Six talented chefs of the future showcased their creative skills in our annual Ready, Steady, Cook competition last week!

As part of our National Apprenticeship Week celebrations, the College hosted its sixth annual cooking competition that sees students paired up with a member of staff to help them create delicious dishes.

Our students are only able to act as a support through the competition, advising on the best ingredients, demonstrating cooking techniques and suggesting the appropriate way to serve particular dishes.

This different approach for our students encourages them to take a step back from the kitchen and develop their creative thinking and problem-solving skills to hopefully guide their team to produce a winning dish!

This year, the students helped our Principal, Deputy Principal and Vice Principal cook a main and dessert for the theme ‘fit for a King’ in just two hours.

David, Karl and Andrew went head-to-head alongside their duo of catering support, serving up two types of coronation chicken, enchiladas, William of Orange upside down cake, Greek style cheesecake and a deconstructed sponge!

Despite a calm approach to the planning and prep of their menus, our Senior Leadership Team started to feel the heat when it came to serving their dishes.

Alongside a panel of student judges, our Head of Apprenticeships, Kath, and Catering tutor Simon, were the elected staff judges on the day.

After taste testing and scoring points on both texture and presentation, it was a close race between our Deputy Principal Karl and our Vice Principal Andrew, who both cooked coronation chicken with a twist.

Following some deliberation and lots of praise for their dessert (which was only deconstructed due to an unfortunate burn of some of the sponge) Nicole, Paige and our Deputy Principal Karl were crowned the winners.

Their coronation chicken and deconstructed sponge dessert was described as ‘delectable’ by the panel of judges, as were the students’ recovery skills after they realised the sponge had been in the oven for too long.

Karl said: “I’m thrilled to have won! We brainstormed menu ideas to find one we were excited about and then we added a twist to a traditional British classic.

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to Paige and Nicole – they smashed it!”