Goldcrest Young Chef Of The Year

The annual Goldcrest Young Chef of the Year competition is a big event on the chefs school calendar. It took place yesterday at the South African Chefs Association’s Bill Gallagher Demo Theatre at the Centre for Culinary Excellence, in Johannesburg.

Entrance is open to students currently studying at a recognised chef school and under the age of 25 years. They had to submit recipes and photographs of a starter, main course and dessert using Goldcrest products.

From the 110 entries, 12 chefs were selected to compete in the finals, to demonstrate their understanding of and creativity using Goldcrest products in a starter, main course and dessert.

The winner is Zama Ngwane, a 23-year old second year student at HTA School of Culinary Art.

Her winning menu was:

-       Starter: Citrus cured salmon on pickled plums on a lentil salad

-       Main course: Smoked mushroom chicken ballontine, potato fondant, baked sweet corn custard and seasonal vegetables

-       Dessert: Lemon tart, strawberries in sauce and passion fruit cream

Ngwane says she became a chef because she always loved being in the kitchen and cooking, and has devoured recipe books and the BBC Food Channel for years. Prior to joining HTA, she completed a BA Degree majoring in Politics and French at Rhodes University.

Her first place prize is R7500 as well as a two-week all-expenses-paid work experience trip to one of Reuben Riffel’s restaurants in Cape Town. This is an opportunity to learn from this award-winning chef and spend time absorbing information while working in a top restaurant.

Ngwane says with a competition of this nature, where you have developed the recipes beforehand and practiced them intensively, there is tremendous pressure on the day as “everything has to be extra-perfect”. She says her recipes were a combination of ingredients she likes as well as ideas she has seen in industry. She also looked for recipes she could manipulate to maximise the flavour of Goldcrest’s ingredients.

In second place is Jade van der Spuy from 1000 Hills Chefs School, who wins R5000. In third place is Jasmin Marsal from Capsicum PE, who wins R3000.

The contestants included: Tracey Leigh Keet from Northlink College; Gregory Oberholzer from Capsicum PE; Sonel Venter from HTA; Dustin Clayton from 1000 Hills Chefs School; Cassey Goliath from Capsicum PE; Roxanne Roussouw from Capsicum Boksburg; Kirsten Howell from HTA, Mikhail Adriaanse from HTA; and Bonnie Danskin from Capsicum Sunninghill.

This year a prize was awarded to the school with the most entrants into the finals – a Thermomix worth around R12 000 to R15 000 – which was won by HTA School of Culinary Art, with four finalists.

Judges for the competition were: Jodi-Ann Pearton (head judge and SACA competitions director); Nicky Gibbs (kitchen judge); David Keir (Fedics); and Alistair Esau (BOSASA and SACA vice-president).

Jannicke van As, brand manager at Patley’s, says of the competition: “We would like to inspire the chefs and grow the business. It’s a good opportunity for the chefs to experience competition work and grow. It’s also good for the schools, as they also get the exposure.”

Goldcrest supports the industry and is involved in various other cooking competitions competition.

Stephen Billingham, SACA president, says the purpose of competition is the culinary experience, journey and education. He says it is about being pushed and learning to push yourself as a chef.

Pearton congratulated all of the finalists and reinforced the fact that they are all indeed winners, have stood out from over 100 entries. She urged them to continue entering competitions as part of their ongoing education.