Six of the best young chefs in Sussex took part in a sizzling cook off
at City College Brighton & Hove to win the hotly
contended Sussex Young Chef of the Year award, sponsored by Cheese Please and
Gram UK Ltd, as part of the Sussex Food & Drink Awards 2012/13.
They were Charlie Tayler
from The Pass at South Lodge Hotel in Lower Beeding, Paul Peach from The
Horseguards Inn in Tillington, Jimmy Gray from Jeremy’s Restaurant at Borde
Hill Gardens near Haywards Heath, Steve Pelling from The Felbridge Hotel in
East Grinstead, Ryan Hunter from Wingrove House in Alfriston and Tom Goodchild
from The Crabtree in Lower Beeding.
Each young chef was asked to prepare a three course meal made from
locally sourced Sussex produce to be judged by an expert panel including Roy
Perrett from the Craft Guild of Chefs, Leroy Clarke, Chef Lecturer and Course
Manager at City College’s catering department, sponsors Fiona Kay of Cheese
Please and Glenn Roberts of Gram UK Ltd and chair of judges, Clive Beddall OBE.
The young chefs were judged not only on the sourcing of ingredients but
also on the taste, presentation, creativity, saleability and customer appeal of
their menus and after much deliberation on the part of the judging panel the
three finalists were agreed as follows:
Twenty-year old Charlie Tayler
from South Lodge in Upper Beeding near Horsham, works as demi chef de partie
in The Pass restaurant at the hotel. His
starter of scallops and butternut squash was followed by wood pigeon, finishing
off with a blackberry cheesecake of outstandingly high standard which was
singled out for particular praise by the judges.
Twenty-four-year-old
Jimmy Gray from Jeremy’s Restaurant at Borde Hill Gardens near Haywards Heath produced a menu which was judged to
be exceptionally creative. The
presentation of his butter poached lobster to start was excellent and was
followed up by a main course of Sussex mallard, the ingredients for which were
all produced within a five mile radius of Borde Hill. The finale to his menu was a poached pear and
Slipcote cheese mousse.
Twenty-year-old Ryan Hunter
is the youngest of the three finalists and was delighted to be back cooking at
City College Brighton & Hove where he did his training. Now working as part of the team at Wingrove House in Alfriston, he
produced a sea bass starter, freshly caught on the morning of the competition,
followed by downland rabbit of exceptional taste and finishing off with a rice
pudding complemented with a plum, apple and blackberry compote.
Roy Perrett, Vice
President of the Craft Guild of Chefs who lives in Sussex said, “The six young
chefs all produced menus of an amazing standard and selecting just three
finalists was challenging with a display of such exceptional culinary
skills. It was a very exciting and
highly competitive afternoon from which I have come away with the names and
addresses of six fantastic Sussex eateries.”
Said Leroy Clarke, Chef
Lecturer and Course Manager at City College’s Catering department, “When we
have young chefs as talented as today’s competitors working in our restaurants
and hotels, the hospitality and catering industry in Sussex has a great future
and can only go from strength to strength.”
Other categories in these coveted awards include best Sussex eating
experience, food producer, drink producer, farmer, food/farm shop, butcher and
farmers market. Winners and runners up
will be revealed at the ‘Sussex foodie event of the year’, the awards banquet,
being held at the Amex Stadium on 31st January 2013, hosted by Sally
Gunnell OBE adn Danny Pike from BBC Sussex.
Tickets for the sumptuous seven-course Sussex feast and awards ceremony
are now on sale.
To find out more visit www.sussexfoodawards.biz
