admin-alexandra-duncan, Author at The Chefs' Forum

Chef of the Week: Mike Greer, Head Chef at The Eden Project in Cornwall

How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
I have currently worked at The Eden Project for just over 12 years. Starting off as a Chef de Partie then working my way up to Junior Sous Chef, Sous Chef and in 2021 I gained the role of the Head Chef.

Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
Growing up in Birmingham I was surrounded by different food and cuisines from all over the world. I loved going into different local shops seeing produce, smells and colours. I was always keen to try different food, different spices and different cooking techniques. At school we celebrated many different religious festivals and the food we ate reflected this giving me an insight to global cuisine.

I studied catering at GCSE and loved all the practical elements of it. I moved to Cornwall from Birmingham and studied hospitality at college for 3 years. Whilst at College I was also working part-time in a kitchen to help develop my skills.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
I enjoy the creativity of being a chef. Having such wonderful produce to work with in Cornwall is amazing and now we have a state of the art nursery here at Eden, the produce is literally grown on our kitchens doorstep.

Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
This is a tough one as there are so many ingredients I enjoy cooking with but if I break it down to what I would use the most, it would be coriander, paprika and hake.

Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
For our scale of operation the piece of equipment that is most essential to me is our 180 litre bratt pan. On our busiest days we see up to 7,000 visitors so it’s a large scale to cater for. In this bratt pan we do the majority of our food preparation, whether its our organic Cornish pasta mac and cheese or our Eden grown vegetable summer curry it’s a great bit of equipment to cook lots of food.

What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
Vegan and plant based food trends has been on the rise for several years now and it’s great to see so many meat-free alternatives and plant based dairy replacements. We strive to ensure that we cater for every dietary and allergy requirement ensuring great taste and quality for our visitors. Also I am seeing that people are trying to make operations a lot more sustainable now. We have just created a food policy at Eden to ensure we are as sustainable as possible in all aspects of our catering and I think that sustainability will play a huge factor in a lot of restaurants.

What do you think is a common mistake that lets chefs down?
Difficult one to answer but I think a big mistake in hospitality in general are working hours. We know it’s part of the job, long days and lots of hours but I believe in ensuring my chefs have 3 days off a week so they can enjoy a good work life balance. We want to ensure our visitors have a great dining experience and by allowing the team suitable time off allows them to be refreshed and focused in the work place.

What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
This has to be summer. I love cooking outdoors (although this year it’s been a bit damp). I love the summer produce especially the crops we are growing on site. Fresh, vibrant, colourful and tasty produce is delivered to our kitchen every day from our nursery and the quality is unbelievable.

Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
We had a beautiful Malaysian vegan curry on the menu using Cornish vegetables and our own grown lemongrass, chillies and curry leaves. The fragrance of this dish was amazing and being able to commercially grow lemongrass in Cornwall for this is a real treat. I am also very proud and passionate about our paella we cook and serve in our Mediterranean biome, visually it’s a masterpiece and the combination of local chorizo, Cornish shellfish and beautiful spices makes this a winner in our restaurant.

How do you come up with new dishes?
In our quiet period in January and February I invite the whole team to come up with dishes for the seasons for all of our venues. I feel passionately about involving all the staff in menu development so they have an input and feel invested in. We will do a week-long cooking and tasting development week, pick and choose dishes we like, which need a little more development and then feed this information back to our Horticulture team so they can grow the right ingredients for the right time of year.

Who was your greatest influence?
This would have to be my mum; she will say she taught me everything but I know better. She supported me all the way through college and my early years as a chef.

Tell us three chefs you admire.
Antonio Carluccio is definitely one I admire. I had the joy meeting him and assisting him with a cooking demonstration and he was amazing. His style of cuisine making simple, tasty fresh food using fine ingredients has made a huge impression on me especially when creating menus for our Med terrace restaurant. An incredible individual who’s passion for Italian cuisine was incredible.

Phil Vickery is another chef I admire. Again I had the opportunity to assist him on a couple of occasions and he was such a nice guy. His gluten free cooking and recipes are very inspiring, ensuring taste and quality are never compromised.

Angela Hartnett was one of the first celebrity chefs I met and she was incredible, so nice and down to earth and her cooking is sensational.

