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

Crab a Piece of This!

To see is to believe. There is no better way of demonstrating the value of a Crustastun than to see it in action, so Mitchell & Cooper Project Director, Kat Cooper and The Chefs’ Forum team headed off to Brixham to put it to the test. Joining them were Chef Jolly and local chef Canon Vas from the Berry Head Hotel.

Mitchell & Cooper is proud to manufacture Crustastun at their family-run factory in Ukfield, East Sussex. They are carrying out a series of live trials at the moment and are systematically receiving hugely-positive-feedback about the improved eating quality of crab and lobster, humanely-dispatched, using their patented cutting-edge, humane, technology, while raising welfare standards in the processing of live crustaceans in a professional kitchen environment.

The purpose of Brixham trip was to meet the fishermen and market traders at the ‘chalk face’ of the fishing industry, then to see the wonderful creations produced in the kitchen by top Indian fish chefs, all using Crustastun to stun the freshest live Brixham crab and the results were truly amazing.

Project Director and Crustastun Manufacturer Kat Cooper said

“We have had a brilliant time in Brixham with The Chefs’ Forum and the hugely-talented chefs we have met along the way. To be shown around the fish market by the Rockfish chefs was such an amazing experience and the passion and excitement form the chefs in our party was infectious. I am really excited for the future of Crustastun and at how well it has been received by the chefs who are using it. Crustastun is especially dear to us as we manufacture it and it is so great to see it being tested by top chefs in the field.”

First up, was a visit to the famous fish market and then out on the boat to see the pots that are dotted around the Devon coast.

“We’re working with Mitchell & Cooper to promote improved animal welfare in professional kitchens,” explained Chefs Forum Director Catherine Farinha. “We believe passionately in the humane dispatch of shellfish which have been shown to have what is known as sentience. In the other words they can be adversely harmed by traditional methods of preparation such as being plunged into boiling water or pierced with a sharp knife.

“The Crustastun used electricity and water to literally stun the shellfish and results in much higher quality meat and it’s done humanely. What’s not to like? We decided to do this in Brixham with the freshest crab we could find and invited some local chefs to come and see for themselves. It was a brilliant day.”

Rockfish Chef Director Kirk Gosden and Senior Head Chef, Kyle Williams took great delight in showing their chefs peers around Brixham Fish Market, the largest in the UK by value of fish sold. They walked the group through the tremendous bounty of species landed at the market; From beautiful lobster to bream, stunning seabass to John Dory and Turbot as big as Land Rover wheels, Jolly and Canon were in their element.

Kirk said

“We love having chefs visit Brixham fish market for tours. It’s wonderful to see the excitement on their faces as they explore the different elements of the sea to land process. From trawlers to grading and quality control, it was great to explain the fishing processes and the daily trade deals sealed by silent auction, on a national and international level to our chef peers.”

We were also joined by David Markham from the Blue Seafood Company in neighbouring Paignton, who supplies beautiful Brixham Crab to Rockfish and is also a Brand Ambassador for Crustastun.

David said

“There is this issue going on around sentience and the population is behind it. And when anyone asks, we explain that we use Crustastun and it is compassionate. We’ve done our part to make sure our restaurant dispatches crab in the most humane manner.

“We’ve very quickly started to adopt the Crustastun technology, from a humane perspective mainly. We use it in our larger crab business, Blue Sea Crab, and when we opened our restaurant, The Crab & Hammer in Paignton, it was a natural progression to use a smaller version in the kitchen.

“We’ve had comments from the likes of Raymond Blanc and The Waterside Inn how they can really notice the difference in the flavour of the crab and we were truly amazed with the difference to the improved eating quality of the crab meat when it is humanely stunned, it is less stressed and more tender as a result.

