Bronze medal for college chefs
A COOK-off in front of a live audience for the London final of a prestigious national competition has seen Loughborough College chefs scoop bronze.
It was the third consecutive year the college had reached the Grand Final of the Country Range Student Chef Challenge - their 2016 win earned them a coveted place at the International Culinary Olympics.
Lewis Dobson, Lechaie McManus and John Nismal went head-to-head against nine other teams from across the country for the 2018 showdown at Hotelympia, the biggest event in the UK culinary calendar.
With this year’s theme Around the World in Three Spices the Louughborough College students had only an hour to produce the three-course menu they had devised of braised pig’s cheek with a crispy cheek bonbon, celeriac puree, crispy pig skin and apple and star anise chutney, a main course of roasted cod fillet, corn three ways, chilli sambal and ginger and shellfish bisque and a dessert of fennel-scented dark chocolate marquise with a blackcurrant and liquorice sorbet.
The team earned bronze after being marked as part of Hotelympia’s Salon Culinaire by international judging standards.
“It was fantastic that John, Lechaie and Lewis took the College to the national final for the third year in a row and despite the huge pressure of cooking live at such a major event they took it in their stride,” said Loughborough College chef lecturer and lead for hospitality and catering Darren Creed.