What is your favourite cookbook?
My favourite cookbook has got to be Antonio Carluccio’s Simple Cooking. Some of his favourite recipes in there using simple techniques to create beautiful food.

What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
My favourite new opening has to be Kernow Street Kitchen in Mevagissey. A stunning little pop-up restaurant perched beautifully on the fishing harbour of Mevagissey. They serve up the most incredible street food using Cornish ingredients. The menu changes regularly with every dish as tasty as the next.

www.edenproject.com

Taste the Difference

Tasting menus divide opinion but their progress is undeniable. They are here to stay and represent an opportunity for chefs to show off their skills and range. They also allow kitchens to control waste and guarantee a set income. Are we seeing the death of a la carte? Probably.

Once upon a time the guest chose. The customer was always right. How things have changed. Today the chef is right and the guests… well, the guests can either have the tasting menu or find somewhere else.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Once thing is certain: it’s good for chefs. They get to create a range of dishes, often experimental, that plays to their strengths.

Our esteemed Director Catherine Farinha and National Business Manager Alexandra Duncan had a tasting menu experience at South Place Hotel in London at The Angler restaurant run by executive chef Gary Foulkes.

“It was an incredible experience,” Catherine Farinha explained afterwards. “We were celebrating Alex’s birthday and this was a brilliant way of doing it. I never thought it would end but each course kept getting better and it was all a brilliant surprise even though we had seen the menu. I love this way of dining.” (See below for the menu Catherine & Alex enjoyed).

The emphasis here is on experience. A tasting menu takes much longer to serve but enables the diner to experience very different tastes and combinations. This level of experience simply cannot be replicated by an a la carte menu.

However, there will always be those that hanker after the a la carte.

“You don’t go to a steak restaurant for a tasting menu,” said Chefs’ Forum editor Chandos Elletson. “You go for a steak. It’s the same with pizza or fried chicken. The tasting menu works in a narrow band of restaurants where the skill of the chef is focussed on small, exquisite, courses. It originated in Japan with Kaiseki and has been expanded and refined in the UK.”

Some restaurants are now tasting menu only. Two notable examples are Restaurant Sat Bains and Gareth Ward’s Ynyshir which recently won best restaurant in the UK.

“Diners have a choice now,” Elletson continued. “They can go for tasting for a special occasion or go to a restaurant to enjoy a specific style. The days of the multi-format a la carte are numbered.”

The tasting menu at The Angler by Gary Foulkes

Aged Comté, goat’s curd, pea & black garlic gougère

Angler stout bread, caramelised yeast & malt butter

*******

Crispy Iberian pig’s head, BBQ apple, smoked bacon & tarragon

Montgomery cheddar, caramelised onion & wild garlic tart

Foie Gras Cornetto, new season’s cherry & pistachio

Prawn & squid ink cracker, smoked cod’s roe & Espelette pepper

*******

Sea Bass Tartare – Oyster cream, green apple, shiso

Native Lobster – Gazpacho dressing, Has avocado, lobster & oscietra caviar tart

Phil Howard’s Langoustine Dish – Parmesan gnocchi, truffle purée, potato & truffle emulsion

Cornish Monkfish – Carrots, English peas, Citrus butter sauce

Roast Newlyn Cod – Line caught squid, Scottish girolles, Alsace bacon

Raspberries – Perilla leaf, Greek yoghurt, “100’s & 1000’s”

Black Provence Fig “1000 flower” honey, mascarpone, fig leaf

Black Forest, English cherries, Amarena, Kirsch cream

****

Strawberry bon bon

Banana & miso caramel

Coconut and chocolate chouquette

Chef of the Week: Alex Naik, Chef Patron at Thirteen in Poole

How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
1 year spent refurbishing Thirteen ready for opening.

Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
Mainly my mother, but also being exposed to fine dining with my parents from a young age. Learning on the job, eating out at fine restaurants, watching TV cooking programmes and ready cookery books.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
Making people happy when they enjoy what they eat, especially if it’s a new taste combination.

Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Onions, garlic and mushrooms.

Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
Tablespoon.

What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
The shift away from vegan food back to an omnivorous offering where proteins and vegetables have equal prominence. Continued emphasis on sustainability.

What do you think is a common mistake that lets chefs down?
Overcomplicating and overloading plates.

What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
Spring because everything comes back into life and colour.

Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
Pea panna cotta.