International Celebrity Chef Jolly concluded

“It was an absolute privilege to see the fish market and we are so grateful to the Rockfish chefs for the tour and the fantastic surf and turf breakfast they kindly prepared for us afterwards in Rockfish. It is wonderful to see the care and passion that runs through everything the team do and take in the beautiful harbour views or trawlers, fishermen and general market activity. I felt much better about using Crustastun to humanely dispatch Brixham crab, then creating a wonderful Kerala crab curry in a cook-off with Canon in his kitchen and the quality of the crab coming out of Torbay is simply sensational –The crab meat really was really tender and stunning crustaceans is definitely the future in professional kitchens. I had a great time and will certainly be visiting Brixham and Rockfish again soon.”

The Chefs’ Forum is looking to stage a larger version of this event as we feel it is important for chefs to see where their fish comes from, at source and all of the hard work and passion that goes into supplying professional kitchens across the UK and beyond. Any chefs who would be interested in attending such an event should contact catherine@redcherry.uk.com

Photography & film by Carlos Farinha.

Chef of the Week: Jubz Ali Mannan, Chef Patron at Grubz by Jubz in Wales

How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
Approximately 8 months.

Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
My passion for food and cooking comes from my parents who are both excellent cooks. I learnt to cook over the years of working in Indian Restaurants. I learnt a lot of my skills through the chefs and pioneers of the curry industry.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
Working in a busy environment where my main priority are the customers. Being able to be creative with flavours and seeing the faces of those who eat and enjoy my food.

Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Cooking oil, seasoning and huge amount of love! Can that count as an ingredient? Haha!

Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
Working in Indian restaurants, you get use to working with gas cookers and Tandoori ovens. Over the years I have come to learn how to use a Rational. It can make a big difference in the way we work and prepare our dishes. It saves us a lot of time, it’s consistent and can be used in a variety of different modes. This modern technology has changed the way we run our kitchen on a daily basis.

What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
The most common trends I have noticed in recent years is street food. It’s amazing to see different food merging with the British food scene and bringing a wide variety of flavours.

What do you think is a common mistake that lets chefs down?
Chefs often notice when people overcomplicate things and make recipes more difficult than they need to be.

What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
Winter, because there’s nothing better than preparing a home cooked meat curry which is hearty and warming on a cold day! Summer, creating light savoury snacks consisting of exotic ingredients. Just bliss!

Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
My take on an Anglo-Indian fusion. A honey glazed, spiced tandoori rack of lamb with an Indian inspired, spiced creamy mash.

How do you come up with new dish?
Coming up with a new dish is always a matter of experimenting, researching and understanding the ingredients and it’s purpose.

Who was your greatest influence?
My parents, they are still my greatest influence!

Tell us three chefs you admire.

Marco Pierre White, no need for introduction
Christophe Tuloup ,an amazing creative patisserie chef
Latif Abdul from Latif’s Inspire on YouTube

What is your favourite cookbook?
The Flavor Matrix: The Art and Science of Pairing Common Ingredients to Create Extraordinary Dishes

Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
Burhan Ahmed – Masterchef Contestant 2020

What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
I haven’t tried it yet but have been inspired to try Coco Grill & Lounge in London. Seen a lot of social media presence and find it to be a brilliant concept which I wish to try!

Follow Grubz by Jubz on Instagram

Female Chef Wins The Roux Scholarship for the First Time in 29 Years

Throughout the long history of The Roux Scholarship, which stretches back to Andrew Fairlie in 1984, there has only been one female winner. That was Mercy Fenton in 1994.

All that changed on Monday as 29 year old April Lily Partridge, Sous Chef at The Ledbury, beat five other finalists in a cook-off at Westminster Kingsway College in London. The year she was born was the last time there had been a female winner.

According to the Roux Scholarship it was the first time April had entered the competition and under the rules it was her last chance to do so before reaching the age limit.

Partridge said after being presented with the award: “I’m gobsmacked, this will change my life!”

She went on to thank her family and friends including winner 2020/21 Oli Williamson who encouraged her to enter and her chef Brett Graham. “Thank you, Brett, for making me feel like I can achieve anything,” she said.

