Lancashire's Young Chefs Celebrated

The county’s young culinary stars demonstrated their skills in the Future U* Young Chef competition final.

Competition entrants were Year 9 and 10 students from high schools across Lancashire.  Students applied for the competition by submitting a written recipe using local, sustainable produce.  The successful applicants competed in heats at their local College (Blackburn College, Blackpool College and Lancaster & Morecambe College).  The heat winners went to the final at Blackpool & the Fylde College to compete the Future U Young Chef title.  Students had just 2.5 hours to recreate their winning dish from the regional heats along with the additional challenge of making a fruit-based dessert.

On hand to judge were special guests Nigel Haworth, Chef-Patron at the Three Fishes and Tom Parker, Chef at The White Swan, who scored each dish based on taste, sustainability, and teamwork.  Ribble Farms kindly supplied all the fresh fruit and vegetables for the final.

Students Ruby McManus and Beatrice Hesmondhalgh from All Hallows Catholic High School were awarded first place, while Garstang Community Academy secured second. The pair had scored first in their regional heat, held at Blackburn College, home to the award-winning Scholars restaurant.

Ruby said: “I have enjoyed being able to work in a professional kitchen and getting to see the behind-the-scenes how everything runs. I have learnt to breathe and don’t panic, not everything will always go to plan so just take things as you have them.”

Beatrice said: “I have enjoyed learning and developing new and old skills while getting to work in a team with Ruby. I learnt about making sure that I check I have done everything, so I don’t miss anything important.”

Sofia Menor-Butler, Queen Elizabeth Grammer School student, said: “I have enjoyed the friendship and getting to work in a real-life kitchen environment with people who I am not that close to which has allowed me to better my teamworking skills. I have learnt that time management is important, and it is a skill I will continue to use and work on.”

Maleeah Khan, Queen Elizabeth Grammer School student, said: “I have enjoyed getting to try new things which has helped me improve my confidence when doing new things. Like Sofia, we have both learnt the importance of time management and how it is a life skill that we will always use.”

Dr Fazal Dad, Principal and Chief Executive of Blackburn College, said: “It was wonderful to see the winners of the heat we held here at Blackburn College go on to win the title of Young Chef. All participants should be proud of their achievements and we hope to welcome these culinary stars onto our Hospitality courses here at the College in the future.”

If any employers would liek to know more about the competition and how they can support it in the future please get in touch with geoffm@lancashirelsip.co.uk.

 *Future U is a collaborative project bringing together universities, colleges, schools and businesses from across Lancashire to promote young peoples’ aspirations to progress through the education system into Higher Education (HE).  Future U have funded the Young Chef competition to promote the opportunities in Higher Education to young people and their parents/guardians.