How do you come up with new dishes?
Often I get inspiration when I’m walking in the woods or exchanging ideas with others.

Who was your greatest influence?
My mother.

Tell us three chefs you admire.
Simon Rogan, Jordi Roca and Massimo Bottura.

What is your favourite cookbook?
A Day at El Bulli.

Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
Rob Howell at Root in Bristol.

What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
Root Wells in Somerset.

www.thirteenrestaurant.com

Chef of the Week: Daniel Lee – MasterChef: The Professionals Winner 2021 & Chef Dan Lee Personal Chef

How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
I have been working as private/ freelance chef back in the UK since covid, I came back and started my own company after returning from Singapore.

Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
I realised my passion for food later on in life when I was figuring out which career path to take, which led me to the University College Birmingham. But growing up my auntie had a takeaway which is where I would spend my weekends, so the passion has clearly always been there. At college I studied classical French, but it was my Auntie who taught me about Cantonese flavours and cooking styles.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
I enjoy the freedom and creativity it gives me. Being a chef is a never ending lesson, every single day you can learn something new, and no matter how hard you try or how much you study, you will never know it all. But learning and discovering new ingredients/ techniques/ cultures of cooking never gets old, it’s a constant evolving and amazing journey.

Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Garlic, ginger and soy.

Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
Chinese cleaver.

What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
The use of more Japanese ingredients, Japanese food culture is amazing, and I see a lot more chefs using Japanese ingredients (vinegars/ oils/ soy) as well as Japanese cooking techniques.

What do you think is a common mistake that lets chefs down?
Overthinking.

What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
Chinese New Year, it reminds me of these amazing feasts I used to have when I was younger. All the family coming together to eat this incredible spread of food, the smells, the flavours, the atmosphere. I love it all.

Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
It’s difficult to pick, I am very proud of my chicken rice dish for the MasterChef professionals final. It wasn’t dainty, or very refined, but I took a low cost street food dish and showcased it on such a big stage, and pulled it off. It will never be the best looking dish I’ve done, but the meaning and purpose behind me doing it, is something I am very proud of.

How do you come up with new dishes?
My influences come from everywhere, whether it’s travel, eating in new restaurants, speaking to other chefs. I like to create ideas by learning the history of cultures. I think it is very important to understand the history of a cultures food and cuisine before using it as an influence. Then by getting an understanding of why each dish came about, you can adapt and recreate.

Who was your greatest influence?
My Auntie.

Tell us three chefs you admire.

Gareth Ward
Prin Polsuk
Kray Treadwell

What is your favourite cookbook?
The Food of Sichuan (currently, it changes monthly).

Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
Kray Treadwell and David Taylor.

What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
Toffs by Rob Palmer.

www.chefdanlee.com

Bradford College Lines-up the Stars at The Chefs’ Forum Academy

We are excited to share UK hospitality business BaxterStorey will be bringing a ‘Careers in Contract Catering’ focus session to our schedule of curriculum enrichment at Bradford College. At a date to be agreed, BaxterStorey will hold a special careers day next term, which will give students an opportunity to learn about working at locations across the North of England including Bradford University and Marks & Spencer Distribution Centre, also based in Bradford.

Andy Aston, head of wellness and nutrition at BaxterStorey said: “Hospitality is an incredibly diverse, exciting industry to work in and we’re looking forward to showcasing the opportunities with students. Engaging with the local community is important to us, and this partnership with The Chefs’ Forum is one way we’re proud to able to do this”.

“It’s great to welcome BaxterStorey to the growing number of companies we are helping in the chef education sector,” said Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum. “BaxterStorey are a significant chef employer in the North and having a careers event for the students will be very valuable and enhances the work the chefs are doing in their masterclasses.”

Students studying catering are already looking forward to a mouth-watering series of masterclasses that have been lined up for 2023/24. The series kicks-off in October with a bread masterclass by artisan baker Sandor Bagameri who took the podium at the World Bread Awards in 2022.

In November chef Lloyd Hesom from United Chefs Limited brings his skills to a special fish masterclass. Hesom has worked at all levels across the country but really got to understand fish in a different way when working as a head chef in Madrid.

In December students will get to focus on lamb with Jack Holden – a skilled artisan butcher based at Fodder Farmshop in Harrogate. And then in February 2024 it’s the turn of Radha Ru, a local Bradforian, who reached the final of Masterchef in 2022. Radha will give a vegetarian masterclass based on her popular Instagram channel @thespicyflexitarian.

