Lochaber chef wins top UK title with lockdown food story menu
A former head chef at Fort William’s Inverlochy Castle Hotel has been crowned the National Chef of the Year, thanks to his dinner telling the story of the pandemic through food, writes Sandy Neil.
Thomas Swaby said National Chef of the Year, run by the Craft Guild of Chefs, is ‘the most prestigious cooking competition in the UK and that is reflected in the quality of the judges we cook for, so winning this title is an absolute privilege’.
Thomas impressed the judges in a cook-off at the Everyman Cinema in Broadgate, London, with his stunning three-course menu. The brief for the final was for each chef to tell their story of the pandemic through food. Menus had to include a vegetarian starter incorporating ingredients on the KNORR Future 50 Foods list.
These ingredients have been identified with the support of the WWF as having a positive impact on the environment, by improving the diversity of the crops we consume as well as having excellent nutritional credentials.
The main course focused on supporting British suppliers on land and at sea with a dish incorporating meat and fish, whilst desserts had to reflect the start of the pandemic, when ingredients were sparse, and households turned to baking for comfort.
Thomas’s starter was roasted maitake chawanmushi, mushroom ketchup, roasted maitake, nasturtiums, pickled enoki and mushroom tea. British suckling pig with Orkney scallop, burnt apple puree, spinach, Chardonnay vinegar mash, apple, shallot and pig sauce was the main course he served up, with a dessert of sticky toffee pudding.
Thomas said: ‘Earlier this year, Paul Ainsworth created a thought-provoking brief which tackled many important issues. I was most excited about the Future 50 Foods starter as the pandemic has encouraged us to find new ways of cooking and eating and it’s important we all address the issue of sustainability.’ Chairman of the judges Paul Ainsworth added: ‘When I set this brief, it was hard to know what kind of dishes we’d be tasting at the final. I left it open to interpretation as I wanted to see how the chefs demonstrated their style of cooking, personality and creativity.
‘This not only led to some amazing cooking, but these menus will go down in history, highlighting the incredible culinary talent we have here in the UK.
‘Choosing the winner went down to the wire but Thomas gave us everything we were looking for; three delicious and stunning plates of food, a real focus on sustainability and loads of passion coming through his dishes.’
Thomas will soon take up a new and exciting role in the Caribbean for six months.