| Brakes announce winners of Britdish competition |
By: Rebecca Hubbard
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Posted: Thursday, August 12, 2010 2:25 pm
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Brakes, the leading supplier to the foodservice industry, and John Lewis are pleased to announce the winners of the ‘Britdish chef competition.
The winning dishes, created by five of John Lewis’ talented chefs, will be served at the department store’s Place to Eat or Brasserie restaurants nationwide during British Food Fortnight, which takes place between 18th September and 3rd October 2010.
Entrants were asked to create a dish for one of three categories; a sandwich, main or dessert. Three finalists from each of the three categories were invited to Brakes Food Innovation Centre in London’s Covent Garden on Wednesday 4th August for a one hour live ‘cook off’. Finalists had one hour to prepare, cook and serve their dish from scratch, using British ingredients and autumnal produce, provided by Brakes, wherever possible.
Judging the competition were Marco Zacharia and Philippe Bacconnier from the foodservice team at John Lewis. They reviewed contestants’ practical application, working methods, technical skill and organisation – as well as use of British ingredients, taste, balance, presentation, innovation and menu appeal with the chosen ingredients.
In the end, they had a tough job in deciding – so tough in fact that all desserts were deemed winners, along with one sandwich and one main course winner. Mr Zacharia said: “It was an absolute pleasure to see our chefs’ passion for British food, creativity and dedication shine through, and we believe it is this gratification that makes our John Lewis catering outlets so popular with our customers.
“There was such a high standard on the day, and every finalist should be very proud of the dishes they produced. However our congratulations must go to the five winners and we look forward to seeing their dishes on our John Lewis British Food Fortnight menus this autumn.”
Joanne Tandy, chef at John Lewis Nottingham, won the best sandwich accolade with her dish; trout and beetroot tartine with horseradish cream. Her dish took a modern twist on a traditional sandwich, creating an ‘open’ sandwich that used delicious ingredients and stood apart from the other two dishes in the category.
Winner of the main meal category was Richard Lister, chef at John Lewis Newcastle, for his dish; a pork pan haggerty with leek carlings and pear jus. Judges enjoyed Richard’s dish, as it not only took on the autumnal flavours required, but also had a regional feel with traditional north east dishes such as pan haggerty, a popular Northumberland supper dish, and carling cakes that are made using split peas which were eaten in the north east during lent.
All three finalists of the dessert category won. Robin Benson, chef at John Lewis Liverpool was highly praised for his spiced apple tart with blackberry Chantilly cream, as it can be served both hot and cold. Judges also enjoyed an autumnal berry trifle created by Djamal Hadbouali, chef at John Lewis Victoria, which proved to be a refreshing twist of a classic British dessert. Marc Antoine Bochu, chef at John Lewis Kingston created an autumn fruit cobbler with Cornish clotted cream which is packed full of Great British fruits such as blackberries, red plums, Conference pears and Bramley apples.
The winners won an all expenses paid trip to the Rungis food market in Paris which originated in the 10th century and is now the largest wholesale food market in the world - spanning its own 10 hectare area in the southern suburbs of the city.
Brakes development chef Matt Cull said: “We are delighted to be the lead foodservice partner for British Food Fortnight for the 6th year – and the ‘Britdish’ competition has been an exciting element that we were pleased to run in partnership with John Lewis.
“Our customers are looking for the best seasonal British products. We aim to source and promote the very best. It will be great for us, our valued suppliers and the general public to see innovative dishes from John Lewis’ most talented chefs made from the best of British autumnal produce.” |
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