Renowned Pastry Chef, Cherish Finden Appointed by Pan Pacific London

Newly Appointed Executive Pastry Chef Promises Innovative and Exquisite Pastries at Pan Pacific London.

Pan Pacific London announced the appointment of Cherish Finden as Executive Pastry Chef. This boundary breaking pastry chef, born in Singapore, has over 30 years of international experience and will be responsible for creating the hotel’s entire pastry collection. She takes the role following a stint as Creative Development Chef at an internationally renowned luxurious chocolatier.

Famed for re-defining the art of patisserie, Cherish, currently appearing as a judge on Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals, is recognised as one of the top pastry chefs in the world and will be creating an innovative, imaginative and irresistible menu. In addition, guests can look forward to a ‘slice of Singapore’ on the afternoon tea menu along with traditional favourites, making the offering decadent and intriguing.

Cherish Finden, Executive Pastry Chef at Pan Pacific London says: “I am delighted to be part of the Pan Pacific London team and I look forward to bringing my Singaporean heritage to the pastries that we will create. It will be a celebration of a slice of Singapore in London, a fusion of two of the most vibrant and dynamic cities in the world”.

The appointment sees Cherish’s return to Pan Pacific, with her first professional position being at Pan Pacific Singapore in 1991. In a career that has lasted over thirty years, Cherish can boast heading the pastry offering at some of the world’s most exclusive hotels, including Raffles Hotel Singapore, The Sheraton Tower Singapore, and The Langham London.

Her career has also seen her appear on numerous television shows including as a judge for Channel 4’s Bake Off – The Professionals, MasterChef and James Martin Saturday Kitchen. Cherish was recently honoured to be chosen to present the Gold Standard of The Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Buckingham Palace. She has also been a judge for the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Annual Awards of Excellence and the Association of Pastry Chefs. In 2015 she was awarded The Macallan Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Gourmet Summit.

For more information on Pan Pacific London, please click here

South Catering Launches Healthy Snack Box Delivery Scheme for Employees Working from Home

South Catering, market-leading provider of high-end, service-led chilled food for the workplace has embraced the need to pivot during uncertain times in launching WellBox, a rather brilliant business idea allowing employers to reward staff working from home with curated boxes of healthy snacks.

The WellBox range of nutritious snack boxes are designed to boost employee morale and energy, provide healthy snacks and improve productivity for individuals working from home. With many companies deferring their workforces’ return to the workplace until the end of the year, an urgent ‘working from home’ employee care package needed to be put in place across the UK and WellBox offers just that.

“Companies across the UK are facing unprecedented challenges without any sort of ‘How-to manual’, we knew we had to move quickly to help employers support their workforce working from home,” said South Catering Director Justin Gilchrist. “Our research has shown us that large employers, especially within the service sector are struggling to maintain a sense of normality during this period of disruption and uncertainty.  Our WellBox range of curated snacks and responsibly-sourced coffee are designed to do just that, enabling employers to stay connected to their teams while providing fuel and healthy sustenance snacks ordinarily available in the workplace.  This will offer a sense of business-as-usual in showing them that they are valued, connected and appreciated.”

South Catering (South) was originally launched in 2006 and supplies companies with catering for business meetings and corporate events. With a reputation for utilising technology often off limits to small businesses, South grew to a team of 30 people, eventually beating several pure ecommerce companies to win Online Business of the Year, despite being heavily service based.

With much of their client base now working from home, South took the decision to offer this new service to supply their clients where ever they happened to be.

WellBox serves to deliver a workplace experience that staff will appreciate and love.  All companies need to do is to set a budget and employees can quickly and easily directly sign-up to receive their snack boxes, directly to their home address in a contactless transaction, pre-paid by the employer.

Wellbox members can choose from three Work-from-Home sustenance offerings:

WellBox  – Refuel
15 Items including a selection of bars, popcorn, snacks, dried fruit and trail mix

WellBox  – Sustain
25 items including a selection of bars, popcorn, snacks, crackers, dried fruit, beef jerky, nuts and trail mix

WellBox – Recharge
12 items including a selection of bars, popcorn, snacks and trail mix and a 200g pack or responsibly sourced coffee

All boxes can be customised to accommodate gluten free, Halal, dairy free or vegan dietary requirements.