Following on will be a name familiar to many Chefs’ Forum Academies: Exose Grant. The popular former MasterChef :The Professionals finalist will give a past shapes and pasts masterclass in March 2024.

Finally, Kevin Kindland, an experienced freelance chef currently working in Hotel du Vin in York will give a Fine Dining masterclass in May 2024 to round off the year.

Speaking about the series of masterclasses at Bradford Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs Forum, said: “I’m full of praise for Bradford College. It’s really great for the students and for local schools to be able to see details of upcoming masterclasses and who is going to be visiting the college to teach. On top of an already excellent curriculum The Chefs’ Forum Academy brings in top local chefs to enhance the education. This coming academic year is going to be really exciting and e can’t wait to see how our chefs get on when they bring in their specialist knowledge to Bradford College.”

To see the fantastic line-up and read more about the chefs going into the college, visit the college website: HERE

News at Eleven – Salami Steals the Show

Every day of the Game Fair we served up ‘Elevenses’ with a twist; The finest Fennel salami from Somerset Charcuterie wrapped round strips of the finest Le Gruyère cheese and washed down with a Dutch Barn vodka cocktail. This combination proved popular with guests to the Le Gruyère stage, saying it would make a classic shoot day snack. To say it was a hit would be an understatement!

Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum, said: “It was a winner and very popular with visitors and chefs alike. It’s just what you need on a shoot day – something easy to snack on and a warming cocktail. Just the job for those winter mornings! They also looked great layer out on the special boards provided by Richkins Woodcraft.”

Andy & James had been hobby charcutiers for several years. Andy grew up on a pig farm and James is a member of a small village cooperative of 6 families who raise livestock. Their daughters become best friends at the local school and it wasn’t long before they discovered that they shared passion for curing meats and making salami. Over a pint of cider at a local lawn-mower race (this is Somerset!), the idea for a quality British Charcuterie business was conceived. Both of them have run their own food businesses for several years and could see an opportunity to develop a range of products that followed traditional Spanish, French and Italian methods but were adapted to the British market and capitalised on the rich food culture of the Southwest.

Within 6 months the first products were ready to try on family and friends and, with some encouraging feedback, the first farmers markets were booked to test the product on the general public. The buzz around the stall at the first market was electric and the decision was made. Somerset Charcuterie was born.

Now in their 8th year the team are going through up to two tonnes of pork a week along with local wild venison from our favourite, Curtis Pitts Deer Services, local free-range duck, grass fed beef and lamb. Everything is handmade now, and will remain that way in order to preserve the artisan texture, flavours and look.. Everything is handmade now, and will remain that way in order to preserve the artisan texture, flavours and look. They moved into their new production unit on the farm a couple of years ago but are now already looking to expand in order to meet the growing demand.

“We are committed to producing the best product with the best of Somerset ingredients wherever we can. We are now regularly in several markets across Somerset and Bristol, at festivals around the country, in pubs, restaurants and delis. It has been a fantastic success story so far and we are very lucky to have a loyal fan base to whom we are very grateful. We are looking forward to developing new and exciting products, meeting like-minded meat lovers and expanding our business further afield. If you are interested in stocking our product or would like to work with a great team in a fledgling artisan food business, please get in touch.”

You can see the full range of salami, charcuterie and cured meats here.

Canapés? It’s All About Ready, Set, Fill with Pidy

We discovered just how good the Pidy canapé range is at this year’s Game Fair where we hosted a party for TV’s Paul Whitehouse. Filled with smoked trout, sour cream, horseradish and watercress the Pidy canapé cone came into its own.

With the Pidy canapé range all you have to do is think about what fillings and toppings you want to present to your guests. The hard work of pastry has already been done. Whether you’re thinking vol au vent, tartlet, choux bun, savoury or sweet – Pidy has you covered.

And we’re not just talking about any pastry. This is Pidy pastry which has been delighting gourmets and gourmands for decades – since 1967, in fact.

Every piece of the canapé range is technically innovative, hugely creative and designed with the chef in mind. That means you can have confidence that whatever you serve will have that same luxurious richness for which Pidy is famous.

