The ongoing skills shortage and the related issue of training are ever-present topics of conversation in the industry. College schemes, school initiatives, career drives and a trailer-load of opinion keep the subject alive. But, as Caterer editor Forbes Mutch discovered when he chaired an afternoon debate on the dual bugbears, there are diverging views on how to solve them.
Some, such as Brian Turner, chef-proprietor of Brian Turner Mayfair - who was on the panel for the debate, alongside Steven Saunders, chef-proprietor of Sheene Mill hotel and restaurant in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, and Anne Walker, managing director of the industry flag-waving body and promoter, Springboard - stress that the problem needs to be dealt with at the roots. Namely in schools, by getting food back on the agenda at primary and secondary level.
Others, including Saunders, advocate giving a more professional status to the chef's role, incorporating academic qualifications as a way of attracting youngsters into a career in the kitchen.
Saunders was also concerned that, as a rule, colleges were sending chefs out into the workplace with no understanding of business. "We all know many brilliant Michelin-starred chefs have folded because they can't run a business," he said. As a result of his concerns, he revealed, he was involved in setting up a work-based degree qualification, affiliated to a university, which would incorporate in its syllabus training in PR, business, computer and management skills, with a BA or MA qualification at the end of it.
Turner drew a lot of delegate support, however, when he countered: "What good are letters after your name if you can't cook?" He told delegates that he believed that as a nation - and an industry - we should concentrate on addressing the culture of convenience, microwaves and ready meals that blight culinary passion in this country.
Like Saunders, Turner was prepared to act on his beliefs. As president of the Academy of Culinary Arts, he was, he said, heavily involved in its Adopt-a-School scheme, which encourages chefs to go into schools and teach food appreciation.
But although the message that the industry needs to get out and teach in the classroom drew a large round of applause, a spot survey of the 250 trade delegates in the audience showed that only 10% were involved in some form of educational activity. While acknowledging that this was probably because of the long working hours that the industry demanded from its workforce, Turner urged chefs to get involved in spreading enthusiasm and knowledge of food, even if it was only occasionally going into the college where they trained.
Walker agreed, pointing out that teachers and parents needed to be drawn into the process of instilling a passion for food which would, it was hoped, have a knock-on effect on recruitment into catering further down the line. A key aim of competitions such as the Springboard-run FutureChef, she said, should be drawing co-operation and enthusiasm from both sets of people.
Where the three panellists were in agreement was in the belief that trainee chefs needed to take time out from academic studies to work in a commercial kitchen for longer than was already allowed for in colleges. Extended NVQs (from three to four years to get through levels 1 to 3) or short-term apprenticeships in a sandwich year were options suggested.
However, it was stressed that responsibility for shifting a nation's culinary culture could reach well beyond the short-term debate on how to bring a skilled workforce to an expanding industry, and would need to involve the Government rather than just chefs alone.
Let's Work together, urges World Cup hero
Teamwork, discipline, a desire to succeed and hard work are all necessary ingredients for career success, England's legendary football World Cup hero Geoff Hurst told a rapt audience in his post-lunch motivational speech.
These qualities had all played a vital role in the England team's victory in 1966, he said. But he stressed that they were universal truths that applied to any walk of life. "Working together for a common goal is vital," he insisted.
Hurst, who was 24 when he scored a hat-trick in the UK's most famous football game, cited the then England team manager, Sir Alf Ramsay, as an example of a supreme strategist and manager. "When Jack Charlton was picked for England he was 30 years old. He asked Alf: 'Why me?' and Alf said: 'Jack, I don't always pick the best players.' Well, that pissed Jack off, but what Alf was saying was that for him teamwork was really important - the team was more important than the individual."
If an individual doesn't fit into a side (sporting or otherwise) he continued, don't keep him. "You have to be hard. Look after the good 'uns good enough. Nail the bad ones."
Chris Galvin cooks Duck
Seeing an ingredient for the first time just half an hour before hosting a workshop demonstration on cooking French cuisine with British produce didn't put Chris Galvin or André Garrett off their stride.
The duo (respectively, the Conran Group's chef-director and head chef of London's Orrery) had chosen to demonstrate an assiette of duck served with a variety of accompaniments and a Banyuls jus, but the Johnny-come-lately ingredient was broad bean shoots.
"Normally we use pak choi but I saw one of our suppliers in the audience this morning who suggested we try some broad bean shoots. So he got on the phone and they arrived about 30 minutes ago. It should be interesting!" Galvin revealed.
As it turned out, the shoots (sourced by Chef's Connection from Cherry Tree Farm in Kent) proved to be a very good substitute. They managed to combine something of the flavour of pea shoots (but with a greater depth of taste) with the consistency of pak choi.
The duck, slaughtered at around 55 days, had been sourced from a producer in Saffron Waldon. "You can get a nice two portions out of that and it's got a great meat-to-bone ratio," Galvin said.
The assiette comprised confited leg on a bed of bean shoots ("wilted in an emulsion of water and butter,"revealed Garrett), plus pan-fried breast. They were accompanied by a small puff-pastry onion tatin topped with a sliver of the duck liver (used as a substitute for foie gras).
The final touch was a classically based jus made from the duck bones, bouquet garni and dash of Roussillon's favourite fortified wine, Banyuls - "great cherry flavour with leather and chocolate and plum undertones," Galvin enthused.
Chefs looking for further insider tips from Galvin were not disappointed. He had unearthed what he considered to be a good UK substitute for Sel de Camargue, his favoured salt for confiting. Halen Mon, an Anglesea sea salt, he disclosed, was far gentler than the more high-profile Maldon salt, therefore better suited to the confit process.
Who's for beer?
"Could I have the beer list?" could be the cry in more than just a few speciality moules et frites restaurants, if Richard Fox had his way. Fox, a consultant chef, was hosting (yep, you've guessed it) a beer and food matching workshop, sponsored by Belgian-based producer Interbrew, at end of play at this year's Chef Conference, and used a selection of five beers to argue the case for thinking beyond tried-and-tested wine perimeters.
First up was the commercially successful Hoegaarden, a Belgian wheat beer. Accompanying the beer was a piece of salmon. Certainly the beer was crisp and dry enough to go with the fish, with gentle spice and orange Cura‡ao notes that complemented the salmon's honey glaze. Consultant wine buyer Adam Gray, who co-hosted the seminar, said that if restaurateurs were concerned about front-of-house styling they could easily serve the beer in wine glasses.
More popular was a beer and bangers union - Cumberland sausage with another Belgian beer, La Chouette. The shock success, though, was a pairing of Guinness and Christmas pudding. The bitterness of the stout rounded off the fruit of the pudding nicely.
The pairing of a tangy 18-month-old Cheddar from Somerset producer Keane's with Shepherd Neame's Bishop's Finger beer didn't convince, though. The ale had a strong aroma, but it was struggling against an even more pungent cheese. The session rounded off with a matching of cherry beer Kriek, from Bellevue, paired up with chocolate to give a classic cherry and chocolate taste.