Purchasing any of the boxes in the range also means that one meal is donated to a vulnerable person in the local community via their charity partners, specifically working to feed the homeless at this difficult time. In addition, employers can give back to the community and ‘forward-pay’ boxes to be donated to their local food bank as part of their budget.

Wellbox is delighted to offer employers a fantastic way to reward their workforce whilst working from home, as well as helping the vulnerable in the local community most affected by Covid-19.

For more information on WellBox, please visit: www.wellboxes.co.uk

Pan Pacific London Appoints Internationally Renowned Executive Chef to its Bow of Executives

Pan Pacific London announced the appointment of Lorraine Sinclair as Executive Chef. Located in London’s new landmark tower, One Bishopsgate Plaza, this multi award-winning chef returns to her home country, following years honing her craft at Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers, where she was Director of Culinary Operations for four years.

On joining the hotel, Lorraine will be responsible for the entire food and chef operations. Widely recognised as one of the top female chefs in the world, Lorraine will lead the hotel brigade and will be putting her own stamp on restaurants and menus.

Lorraine Sinclair, Executive Chef at Pan Pacific London says: “I look forward to bringing the elegance of natural flavours respected in Asian cuisines to Pan Pacific London and growing our knowledge of respecting our environment through educating the team on sustainability.”

Her nearly thirty years’ experience in top kitchens in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, has seen Lorraine hold eight Executive Chef positions.  She was selected as the first female Executive Chef in a number of different locations including Bahrain, Istanbul and Hong Kong, and most recently in Dubai, in her position at the Fairmont Hotel.  While in Hong Kong, two restaurants under Sinclair’s direction were awarded Michelin Stars. She was nominated as a “Les Toques Blanches” Board Member and has published a charity cookbook. This is in addition to her receiving multiple accolades including the BBC Good Food award, Time Out’s Best Steak House and being placed third in Best Restaurants in 2013 by Esquire.

RATIONAL LAUNCHES “WONDERFUL” WEBINARS

Market-leading combi oven manufacturer Rational has launched a series of live online webinars.

The Chefs’ Forum is working with Rational to offer its members the chance to sign-up to Webinars taking place on an almost daily basis in the morning and afternoon.

Chefs are able to learn about the benefits of the new technology of the iCombi Pro and the VarioCookingCenter® from the comfort of their own homes or remotely at their place of work.

If you are interested in booking onto a Webinar, please contact rebecca@redcherry.uk.com who will be happy to assist.

If you want to know more about combi ovens then a live demonstration is the ideal answer. These days, that’s out of the question, so Rational UK has relaunched its popular Rational Live sessions online. The series of webinars is aimed at people who are thinking of getting a Rational or who simply want to find out more about them…the only difference is that you don’t get food samples to taste all the way through.

The first webinar, on 30 April, saw around 25 attendees who generated a lively Q&A session during and after the presentations. They were treated to (or tantalised with) a show covering lots of different combi cooking techniques, as expert Rational chef Gaurav Bajaj prepared a variety of mouth-watering dishes, ranging from beef baguette sandwich to poached salmon, ravioli and grilled steak – apologising for the fact that he couldn’t offer anyone a taste! Meanwhile fellow Rational chef Theo Bostock fielded questions from the viewers.

The webinar included lots of tips – for example, when using the finishing program to regenerate multi portions, a 65mm deep dish gives the best results, since it’s the optimum size in terms of air circulation and speed of heating.

Artificial intelligence

As well as looking at how the Rational combi operates, the webinar included examples of using Rational accessories. One section spotlighted the grill plate, which left the chef’s steaks and vegetables with the classic grilled branding marks (as well as cooking a delicious meal).

A key theme of the webinar focused on how the combi oven’s artificial intelligence is like having extra commis chefs helping in the kitchen. As well as being able to roast, grill, steam, bake and fry – at the touch of a button – the Rational combi also monitors the food and adjusts cooking times, for example if the oven door is opened. It also cleans itself, hygienically, at the end of the shift.

