The challenge, which took place at Imperial College London on 24th September, pitted 12 teams from the foodservice sector to create dishes in just 30 minutes in front of a live audience of 200, using ingredients they had only discovered 30 minutes before.
The main ingredients were guinea fowl, black pudding and lamb cannon with a selection of fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits and store cupboard ingredients supplied by British Premium Meats, 4degC and kff.
Steven Lickley and Paul Matthews from Vacherin, who have worked together for seven months were crowned the winners.
Their winning menu was pan roasted lamb cannon, brown butter sweet potato, sweet & sour leeks, charred spring onion and feta crumb with a dessert of red wine poached plums, bitter chocolate, blackberry and lemon curd and spiced yoghurt.
The duo said: “The first run through was a disaster - it was really stressful and we gave up halfway through. Trying to work so closely on one hob under time pressure threw us off. Then we had another go and it was much better, so we came prepared for the stress.”
Restaurant Associates were in second place, with Brookwood in third. The 3 teams received their prizes from the sponsors, CookTek, Russums, McFarlane Telfer and Peros.
The other teams were ABsolutely Catering, Artizian, BaxterStorey, Bartlett Mitchell, Ch&Co, Gather & Gather, Holroyd Howe, ISS Food & Hospitality, and Sodexo.
Christopher Basten, chairman of the Craft Guild of Chefs and first time judge, said: “These guys have very limited equipment - doing everything on 2 induction hobs is a real challenge, so it’s all about taste and flavours.”
Fellow judge, Geoff Booth of Westminster Kingsway College said: “The chefs are treated horribly – they have no time, very limited facilities, and a lot of distractions with a compere interrupting them and an audience quiz going on in the background. We’re in awe of the talent at this event.”