Head chef of Four Seasons Hotel wins Scottish Heat of The Escoffier Challenge

Matthew Martins will now go forward to cook in the National final in London in October. Prizes for this will include a visit to Martell in France and the chance to represent The Association Culinaire Francaise in an international cook off in Lille, France in early 2011. Contestants were asked to submit a menu of their own design for a starter, main course and sweet, along with photos. A team of top Association Culinaire Française Chefs, plus guest Tony Borthwick, Chef/ owner of the Michelin Starred Plumed Horse in Edinburgh, then judged the entries. The five best went forward to the cook off, which took place at The Cook School Brae Head in Ayrshire at the end of June. Contestants were presented with a surprise basket of ingredients which included luxury ingredients such as duck, foie gras and lobster, plus seasonal fruit and vegetables including yellow peaches, green asparagus and raspberries. They then had 15 minutes to decide on a menu and three hours to prepare and cook the three course meal. Contestants were judged on health and safety plus working and cooking methods as well as creativity, techniques, taste, texture, balance and presentation of each dish. The competition was very closely fought with judges commenting on the extremely high standards throughout. Martins said: "It is a real honour to get this far in such an esteemed competition. I'm really proud that my hard work has been recognised and look forward to the challenge of competing against some of the best chefs in the UK. "Hopefully my creativity and passion will shine through and demonstrate that my cooking is as good, if not better, than the big boys!"