The post-demonstration Q&A session was hosted by Theo Bostock. Questions ranged from “Can Rational arrange training for a specific restaurant’s menu?” (answer, “Yes”), to “Can you transfer recipe programs from one combi to another?” (again, “Yes”, either by using a USB stick or via Wi-Fi or the internet, with Rational’s ConnectedCooking technology).

Knowledge and technique

Many participants took the time to show appreciation to Theo and the Rational team behind the webinar, with one commenting, “Many thanks for a wonderful session.”

“We’re delighted with the way the webinar went and by the really positive feedback we received from participants,” says Adam Knights, marketing director of Rational UK. “There’s clearly an appetite for this type of online activity, which gives us extra impetus to push ahead with the programme and expand it in the weeks ahead. For example, we plan to start running training webinars for chefs who already have a Rational and want to develop their knowledge and techniques.”

The webinars are open to foodservice professionals but places need to be booked in advance. To find out more, and for information and brochures, visit www.rational-online.com

About RATIONAL:

The RATIONAL Group is the world market and technology leader in the field of hot food preparation for professional kitchens. Founded in 1973, the company employs more than 1,100 people in Germany and a total of around 2,000 worldwide. Since the IPO in 2000, RATIONAL has been listed on the Prime Standard of the German Stock Exchange and is included in the SDAX.

The primary objective of the company is to always offer its customers maximum benefits. Internally RATIONAL is committed to the principle of sustainability, expressed in its policies on environmental protection, leadership and social responsibility. Year after year, numerous international awards testify to the exceptional quality of RATIONAL’s work.

Walter Rose & Son’s ‘Paid Forward’ Meat Box Gifting Scheme Helps Families Across Wiltshire

Last month Walter Rose and Son launched a Meat Box gifting scheme to help those most in need at this difficult time.  The scheme has been extremely well received by generous donors and local charities distributing the food boxes to those in need.  The Devizes-based butchers have set-up the scheme, where customers can ‘forward pay’ and gift Essentials Meat Packs to be delivered to those who need them most.

The Essentials Meat Box, priced at £45 contains 12  Free Range Eggs, 500g Diced Pork, 8 Rashers of smoked back bacon, 8 Breakfast Sausages, 500g Beef Mince, 8 Faggots, a 1kg Boneless Pork Shoulder Joint, 4 6oz Beef Burgers and two pints of Berkley Farm Organic Cow’s Milk and is the best-selling meat box on the website at the moment.

Jack Cook, Director at Walter Rose said

“I have been truly humbled by the number of people and organisations who have supported the campaign so far to pay for thirty-nine boxes so far that we have packed and distributed to families all over Wiltshire.  It is great to be working with such wonderful charities and community groups to help families facing food poverty at this difficult time.”

Many families continue to struggle to secure delivery slots with supermarket home delivery services.  Walter Rose’s supply chain remains unaffected, enabling swift doorstep delivery, getting vital supplies to those who need them most.

Walter Rose & Son are appealing to those who can comfortably afford it and organisations helping vulnerable groups to purchase ‘paid-forward’ Essentials Meat Boxes online to be gifted and distributed by the butchers through contactless delivery across Wiltshire to families needing a helping hand at this difficult time.

Local business owners Rupert and Julia Middleton kindly bought ten Essentials Meat Boxes that have all been distributed to those who need them, they said

“It is great to be part of this. For Those of us lucky enough to isolate relatively easily it is good to have this very practical way to help others. Thank you, Walter Rose, for making it happen”.

Another twenty boxes have been purchased by the Spurgeon’s Children’s Charity to help families most in need of help in providing essential food and a further six have been bought by Home Start to help families with children under the age of five and last week a customer bought an extra box in the shop, that has also now been allocated to Heals of Malmesbury.

Walter Rose have also been working with chefs and Wiltshire Council to devise various cook-along videos to show recipients how best to cook the produce, creating delicious family meals.

Local charities Home Start, Spurgeons Children’s Trust, Julian’s House and HEALS of Malmesbury have also benefited from gifted Essentials Meat Boxes.

