The Grimsby Institute is busy preparing to host the Grand Final of the Young UK Seafood Chef of the Year, with celebrity chefs invited to judge on Friday May 20^th in The Gallery Restaurant at Institute’s Nuns Corner campus, in the heart of Grimsby.

The Young Seafood Chef of the Year Competition was originally founded by the Institute in 1997, who have strong ties to the Seafood Industry through its links with Humber Seafood Institute (HSI), and has now grown to become one of the foremost competitions of its kind.

This year the competition has attracted over 50 entries from colleges nationwide and the final will see two teams from each of the competing colleges battle it out for the title. Finalists include teams from the Grimsby Institute, Manchester College, Nelson & Colne College, Norwich City College, Oxford & Cherwell College, Stratford-upon-Avon College and Yorkshire Coast College in Scarborough.

Yvonne Brown and Jack Holmes, Stratford-upon-Avon College students both studying on the Advanced Culinary Diploma at Rugby, won the southern heat of the competition in March and are busy preparing for the final in Grimsby.

Yvonne said,” The extra work required to compete in the competition has been worthwhile to get to the national final.  This opportunity given to us by our tutor, Mike Holden, has enabled us to prove that the skills we have been taught at Stratford-upon-Avon College, are amongst the best in the country”.

The teams are tasked with cooking a three-course lunch for judges and invited guests that is designed around the use of different sustainable produce, as supplied by the competitions sponsors and specified in the competition’s rules.

Competition Manager and the Grimsby Institute’s Programme Leader for Hospitality, Paul Robinson, has worked closely with the sponsors and is looking forward to see the menus that the students create, Paul said:

“This competition is a fantastic opportunity for young chefs to compete on a National platform within the educational sector of professional cookery training. The seafood our sponsors supply is sustainable and we therefore feel it is important to promote this in the competition.”

The winners of this year’s competition will receive an extensive prize package that includes the Seafood Championship Trophy, one-year membership to the Craft Guild of Chefs, a one-week placement at either Youngs Development Kitchens or Mitch Tonks Restaurant and a day cooking at Jean-Christophe Novelli’s Academy.

Jean-Christophe Novelli, has shown his support for the competition after meeting Paul Robinson last year when he won a competition himself and was invited to spend the day working with the Chef, Jean-Christophe said:

It’s great to see so many young and talented people competing for the Young Seafood Chef of the Year. I wish all the finalists the very best on the day. It will be an exciting and closely fought competition and I look forward to welcoming the winners to the academy, it will be a pleasure working with such talented food chefs.”

Judges for the prestigious final of the competition includes BBC Two’s Great British Menus’ Tom Aikens, Franck Pontais from the BBC Food Channel, Managing Director of Billingsgate Market, Chris Leftwich, and Head Chef at Youngs, Serge Nollent.

 

EDITOR'S NOTES

 

Sponsors for the UK Seafood Chef of the Year Competition 2011 are:

Humber Seafood Institute (HSI)

Youngs – part of the Findus Group

Fish Merchant Association (FMA)

Coldwater

Sealord

Goodcatch

Russums

Seachill

The Seafood Company

 Full list of prizes for UK Seafood Chef of the Year Competition 2011 as follows:-

 1^st Prize

£500 per team member

One year membership of the Craft Guild of Chefs for each team member

A week placement at either Youngs Development Kitchens or Mitch Tonks Restaurant

Seafood Championship Trophy

A day cooking at Jean-Christophe Novelli''s Academy in Luton

£1000 Russums Voucher for the College

Individual and College Seafood Competition Trophy

Certificate

 

2nd prize

£250 per team member

Seafood Competition Medal

Day Fish Filleting Course

£500 Russums Voucher for the College

Certificate

 

3rd prize

£125 per person

Seafood Competition Medal

£250 Russums voucher for the College

Certificates of Merit

 

All remaining competitors will be awarded a £10 Russums Voucher

 

CONTACT

 Stuart Owen

Communications Officer

The Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education

Nuns Corner

Grimsby

 Tel : (01472) 311222 ext : 1305

E-mail : howards@grimsby.ac.uk