Roux Scholarship 2011 – six regional finalists announced

The finalists are: Quinton Bennett, Haymarket Hotel, London Mark Birchall, LʼEnclume, Cartmel, Cumbria Richard Edwards, Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa, Wiltshire Pramod Ghadge, Restaurant Associates, London Neven Vanderzee, Galvin At Windows, London Nick Whatmough, Restaurant Associates, Barclays Wealth, London The two regional heats took place at on 10 March at Birmingham College of Food and Thames Valley University, Ealing. Judges in Birmingham included Alain Roux, James Martin & Steve Love (Roux Scholar 1997), and judges in Ealing consisted of Michel Roux Jnr, Brian Turner, CBE, Gary Rhodes, OBE, & Andrew Fairlie. The challenge was to create a recipe to serve four people using one monkfish tail of between 1.2-1.4k weight, served either as a whole or in portions, accompanied by a rice dish and a green vegetable of choice. Competitors had 2½ hrs to cook their dish as originally submitted along with a dessert from a list of mystery ingredients given to them on the day. Each competitor received the following gifts: £100 Russams voucher courtesy of the Savoy Educational Trust Mocca coffee pot plus coffee courtesy of L'Unico Caffé Musetti A single anniversary knife courtesy of Global Knives A visit to the Fairfax Meadow Factory in London where skilled butchers present a meat demonstration courtesy of Fairfax Meadow Michel Roux Jnr commented: "It's been fantastic to see so many different culinary skills on show, the chefs have used a whole range of cooking techniques, together with some interesting flavor combinations. The mystery box threw some of them, chocolate and rhubarb are never going to work but we saw this as a test." The national final will take place on 18 April at Westminster Kingsway College, London.