To help Walter Rose help more families in the community, please forward-purchase an Essentials Meat Box on the link below:

https://shop.walterroseandson.co.uk/

Wiltshire Council are backing the scheme and Andrew Jack, Community Engagement Manager for Devizes concluded

“Colleagues from Wiltshire Council and I are in touch with the 500+ groups that are working right now to support local communities and help provide essential food and provisions to residents having to stay at home.  Between us, we can help to make sure these really useful boxes of supplies reach the families that need them the most and help to keep people going at this difficult time.”

Walter Rose continue to offer free delivery to customers all over the south of the UK and offer a completely contactless transaction.

The new website has been developed exclusively to manage the surge of orders during the Covid-19 pandemic to cope with unprecedented demand for efficient contactless delivery now the country is in lockdown.

Nut Cheese is the BIGGEST Food Trend to Watch!

This week saw a fantastic live nut cheese Cook-along take place with eighteen cooks and foodie influencers live on Zoom!

The participants all received 280g of delicious whole macadamia nuts from Nutcellars smallholder farmers in Malawi.

Here’s how all the fun unfolded and the how Bettina’s creamy nut cheese was made:

Andrew Emmott, Director of Nutcellars said

Today’s Cookalong session was a huge success, our cheese turned our perfectly and we’re really looking forward to having it for supper.  Our fellow Cookalong cooks suggested incorporating it in cannelloni or in lasagne. Another chef suggested introducing sun dried tomatoes, olives or peppers – The scope is really endless with such a delicious base. We were delighted to showcase the versatility of our fantastic macadamia nuts in nut cheese, set to be perhaps the biggest plant-based food trend of 2020!”

All Cook-along participants were asked to pre-soak their 280g of pre-posted macadamia overnight.

Plant-based influencer, Bettina Campulocci Bordi hosted the session and gave the class step-by-step instructions on how to create the creamy garlic and herb cheese in a chef’s ring, to then be chilled in the fridge.

The cheese lasts around five to seven days when refrigerated and is great as a canape ingredient, stuffed in a fresh fig or perfect with homemade sourdough.

Bettina said

“This is such a good way of utilising the brilliant properties of the macadamia nut and nut cheese is becoming increasing popular.  This makes a creamy full fat cheese filled with all the good stuff. Easy to make, fulfilling and comforting on all levels. It’s great on a cheeseboard as well as on a fresh piece of bread. This delicious, creamy macadamia nut cheese is a great add on to an alfresco picnic table or a perfect for a summary porch dinner with a glass of chilled white wine.”

Bettina’s Recipe

Makes 1 big cheese or two smaller ones

• 280 g (approx. 2 cups)
• macadamia nuts
• 160 ml (5 fl oz / 2/3 cup) water
• 2 tbs lemon juice & zest
• 1 grated garlic clove
• 2 tbs of chives (chopped)
• pinch of salt

Bettina’s Method…in her words…

Start by soaking the macadamia nuts for 2 hours by putting them in a bowl and covering with water. Or even better the night before. Drain the nuts and tip them into a blender along with the water and blitz until you get a smooth texture. If you have a small handheld blender, then blitz until smooth over several times.  As this is a soft style cheese the texture can be slightly bitty, which I personally love. If you are doing this in a high-speed blender, make sure not to over heat or over blend. You want the texture to be ricotta like.

Once blended, transfer to a clean glass or plastic container. Now it is time to flavour your cheese. Add lemon juice, zest, grated garlic, chopped chives, salt and pepper to taste. and mix well. Get your metal chefs ring out or a small bowl wrapped in cling film. If you’re doing the chef’s ring then place some grease proof paper under the ring. Grease the inside of the ring with some oil and add your cheese mixture in and until the top.

You can let the cheese sit in the fridge for a few hours to set and let the flavours marry together. Once chilled, pop the chefs ring off and serve with fresh baguette French-style or some lovely homemade sourdough. The cheese will last for up to 7 days in the fridge.

To get your hands on some creamy Macadamia nuts and have a go at making the new food of the Gods, visit the site here and get a whopping 20% off with the code: TCF20

Rob Baan Declares Koppert Cress is Growing Once More!

Rob Baan, CEO of Koppert Cress is delighted to let you all know that he has started growing again,

He wishes you all well and has created a special video message for all UK chefs.