The Game Fair party in the Fishing Village was overseen by Michelin-starred chef Hywel Griffith from The Beach House in Oxwich alongside students from West London College. The Pidy cones were presented on special wooden boards from Richkins Woodcraft had special holes drilled in.

Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum, said: “Working with the Pidy canapé range was a dream for us. The cones were simple to fill and tasted delicious. Served alongside a very good Cava Brut from Tanners Wine everyone enjoyed the party and the food.”

Chef of the Week: Sofiane Kaced, Executive Chef at Bankside Hotel, London

How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
Since February 2023.

Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
My mother. Growing up in Southern France and watching my mother cooking from an early age had a huge influence on my passion for cooking as well as my style and technique. Her food was typically French/Mediterranean, fresh locally grown, seasonal foods (lots of peppers) cooked over the grill.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
I love that I can be creative. Having the freedom to create new dishes, flavours and textures is fulfilling and rewarding. Seeing people smile and enjoying my food is the best feeling.

Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Onion, thyme and olive oil.

Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
The grill.

What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
Wood fires are hot! Excuse the pun. Everything is about sustainability, provenance and growing your own. I really hope these are not just trends, and that people are genuinely moving towards this direction.

What do you think is a common mistake that lets chefs down?
Allowing pressure and stress to get to them, this causes a stressful environment to work in. Over working dishes is another thing that can let them down, sometimes you just need the confidence to know something works.

What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
Spring. I love the way the season suddenly changes with promise. The bright colours, the first shoots of crops growing. It’s also a time to start planning new crops. It feels like a fresh start. I just love that.

Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
From the current menu the ‘Beetroot carpaccio’ and the ‘Beef Tartar’.

How do you come up with new dishes?
I am constantly gathering ideas, even when I am not looking to create new dishes. I jot things down, am constantly trying to discover new ingredients & suppliers and then I bring it all altogether through brainstorming.

Who was your greatest influence?
I have two! Christian Sinicropi, he was always ahead of his times. I remember him 20 years standing out from the crowd wearing a bright green jacket rather than traditional whites. He cooks simple food, creativity.

My second is Jason Atherton. His influence stems from working alongside him. He is an incredibly talented chef, and I learnt a lot from him.

Tell us three chefs you admire.

Yannick Alleno – and who wouldn’t. He is a huge success story.
Pierre Gagnaire – simply inspirational. The colours, textures and tastes are a work of art.
Pierre Koffmann – a true legend, I have huge respect for him.

What is your favourite cookbook?
Pollen Street cookbook.

Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
The team at Pavillon Ledoyen, Yannick Alleno and Mauro Colagreco at The OWO.

What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
Lima.

www.banksidehotel.com

Welcome to The Academy Family South & City College Birmingham!

We have a new member of The Chefs’ Forum Academy club! We are very pleased to announce that South & City College Birmingham has joined us.

As a new member of our Academy roster, catering students at South & City College Birmingham can look forward to masterclasses from top chefs, participation at industry events and lunches and on-the-job training at some of the best restaurants and kitchens in the Midlands region.

Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum, said: “We’re really chuffed to be in South & City College Birmingham is such a great college. We can’t wait to get started and we’ve got a strong list of local chefs who are ready to go with masterclasses. September’s calendar already looks top notch with Mark Walsh from Hogarths delivering a masterclass on game butchery plus the creation of a modern game dish.”

Adam Porter, Head of School for Hospitality & Catering, Hairdressing and Barbering from South & City College Birmingham said: “We are very excited to have our own Chefs’ Forum Academy. We’ve seen the work Catherine and the team have done across the UK and it’s very impressive. One of the clinching factors for us is the amount of extra reach into the industry our students will have. The experience they will get from masterclasses and events is going to be a key part of their development.”

The college will also be hosting a Taster Day this September to encourage local school students to take up hospitality as their chosen career.

It will feature:

Canapé & mocktail reception
Exose Grant – MasterChef: The Professionals Finalist 2019 and Head Chef at Ikaro – Pasta making demo and cookery masterclass
Ross Pike – Executive Chef at Oakman Inns – An Oakman Inns classic dish
Munayam Khan – Chef Patron at Raja Monkey Making the perfect samosa
Angelina Adamo – Chef Patron at Tutto Apposto & The Circle Lounge at The Hippodrome
Tom Everard-Fairburn – Pastry Chef at Two Brothers Bakery

Cooking is not the only skill that students will be learning. In January 2024 students will be taking part in a business study at Birmingham Wholesale Market.

