FutureChef
A 15-year-old pupil from St Ciaran's High School in Ballygawly, County Tyrone, has won the 2003 Springboard UK FutureChef title.
Martina Halligan scooped the top prize following a cook-off at Westminster Kingsway College, London. It was the first time in the competition's four-year history that a pupil from Northern Ireland had taken part.
Halligan beat 4,000 entrants to win her place in the line-up of 11 finalists. She prepared for the competition by working with mentor Sean Owens, a member of the Northern Ireland Association of Chefs and Cooks and executive chef at Gardiners restaurant, Magherafelt. The Northern Ireland regional heat was developed with the help of Newry & Kilkeel Institute of Further & Higher Education.
The finalists were asked to prepare a two-course meal using a basket of ingredients revealed to them just three weeks before the cook-off. Halligan served the judging panel - including TV chefs Brian Turner and James Martin, Café Spice Namaste chef-proprietor Cyrus Todiwala and Sodexho executive food and development chef Debbie Kelly-Greaves - suprême of chicken with dolcelatte sausage, smoky bacon colcannon, shallot and oyster mushrooms and a dessert of iced Bramley apple and lemon parfait with tuile biscuit and vanilla syrup.
Martin was astonished by the standards produced by many of the finalists and said some of the dishes were "as good as anything you'd find in any serious restaurant in Britain".
Runners-up in the competition were Laura Jenkins of Sandfields Comprehensive, Port Talbot, Neath, and Kerrie Lawson of Mintlaw Academy, Aberdeenshire.
Halligan's prize includes a culinary trip to Germany and Luxembourg courtesy of Villeroy & Boch. She will be accompanied by a parent and a teacher and will receive a commemorative plate.
The FutureChef competition is for pupils aged 12-16 from across the UK and aims to encourage young people to develop culinary skills, an interest in food and, ultimately, a desire to work in the industry.
Roux Scholarship finalists
For the first time in its history the Roux Scholarship will have a college lecturer as a finalist.
Steve Walpole, chef-lecturer at London's Westminster Kingsway College, gained his place on his 28th birthday through one of the competition's semi-final cook-offs, which were held in London, Bath and Birmingham last week.
"It's the best birthday present ever," he commented. "Being a college lecturer I'm always encouraging students to enter competitions, and it's important that I do it myself. The students saw the extra work I put in for this and their encouragement has been very uplifting. I'm actually younger than some of my students, and to win their respect my cooking has to do the talking for me."
Walpole joins six other talented young chefs (all aged under 30 on 1 February 2003) in the 2003 Roux Scholarship final. They are: Simon Hulstone, head chef, Cotswold House hotel, Chipping Camden; Andrew Jones, senior chef de partie, Claridge's, London; Nathan Outlaw, head chef, Vineyard at Stockcross, Berkshire; Ben Webb, junior sous chef, Harvey's restaurant, Bristol; and Michael Wilson, Watersreach restaurant, Manchester.
The Roux Scholarship, founded by renowned chefs Michel and Albert Roux, is now in its 19th year and is one of the most prestigious on the competition circuit. Past winners include Andrew Fairlie (the first scholar), Steve Love, Sat Bains and Steve Drake; the last two gained Michelin stars for their restaurants in January's 2003 Red Guide. The current holder, André Garrett, is now head chef of Orrery in London.
As in the past, the six chefs will not discover what they will be required to cook until the day of the final. All they know is that it is likely to be based on a classic Escoffier dish.
The grand final will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel in London on 31 March, when the winner will walk off with the main prize of a three-month stage in a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Europe.