Chefs sparkle at Skills for Chefs

10th July 2008, 11:15am

The University of Sheffield recently hosted the 11th annual Skills for Chefs conference with many well-known faces from the catering world coming together to share their skills and expertise.

Every year high profile industry figures are invited to present at the event and this year was no exception with the likes of Claire Clark travelling from California to present her pastry creations from "The French Laundry", winner of the best restaurant in the world.

The conference opened with Sally Messenger, general manager of service industries at City & Guilds, providing an update on new chef qualifications, and staff and students from City College Brighton & Hove led by Patrick Carey and Leroy Clarke presented a culinary demo on the new 7100 City & Guilds Diploma in Professional Cookery.

The 200 strong audience then welcomed John Williams, executive chef of The Ritz, to the kitchen which was specially designed and built for the conference by Enodis. He created two classical dishes with a modern twist – canard à la presse and fricassée of lobster with morels, baby leeks and lobster jus.

The session entitled: Skills on a world stage, was presented by Peter Joyner from Elior UK and he spoke passionately about the World Skills competitions held in Japan in 2007. David Hunt, executive chef for Sodexo, showcased produce from Mey Selections, a company that tries to source all its major ingredients from farms and small businesses based within 100 miles of the Castle of Mey. Hunt prepared Scrabster landed lemon sole fillets, crab and pickled ginger with a citrus dressing and asparagus, and new season's lamb loin salad with award winning Highland blue cheese, roasted pine nut and organic cider vinegar cream.

The first day of the conference was brought to a close by the Lanesborough Hotel's executive chef Paul Gayler, who is regarded as the foremost leader of imaginative vegetarian food. One of several dishes he created was Brik of aubergine and squash, green couscous with tagine Ras al Hanout pomegranate Labna.

On day two the conference started with delegates attending smaller taste and sensory workshops on barbecue skills led by Ben Bartlett, global opportunities presented by John Feeney, and Spanish food from Simon Shaw.

Pastry at the French Laundry was presented by Claire Clark, who shared with the delegates the magic of working alongside Thomas Keller, the multi Michelin starred US chef, and created two of her favourite desserts milk and malt chocolate mousse with popcorn sherbet, and mint delice.

Northcote Manor's Nigel Haworth was next to share secrets when he explained how the Great British Menu series on the BBC was created and brought to our screens, and that filming had taken five weeks out of his schedule. He then created his cod dish that reached the final of the TV programme and a dish featuring sweetbreads.

The business programme was brought to a close with an entertaining culinary demo from celebrated chef Anton Edelmann. He created seared sea bass on piperade marinated potatoes and chervil froth, and ballottine of quail, followed by a selection of cheese petit fours.

The fitting finale to the whole conference was the conference dinner created by a team representing The University Caterers Organisation. The lead chefs were Tracy Carr from the University of Sheffield, Graham Crump from the University of Warwick, Mark Houghton from the University of Birmingham and Peter Walters from Keele University.

During the two day event, finalists of the inaugural Skills for Chefs senior chefs' contest competed in the Octagon Centre. The winner was Gareth Evans, chef at the Cwtch Restaurant in St David's, Wales, who is also a mature student at Pembrokeshire College. Winner of the young chef competition was Gordon Macgregor from the Murrayshall Hotel in Scotland. Both competitions had to include a dish featuring their sponsors' products – Cherry Valley's duck and a product from Essential Cuisine's gravies, stocks and jus range.

 
For further information visit www.skillsforche

Related Articles:

• 26 May 2011 - Calling for entries for the Skills for Chefs Young Chef of the Year 2011
• 25 Feb 2011 - New look for 2011 Skills for Chefs conference
• 13 Jul 2010 - Culinary excellence at Skills for Chefs 2010
• 14 Jan 2010 - Skills for Chefs date for Theo Randall
• 27 Mar 2009 - Full steam ahead

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