Munayam Khan, owner of Raja Monkey restaurant, will accompany students to the market and help them select seasonal produce to a budget of £25 per pair.

They then return to college to create a two-course meal to cook (supervised by Munayam and Chef Lecturers) and serve to the teaching staff in the college restaurant at lunchtime.

The pair who make the most profit and sell the most of their menu win a meal for two with their Chef Lecturer at one of the Lasan Group restaurants.

Le Gruyère was The World-Award-Winning Star of this Year’s Game Fair

This year, we teamed-up with the famous Swiss cheese to reveal hidden twists to old classics that take game to a new level. Le Gruyère stand this year hosted Michelin-starred chef Hywel Griffith and a team of students from West London College with Chef Lecturer, Bob Carruthers, Cindy Challoner, Chef Lecturer at Coleg Gwent, Ashleigh Ferrand, Head Chef at The Kingham Plough and Martyn Watkins of Laksa Shack in Cardiff. There were four demonstrations each day of The Game Fair and we were delighted with the magnificent Le Gruyère stage, built and managed by The Demo Kitchen Company.

To add a touch of ‘shooty class’ to the line-up, we also offered ‘Elevenses’ each day at 11am, consisting of delicious fennel salami from Somerset Charcuterie, accompanied by a delicious Dutch Barn Vodka cocktail – A very traditional snack on shoot days.

All demos had the benefit of delicious Koppert Cress varieties being grown live in the marquee in a Bloomkube or hydroponic cube, so the recipes could be enhanced with tasty and nutritious microgreens and microherbs paired to each dish by the chefs.

Ashleigh Ferrand, selected Koppert’s Tahoon cress to go with her French onion soup, pulled venison and Le Gruyère crouton – This is a timeless French classic with a twist. Ashleigh said

“The richness of the Gruyère cheese complimented the soup without overpowering and the cress added a subtle flavour and a bight vibrancy to the dish to cut through and lighten-up the dish. I love Le Gruyére because it’s a versatile cheese that can be baked into a crisp, melted into a dish, such as risotto and used as a garnish on top as an alternative to parmesan, especially the Reserve Le Gruyère, which is an absolute show-stopper in my opinion.”

It was great to be able to educate the audience on brilliant and delicious ways to cook with the game that they shoot – Our top quality game featured in the demos was kindly sponsored by Lincolnshire Game.

One lady said that the partridge her husband shoots gives her the ‘ick factor’ and so she usually ends up throwing them away – The audience gasped in amazement, as the whole purpose of our line-up of game cookery demos was to promote the eating of wild game meat.

By the end of the demo by Cindy Challoner, she had not only tried the Stuffed Partridge Ballotine with Caramelised Pears and loved it, she then asked if there was some sort of game cookery retreat she could embark upon with The Chefs’ Forum to learn how to make the most of the game shot by her family – Now that’s food for thought and a great idea to take further.

Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum and Publisher of The Great Game Guide and The Welsh Game Guide, said:

“We decided to make the demos simple this year and easy to recreate at home. We didn’t want everything to be too cheffy or complicated. We were also really excited to be given the opportunity to work alongside the brand activation team at Le Gruyère. It really is amazing how well it goes with game and all samples were snapped-up in seconds. It was lovely to see the same faces come back throughout the weekend to see more demos from their favourite chefs.”

Dishes cooked on the demo stage are available on our recipe page CLICK HERE, by popular demand of the audience at the show (we’ve already received eager email enquiries to this effect), as well as the chefs who follow our event schedule.

In other areas of The Game Fair, top chefs and students, all representing The Chefs’ Forum joined the massive catering operation across VIPs, crew and volunteers.

MasterChef: The Professionals finalist, Exose Grant and West London College graduates, Jahmi and Laurie were also called upon to join the brigade and work in James Martin’s restaurant at the show, alongside the food hero himself to cater for hundreds of VIPs in the private enclosure – A brilliant opportunity to experience high-volume, high-end event catering.

Hywel Griffith and his team from The Beach House, Oxwich swooped in to cater a Michelin-starred and fizz reception in the fishing village with Celebrity Comedian/Fly Fishing expert, Paul Whitehouse.