The six chefs are:
Tom Barnes, L'Enclume Restaurant, Cumbria
Scott Dineen, Goldman Sachs (Baxterstorey), London
Sabrina Gidda, AIG Group London (Restaurant Associates), London
Richard Pascoe, Oulton Hall (De Vere Hotels), West Yorkshire
David Salt, BNY Mellon (Restaurant Associates), London
David White, Barclays Wealth (ISS), London
This year’s challenge was to create a recipe to serve four people using one saddle of venison ‘fallow buck’ weighing anywhere between 1.4 kg - 1.6 kg untrimmed, to be served plated and accompanied by two garnishes. One garnish had to include Jerusalem artichoke and the other, a garnish of their choice, served with a sauce to accompany the dish.
Contestants 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.
The judging panel included Michel Roux Jr, Angela Hartnett, James Martin and Gary Rhodes, Alain Roux, Sat Bains (Roux Scholar 1999) and Steve Love (Roux Scholar 1997).
Michel Roux Jr said: "We had another brilliant cook-off, the chefs all cooked pretty much what we were expecting from the written recipes but some worked better than others. Overall the finalists showed great imagination and demonstrated all the skills that we’re looking for in a Roux Scholar.”
Alain Roux added: “It was great to see a variety of dishes in very different styles. Good use of flavours however, a couple of the contestants didn’t manage to control those flavours. Seasoning is key and I did wonder if some of the chefs had tasted their dishes. Desserts were simple, only one was truly adventurous.”
The six finalists will compete in the national final, which takes place at Westminster Kingsway College, London. This time the recipe details are a complete surprise; 30 minutes before the start of the competition the finalists will be given the recipe and ingredients for a main dish, either classic or modern and asked to prepare and present it to the judges.
The 2014 Roux Scholar will be announced the same evening in an award ceremony, held at The Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, London.