Danielle Heron and Chelsea Taylor delighted the judges with their offering of smoked haddock risotto, followed by scallops and a final course of poached lemon sole. Danielle told Fishupdate that she and her partner were both delighted with their triumph, and perhaps a little surprised.

They each win £500, a one year membership of the Craft Guild of Chefs, a week placement at either Young's Development Kitchens in Grimsby  or  at a Mitch Tonks restaurant, a day cooking at the Jean-Christophe Novelli Academy and a £1,000 voucher from the Russums catering supply company for their college. Oxford College came second, with Norwich City College taking third place.

Held at the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education, the contest is now in its 14th year, and was founded by the Grimsby Institute's hospitality department. It has since gone from strength to strength, gaining even more entries from colleges all over the UK.

Paul Robinson, the institute's programme leader and competition manager, said that although the competition offers many fantastic prizes, the real achievement is for the competing chefs to push themselves to be the best they can be to show the industry new and inventive ways to use sustainable seafood. The main sponsor's are Young's Seafood, who provide much of the fish for the cooking sessions. But other sponsors include the Humber Seafood Institute, the Grimsby Fish Merchants, Coldwater Seafood and Seachill, Goodcatch and Russums.

This year's contest attracted four top chefs as judges - Tom Aitkens, Mitch Tonks, Serge Norbert, Franchi Pontais and Chris Leftwitch.

Michelin star holder Tom Aitkens said: he was deeply impressed with the filleting skills in particular. "No-one was butchering fish which is good, and the cooking ability was spot on. The fish was neither under cooked or over cooked."

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---