Three gold medals have been awarded in La Parade des Chefs, the working competition restaurant at Le Salon Culinaire International de Londres at Hotelympia 2010.
Working in glass-enclosed kitchens, two teams have been battling it out on each day of the show, preparing and cooking a meal for 100 paid-for covers. On Sunday, a team from the House of Commons received a gold medal and in yesterday’s cook-off, both teams competing – the Sodexo Culinary Team and the British Culinary Federation Team – also won gold medals.
The Sodexo team comprised Malcolm Emery, Michael Godfrey (newly-appointed Worldskills UK team training manager for cookery), Leon Smith, Tom Parry, Steven Wylie, Gemma Amor and Robert Cooke), while the British Culinary Federation Team, which only met for the first time on Sunday night, featured British Bocuse d’Or representative Simon Hulstone, Adam Bennett, Jacqueline Keenan, Craig Beacham, Andrew Jones, Graham Squires and Oliver Farrar.
The menu served by the Sodexo team included butter poached hake over fennel purée, a main course of suckling pig five ways, Cornish greens, cider apple and fondant potatoes with Kingston Black apple gravy, and a dessert of St Clements soufflé, lemon sherbet ice-cream, St Clements syrup.
The British Culinary Federation Team served fillet of halibut, verjus and sea urchin mousseline, a main course of assiette of Scottish beef, roasted fillet, mille-feuille of cabbage and braised blade, ragout of sweetbreads, pumpkin puree, Lyonnaise onions, crumbed bone marrow Hermitage jus, and a dessert of Manjari chocolate spiral, pistachio ice-cream and cherries.
A team of chefs from the NEC Group and WestminsterKingsway College will be competing today, the Elior UK Culinary Team and Lexington Catering Culinary Team will be competing on Wednesday and the Compass Group Culinary Team and Combined Services Culinary Arts Team will compete on the final day of the show, on Thursday.
Godfrey, who is also a member of the Hotelympia Inspiration Team, is also available for one-to-one private discussions in the clinics set up in the Knowledge Exchange at the show. To make an appointment, visit the Knowledge Exchange and ask for availability.
House of Commons chefs win gold medal at Hotelympia >>
Michael Godfrey – A Minute on the Clock >>
See our Hotelympia 2010 picture gallery on Table Talk >>
Salon Culinaire medal winners 2010 >>
La Parade des Chefs medal winners 2010 >>
By Amanda Afiya