For this year’s final, the six chefs were asked to prepare their own dish using a variety of ingredients, along the theme of Pâté Chaud de Lotte (hot monkfish pie) – a recipe originally created by the Troisgros family. At the start of the competition, the chefs were shown a table displaying dozens of ingredients that would allow them to interpret the brief as they chose. The only ingredients they were obliged to use were the monkfish and whole black truffle.

Partridge said: “It was really tough, a tough brief. Monkfish is tricky, it’s very easy to overcook. Once I got in to the kitchen I began to question my reasoning and interpretation of what was required in the brief. I began to change what I had planned and for the first hour I was still working out what to do. I wasn’t 100% happy but we are all hard taskmasters on ourselves!”

Michel Roux Jr said: “It was an exceptional final. I thought we were in for a good final and so it proved. We had six finalists, six styles and six very different dishes. The new format allowed the chefs to truly show off their skills and character on a plate. Given a wider choice of ingredients they all rose to the challenge and our guest judges said they’ll be taking some of the ideas back home with them to France.”

Alain Roux said: “It was a tremendous challenge, they had to do it all in their own vision as they wouldn’t have come across the dish before, so it was new to them all. Textures were so important in this competition and some of the six put a lot of work into it using a very large number of the ingredients. It was amazing.”

The judging panel was led by joint Honorary Presidents of Judges, Michel Troisgros and his son César, whose restaurant at Troisgros in the Roannais region of south-east France has held three Michelin stars longer than any other restaurant in the world. They led the panel alongside joint chairmen Alain and Michel Jr, who were joined by Brian Turner CBE, Angela Hartnett OBE, Rachel Humphrey, Sat Bains (1999 scholar), André Garrett (2002 Scholar) and Simon Hulstone (2003 scholar).

Michel Troisgros said: “It’s hard for the candidates. It’s hard for them to manage the time and not to know what the ingredients are until the last moment. It is a classic Troisgros dish but it’s a new interpretation of it. It was great to see new perspectives and creations. You have to work quickly too, and in a kitchen you are not used to, so we saw six very different styles and six very different dishes.”

César Troisgros said: “The experience was great. It was great to take a step back and see what they could do and how they handled the subject. Everyone had a different version of the dish and the skills of working varied, and made them think differently.”

April was battling it out against the following chefs:

Ben Champkin from The Newt in Somerset, Christopher Clarke from Core by Clare Smyth in London, Oliver Dovey from Baxterstorey in London, Sam Lomas from Glebe House in Devon, and Alex Rothnie from L’Enclume in Cumbria.

The winner was announced at an exclusive awards dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in front of a small audience comprising the finalists’ guests, sponsors and judges, with the ceremony live-streamed via the Roux Scholarship website and YouTube channel.

The winning chef receives £6,000, with an additional £6,000 awarded if they stay with their current employer for 15 additional months. They have the choice between two star prizes: the invitation to cook and train under the supervision of a leading chef at a prestigious three-star Michelin restaurant anywhere in the world for up to two months; or a bespoke training programme tailored to the chef’s ambitions, skills gaps and interests.

Congratulations to All the New, and Existing, Michelin Star Winners!

It’s that time of year again. The end of one of the biggest weeks in the culinary calendar, when chefs up and down the country hold their collective breath and wait to hear if they’ve won or held a star.

For the vast majority of chefs there has been no change. Their awards are safe for another year as they have gone neither up or down.

For a smaller percentage there is jubilation. At The Ledbury, for example, the entire chefs team led by Brett Graham is celebrating returning to two stars having had a period of closure over the pandemic. Also celebrating is chef Alex Dilling whose restaurant at The Café Royal has jumped from one star to two.

At the very top there are no changes. All existing three-star establishments have kept their awards. Celebrating one new star is a different story. 19 restaurants in England and Scotland picked up a first star including Kenny Atkinson for his Newcastle restaurant Solstice and the popular Timberyard restaurant in Edinburgh.

However, all was not roses with the new results. Talking to The Daily Telegraph chef Sally Abé of The Pem wondered why there were no new stars for female chefs.

