FutureChef
Industry training body Springboard is calling for entries for the 2004 running of its annual competition for young cooks aged between 12 and 16.
Last year, the FutureChef event attracted nearly 4,000 entries from pupils attending more than 350 schools. As with previous stagings of the competition, the process of finding the 2004 winner will begin in September with a series of school heats. These will be followed by regional cook-offs, with the grand final taking place on 5 March 2004.
The competition is intended to encourage young people to develop culinary skills and an interest in food, and thereby fan a desire to work in the industry. This year's winner was 15-year-old Martina Halligan from St Ciaran's High School in Ballygawly, County Tyrone.
Further information is available on www.springboarduk.org.uk/futurechef.
Best Apprentice of Europe
Mattieu Petit from London's Wilton's restaurant has been chosen to represent the UK at the Best Apprentice of Europe competition in Paris in October.
Petit, 20, beat off competition from two other hopefuls - Greg Gent from Bank Birmingham and Agnieszka Skoniecka from Bank Westminster - in a cook-off at Bank Aldwych in London last Saturday.
Host chef Christian Delteil, managing director of the Bank Restaurant Group, who was also on the five-strong judging panel, commented: "Mattieu's cooking was consistent throughout the dishes he did."
Like his two rivals, Petit learned what he was required to cook in the UK final two weeks before the competition. Three dishes were set to test the finalists' skills. They were roast pigeon served with a jus and creamed spinach, lamb blanquette accompanied by pilaf, and crème brûlée.
"The pigeon set several tests for the chefs - how to clean and prepare it, how to cook it - nice and moist, pink," commented Delteil. He added that Petit had scored well across all his dishes. "The spinach was not too garlicky, it had a well balanced consistency and was perfect."
He added: "His pigeon was beautiful - well roasted and a good colour - and the jus very balanced, with no overpowering flavour of carrot, for instance. And his blanquette, pilaf and brûlée were the best of the three."
When he represents the UK in Paris on 2 October, Petit will be hoping to emulate the success of Grant Kells in 1999 and Danny Guest in 1998, both of whom won the Best Apprentice of Europe title when they were working for Michel Bourdin at London's Connaught hotel under the apprenticeship scheme that the French masterchef used to run.
The competition, organised by Maîtres Cuisiniers de France, of which Delteil is a member, is open to chefs working on apprentice schemes throughout Europe who have at least three years' experience in the kitchen. Each country's MCF branch organises its national final, the winner of which goes on to the grand final in France.
For further details about next year's competition, contact Christian Delteil on 020 7379 5088.