Gary Maclean has found the first Knorr Professional Scottish Student Chef of the Year: Jacintha Henderson from The City of Glasgow College.
About the Competition
On March 21st, eight student chefs from across the country took part in a brand-new cook-off competition, designed to unearth the next generation of young Scottish culinary talent from the best catering colleges across the country. Hosted by Knorr Professional and City of Glasgow college, students battled it out to win the crown of Student Chef of the Year, as well as a culinary experience in Italy with their team.
To win, Jacintha and the other student chefs were challenged to prepare a two-course menu comprising main and dessert, inspired by this years’ themes of ‘modernised comfort food’ and ‘irresistible vegetables’ and using Knorr Professional bouillon.
The Winning Menu
For her main course, Jacintha prepared pan roasted chicken breast, stuffed wing, birria tacos, mole elote corn ribs, puree and salsa coriander finished with a lime dressing. And for dessert, she prepared a celeriac blondie, candied and feuilletine, toasted barley ice cream, celery salted caramel and fermented plums.
The Runners Up
Winning the silver medal was Aimee Boland from Ayrshire College, and the bronze medallist was Alannah from West College Scotland (Clydebank). A skills test for assistant chefs was also held, focusing on preparation of chicken and vegetables, with Yingying Tang from Ayrshire winning.
The Judges
The judging panel was led by Head judge and ambassador Gary Maclean. Born in Glasgow with his own sea food restaurant in Edinburgh, Maclean is Scotland’s first National Chef and won MasterChef: The Professionals in 2016. Gary Maclean says, ‘As a proud Scotsman and chef, witnessing the student’s culinary talent truly warmed my heart. Each participant’s dedication and commitment to the process was remarkable and the standard of cooking and creativity exhibited in their dishes left a lasting impression on me and the other judges. The students should be very proud of themselves’.
Joining Maclean were two other highly esteemed judges, Adam Handling MBE, Chef & Restaurateur, Owner of the Adam Handling Restaurant Group, and executive chef of Unilever Ireland, Audrey Crone.
Knorr Professional and the Competition
Knorr Professional have a 25+ year legacy Student Chef of the Year competitions in Ireland, with winners going on to lead their own kitchens, feature on TV and own their own businesses. With such a strong start to the Scottish leg of the competition, Knorr Professional look forward to hosting many more in the future.