“It made me sad,” Abé said. “The winners were overwhelmingly white and male. In previous years it has looked like women were being better represented, and last night two women, Helene Darroze and Clare Smyth, maintained their three-star status. But from the 20 new one-star restaurants, there was not a single female head chef. We need a long hard look at ourselves as an industry to ask why this is what it is.”

We hear you, Sally and we agree. We tirelessly champion brilliant female chefs and would be more than happy to flag some promising contenders for a highly-coveted star.

Let us know if you feel any restaurant or establishment was left out.

Pembrokeshire College Hails Unique Chefs’ Forum Partnership

Following another successful taster day for local schools held on Wednesday 29th March, the Welsh college, based in Haverfordwest explained that it couldn’t have achieved such enthusiasm without The Chefs’ Forum.

“There was cheering and so much positive energy in our purpose-built theatre from the school students who came to visit,” said Head of Curriculum Eva Rees “We can’t get that on our own. At the end of the day this is a partnership with The Chefs’ Forum. We provide the teaching expertise and The Chefs’ Forum helps us to reach local schools and work with top local employers to enrich our students’ learning by putting on events like these “Hospitality Industry Taster Days.” It was brilliant.”

Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum, said: “We love coming to Pembrokeshire College. They make what we do so easy. They’re really proactive, they get everything ready, the teaching staff are excited and the whole college really shows itself to be a true centre of culinary excellence.

“We had interactive pasta-making with Orsola Muscia from The Tailor Made Chef and Alejandro Mayo Lopez from Plantagenet restaurant. That went really well. Then we did a pastry masterclass with college pastry students who made choux pastry and lastly an éclair decorating competition.”

Orsola Muscia regularly teaches at our Welsh colleges, she said

“Events like these are crucial to the future of our industry. I get so much joy out of seeing the look on the children’s faces when they create their first fresh tagliatelle and pesto, live on stage in front of their peers. I have been in the industry for twenty-five years and love passing on my knowledge and teaching students about Italian cuisine, just like my grandmother taught me from the age of four – I always knew I wanted to be a chef and love every aspect of the job and creating delicious food with genuine love and passion transcended through my hands.”

All students who helped out with the demos on stage received a copy of our new publication, The Chefs’ Knowledge, all they need to prepare themselves for college.

Alejandro made his demo stage debut at this event and had always been apprehensive about cooking live on stage in front of such a large audience, but he absolutely loved the experience and is now looking forward to the next event with The Chefs’ Forum who regularly run the chefs’ theatre at prolific food events and festivals all over the UK, he said

“The visiting school students were lively and spirited, with some of them shouting out comments and heckling. So, we embraced this, channeling this energy, inviting them onto the stage and getting them involved in the demos as tasters. They absolutely loved it.

“We also had the GM of local top hotel The Grove at Narberth with us, Thomas Ferrante, and he was able to tell his story to the students. I worked with Thomas before at The Grove, so it was great to see him again. He fell into hospitality after nearly becoming a barrister. He’s now the director of luxury hotel and restaurant company, The Seren Collection.

“There’s real career progression opportunities, this is a marvellous industry he told everyone.”

211 students and food tech teachers from 8 local schools attended the two-hour event.

Any chefs wishing to get involved with The Chefs’ Forum Academy at any of our six UK colleges, please email brogen@redcherry.uk.com

Film and photography credit: Carlos Farinha

Chef of the Week: Chris Emery, Executive Chef at Orelle in Birmingham

How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
I opened Orelle in October 2022 and have been working here for 6 months now.

Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
My passion started from a very young age. I used to look at pictures of cakes from my Grandmother’s cookbooks. She was a baker and I always enjoyed visiting to look at her books. I started learning skills when I left culinary school and went to work at the Waterside Inn.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
There’s always something new to work on and it allows me to be as creative as I wish. I also enjoy searching for ingredients and working out how to include them in new dishes.

Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Citrus, thyme and good quality olive oil.

Which piece of kitchen equipment couldn’t you live without?
My notebook you never know when ideas can pop into your mind need to get it straight down on paper.

