving eventual winner, The Grove’s Danny Hoang, right to the wire. This meant he was also cooking alongside 2015 winner Arthur, a Chef de Partie from Cumbria’s Punchbowl Inn, resulting in an unusually strong showing for the young talent of North West England. Each chef was tasked with creating a quail starter, hake main and bread and butter pudding dessert.
Danny’s take consisted of Quail, Artichokes, Scorched Grapes with a Split Honey Dressing starter; Hake, Clam and Mussel Chowder, Crispy Squid, Sea Herbs and Sea Vegetable main with a show stopping dessert of Arctic Roll of Bread and Butter Pudding with Hot Foaming Apricot Custard.
Arthur poached and pan roasted his quail, serving it with a Waldorf salad. His main consisted of pan fried hake with leeks, roast mussels, smoked bacon and cider, while his bread and butter pudding dessert was served with damsons and tarragon custard.
Nigel Crane, Managing Director for Essential Cuisine, said: “We’re extremely proud of both of our young chefs for acquitting themselves in exactly the right way – Arthur showed that he has a big future while Danny came so very close to taking the spoils. His tutelage at Northcote has been overseen with great care and dedication and it shows in his technique, skill and attitude. For him, this is just the beginning.”
Essential Cuisine’s North West Young Chef Competition invites young chefs under the age of 23 from Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire, Cumbria and Flintshire to compete against each other in a two and a half hour cook off to produce a three course meal for two people featuring local and seasonal produce. From there, six finalists compete for the title and a semi-final seed into the Craft Guild of Chefs’ Young Chef of the Year competition.
For further information on the next North West Young Chef of the Year competition, call Lucy on 01606 541490. There is also a Facebook page and you can follow events on Twitter.
This year Essential Cuisine is celebrating 20 years in business. Since 1995, the company has been producing outstanding stock ingredients that help to unleash the creativity of chefs in all sectors, always delivering good taste, with absolutely no quality compromise.
For more information on the Essential Cuisine range call 01606 541490, email: [email protected] visit: www.essentialcuisine.com or find them on twitter: www.twitter.com/@essentialcuisin
