Westminster student wins Mutton Renaissance Student Chef Challenge

During a cook-off final in London, Lucy Bednarczyk, the only female in the final, fought off eight other national finalists to claim the prize with her dish 'braised neck of mutton, mutton Cornish pasty and broth, Jerusalem artichoke purée, creamed kale and bacon and pied mouton mushrooms and a parsley and caper jus'. Along with winning the first place accolade in the competition, the talented student also took home £500 prize money, a trophy and a framed certificate. She was thrilled when the judges announced she had been awarded the first place prize in the competition. She said: "I really wasn't expecting to win the competition - I'm blown away with the results. My last practice run cooking the dish went so smoothly that I was convinced something was going to go wrong on the day of the competition, but it couldn't have gone any better! "I tried to practice my dish as much as possible leading up to the final, as well as keeping up with my studies and part-time job as a commis chef in a local pub. I specialise in preparing the pastry dishes there, so I decided to incorporate that into my dish for the competition." Chairman of the Mutton Renaissance Club, John Thorley OBE, said: "Our aim with this competition was to educate the next generation of chefs about the benefits of cooking with mutton and the assurances that come from using Renaissance Mutton, which is produced from traceable, farm assured sheep. "We also hope that professional chefs working in industry will take inspiration from the winning recipes in our competition, as well as those on our website, and feature them on their menus." The second place position went to Tom Durn from University College Birmingham.