What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
Herdwick lamb.

What do you think is a common mistake that lets chefs down?
Poor work life balance is always a common mistake that effects Chefs. This is something I am working hard to achieve and always recommend this to anyone who would like to join the industry.

What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
I would say spring time and its great to start seeing all the amazing produce coming through.

Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
The white asparagus.

How do you come up with new dishes?
Trial and error.

Who was your greatest influence?
Jason Atherton, I spent a lot of time working with him and learnt a lot from Jason.

Tell us three chefs you admire.
Jason Atherton, Daniel Humm and Frederick Berselius.

What is your favourite cookbook?
Aska by Fredrik Berselius.

Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
Adam Wood.

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

www.orelle.co.uk

On Top Down Under

The Chefs’ Forum were over the moon to be invited to a special evening at Australia House recently to meet the Deputy High Commissioner, Elisabeth Bowes. The invitation cements our already growing involvement with Aussie Beef & Lamb and enabled us to see and meet more Australian food producers who were showcased on the menu for the evening.

“It’s so amazing to be invited to such a high-profile event,” said Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum. “We were there along with celebrity chefs Luciana Berry, Cesar Scolari (both of Top Chef Brazil fame) Graham and Debbie Green (authentic Aussies) at Green Herring Catering, world pastry judge Franciane Tartari, Marcilio da Silva from Beyond Food and MasterChef: The Professionals finalist Exose Grant. They were all wearing our wonderful new Chefs’ Forum Road Crew T-Shirts, bringing together wonderful chefs, students and suppliers wherever we go!

“We tried toothfish, lamb, Wagyu beef, Vegemite scones, an amazing vegan meatball and a toast samosa,” Catherine enthused. “All washed down with sparkling wine, white wine, red wine and Australian beer. Working with international suppliers who want to enter the UK market is one area where we are seeing significant growth and genuine interest from UK chefs.”

Top Australian suppliers to look out for:

Food

JBS Global – lamb
Austral Fisheries – toothfish
SunRice – sticky rice
Saltbush kitchen – rubs
Vegemite – umami spread
Earth Bound – vegan meatballs
Western Meat Exporters – goat
Jack’s Creek – Wagyu beef

Wine & Beer

Brown Family Wine Group
Cape Mentelle
Fourth Wave Wine Partners
ABC Filling
Stone & Wood

The Chefs’ Forum Stand Stole the Show at HRC

Stand H3501 was the place to be at the HRC at ExCel this week as a collection of chefs, suppliers, the media and students from learning colleges all descended on The Chefs’ Forum for an impromptu reunion party.

The stand, which was in the middle of all of the finest catering equipment brands attracted constant attention following our successful launch of The Chefs’ Knowledge which made its show debut. The Chefs’ Forum was delighted to be an education partner at HRC (for the second consecutive year) which ran from Monday 20th until Wednesday 22nd March.

“It was great to be at the HRC. It was the busiest I have ever seen it – It was absolutely packed,” said Chefs’ Forum Director Catherine Farinha. “We met our industry peers, many of whom had come to our series of 10^th Anniversary Chefs’ lunches with us over the last year, with up to 100 chefs attending each one. We partnered with the HRC, so the organisers could attend our lunches to promote the event. We offered a unique platform for the show to continuously raise a hand to UK chefs reminding them to get it into their diary. We were privileged to be able to take students from West London College on a world culinary tour and be part of the media for the event and we had so many top suppliers visiting our stand that it felt like the good times were back to where they were pre-pandemic.

“We handed out copies of the The Chefs’ Knowledge to all the winners at the Salon Culinaire and feedback from the chef community was amazing. We’re immensely proud of where we are as a business now. Our unique reach meant that stand H3501 was a non-stop cheffy party for the whole three days.

Speaking about The Chefs’ Knowledge Chef Exose Grant, a former MasterChef: The Professionals finalist, said: “I was very excited to be asked to contribute to the book and share my story. It’s so important that young chefs understand what the hospitality business is all about and The Chefs’ Knowledge is a great place to start. The detail and the recipes are incredible. It was a great show and I really enjoyed talking to all of my chef peers and seeing Monica Galetti, my brilliant mentor from MasterChef.

