For the second year in a row the current champions of the LACA School Chef of the Year, the NACC Care Chef of the Year and the two person team which won the 2024 NHS Chef competition will contribute to the menu served at the Public Sector Catering Awards.
Also joining them this year are two chefs that won the TUCO Chef’s Challenge and the Assist Chef of the Year winner. Under the leadership of Hilton executive chef Paul Bates and his team, their respective winning dishes will be woven into a three-course menu.
The seven winners will travel to the London Hilton Metropole where they spent several hours with Paul and some of his brigade. They will discuss how best to take menus they had developed with limited budgets and to particular nutritional standards, and turn them into banqueting dishes suitable for an awards night event.
Alejandro Hernandez and Manuela Miccoli from Royal Surrey Foundation Trust won the 2024 NHS Chef of the Year competition. Their menu included:
- Venison Bao Bun, served with blackberry barbecue sauce and a celeriac and apple slaw
- Gnocchi with hake, granola and cherry tomato sauce
- Lentil patty, roast potato, celeriac fondant and mushroom gravy
- Tiramisu
Samuel Sewell from Wellington Vale Care Home, part of the Cinnamon Care Collection, emerged victorious in the NACC Care Chef of the Year competition. He impressed judges with Fish & Chips for his main course and Caramelised Namelaka with bourbon cherries and granola for dessert.
The Assist FM Chef of the Year was Anne-Marie French from Scottish Borders Council. Her winning menu was:
- Cherry Tomato and Frangipane tart with Basil Oil and a Balsamic Drizzle.
- Seared loin of Venison with Morello Cherry and port Sauce, Baby Hasselback potatoes with crème fraiche and mint, A Sweet Potato and Ginger Puree, roasted Chantenay Carrots and pan-fried asparagus
- Selkirk rum infused Tablet Cheesecake with a dark chocolate ganache served Raspberry Coulis and Chantilly cream.
The 2024 LACA School Chef of the Year winner was Jennifer Brown from Sarum Academy in Salisbury. She cooked Baked pollock with cheese sauce in a potato and spinach case as well as Rhubarb and custard meringue tart with raspberry coulis to take home the title.
During the TUCO Chefs’ Challenge Joseph Latham & Ashley Podgers from University of Leicester won with a menu of:
- Pan roasted scallops, pancetta jam, celeriac & apple
- Confit breast of Guinea Fowl and Ballantine of leg, carrot, endive, pickled mushroom, potato fondant
- Caramelized white chocolate and apple, rhubarb, dark chocolate & pistachios
The 2025 Public Sector Catering Awards remain open for nominations, visit here for more information.