Check-out our film which shows just how much we were involved with from filming on the Chef HQ stage and other sponsors and clients to caviar tastings for student chefs on our world tour of ingredients.

Photo & film credit: New Era Production

Chef of the Week: Josh Hughes – Head Chef at The Bridge Arms in Canterbury, Kent

How long have you worked at your current restaurant?
I’ve been working with the company since 2018 at The Fordwich Arms and took over as Head Chef at The Bridge Arms in November 2021.

Where did your passion for cooking come from and where did you learn your skills?
I’ve always enjoyed being in the kitchen, but my passion really grew when I got my first kitchen job as a KP. Then I realised how much I suited the environment and things went from, there developing skills along the way from the bottom up.

What do you enjoy most about being a chef?
Being surrounded by people who share your enthusiasm.

Name three ingredients you couldn’t cook without.
Salt, lemon and dashi.

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

What food trends are you spotting at the moment?
I think we’re seeing Chef’s playing with textures differently; looking more and more at things like savoury jellies, chawanmushi etc.

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

What is your favourite time of year for food, and why?
Summer. Stone fruit is so versatile and can offer so much to the menu at that time of year. There’s also the option to preserve for use throughout the year.

Which of your dishes are you most proud of?
It’s hard to pinpoint a specific dish I would be most proud of. I’m always looking to push myself and improve upon anything I’ve developed previously so would say I’m probably more proud of learning new skills, passing them on to my team and applying them to new dishes.

How do you come up with new dishes?
As the seasons change, I usually have a particular ingredient that I’m looking forward to using and tend to start with 2 flavours I’d really like to combine. From there I can think of what other ingredients and techniques I can use to bring the dish together.

Who was your greatest influence?
My greatest influences as a young chef were more artists than chefs. Coming from that background in education it was interesting for me to look at 3-dimensional designers when developing my dishes.

Tell us three chefs you admire.
Alain Passard, Merijn van Berlo and Rene Redzepi.

What is your favourite cookbook?
The Noma Guide to Fermentation.

Who do you think are the chefs to watch over the next few months?
I think Spencer Metzger is one to watch right now and will be for years to come.

What’s been your favourite new restaurant opening of the last year?
Unfortunately, I’ve not had much time for get to new restaurant openings in the last year, but I’m really excited about what Cal Byerley & Sian Buchan are doing in Northumberland at Restaurant Pine. I’d love to find the time to visit and dine with them.

www.bridgearms.co.uk

Wedgwood and Aussie Beef & Lamb Shine at St Patrick’s Day Student Dinner

100 guests at a special St Patrick’s Day dinner at West London College were wowed by the special 600-piece bone china dinner service provided by Wedgwood as part of a gift to the students.

The dinner, supported by The Chefs’ Forum, celebrated St Patrick’s Day but was, in reality, an exercise for the students to see how their food appeared on the best plates and bowls.

“This was a proud moment for The Chefs’ Forum,” said Catherine Farinha, Founder of The Chefs’ Forum. “This is what the Academy is all about. We were able to introduce Wedgwood and top quality produce to the College and in turn Wedgwood and Meat & Livestock Australia were able to see how their special donation was used by the students. I can safely say the students were blown away with the experience.”

Denise Charles, Curriculum Manager at West London College, said: “We do a number of themed evenings every year at West London College and this is the first year we have been able to serve 100 guests and have all of them eat off the same dinner service. This was brilliant for us and brilliant for the guests. The students were amazed how good the food looked. It was a huge success.”

“We were able to maximise our supplier and professional chef database as well,” Catherine Farinha continued. “We had lamb and beef from Aussie Beef & Lamb and celebrity guests such as Luciana Berry, Eve Tudor, the BBQ Lads and many more. It was a great night.”

The dinner in full:

Canapes