Koppert Cress is a proud sponsor of The Chefs’ Forum and we look forward to showcasing their market-leading cresses and microgreens at Chefs’ Forum events once up and running again.

In the meantime, should you require any information on Koppert Cress or help with menu development or supplier or recipe inspiration, please email Paul Da Costa Greaves: paul@koppertcress.com

Syft Lockdown Series Webinar: Cooking, Community and Mentoring During the Crisis with Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL – Thursday 14th May at 11am

Syft are thrilled that Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL, celebrity chef and chef proprietor of Cafe Spice Namaste is joining them to talk about the importance of Cooking, Community and Mentoring during the Crisis. He’ll be discussing the industry’s response to the crisis, his student culinary competition and recent mentoring, as well as previous and future work with the wonderful NHS, and more. You’ll have the chance to ask the brilliant Cyrus your questions in the closing Q&A. This isn’t one to be missed.

Topics include:

– The various responses to the crisis
– Comfort food for the NHS – how the culinary industry is helping to keep spirits high
– How can we shape the post-lockdown culinary industry
– His student culinary competition: Zest Quest Asia
– Exciting future projects

You’ll have the chance to ask the brilliant Cyrus your questions in the Q&A. Not one to be missed.

Hosted by: Simon Forester, Syft

Born in Mumbai, Cyrus trained at the world famous Taj Hotels and Palaces chain in India, then becoming executive chef for 11 of the restaurants before he and his family moved to the UK in 1991. After cooking for Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and he was awarded an MBE in 2000. Following this, he was awarded an OBE in 2009 for his contributions to the restaurant industry.

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

Leading Welsh Chefs Bring Restaurant Experience Closer to Home

‘Make it…’ the best campaign helps support local businesses

Some of Wales’s most renowned chefs are joining forces to support the Welsh food industry as the Coronavirus crisis continues to cause significant disruption to local farmers and the wider industry.

Due to the current lockdown conditions the ‘culinary dozen’, which includes a number of Michelin starred chefs, will be getting creative with their smartphones and producing a series of DIY video recipes to inspire people to replicate restaurant standard cooking at home using PGI Welsh Lamb and PGI Welsh Beef.

With people currently unable to enjoy dining out the impressive roll call of names, which include chef and recent Great British Menu Welsh winner Hywel Griffith, Bryn Williams, Anand George, Matt Waldron, Stephen Stevens and Sam and Shauna from the BBC’s Big Cook-out, will be sharing their considerable experience and letting people in on some of their secrets as they help make high-grade Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef dishes accessible to the general public.

It comes as Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales warned that whilst there has been a surge in retail demand for some meat products, the dramatic reduction of trade to hotels, restaurants, pubs, and other establishments has produced a destabilising effect on the supply and market prices for both lamb and beef.

One of the ‘culinary dozen’, as they have been dubbed by some in the trade, has called for the wider public to make the most of the extra time they currently have at home to brush up on their cooking skills and support local food and drink producers in challenging circumstances.

Hywel Griffith, head chef of the Michelin-starred Beach House restaurant in Oxwich, said:

“Through my video recipes I hope to show how creating a really high-quality Welsh Lamb or Welsh Beef dish doesn’t have to be that complicated and also provides a nutritious meal whether you’re cooking for one or for the whole family.

“With the closure of restaurants and cafes because of Coronavirus, we have come together to help people create the eating-out experience at home, while also supporting our local businesses and farmers.”

Commenting on the call to arms, Rhys Llywelyn Market Development Manager from Hybu Cig Cymru, added:

“It’s great to see such prominent chefs leading the charge in supporting our farmers and the wider supply chain during this challenging time. Usually, 20 per cent of beef is consumed in the eating-out market but current closures mean there will be 2.5 billion fewer eating-out occasions across the UK between April and June this year.

“With an increasing supply of Welsh Lamb coming onto the market into the early summer, this pattern is likely to be reflected even further with the supply and demand of lamb. Our message to all consumers therefore is to support our farmers through buying certified PGI Welsh and buying premium cuts of meat be they steaks or joints.”

Each chef will be posting their recipes across their social media channels over the coming weeks to offer some culinary inspiration as consumers increasingly look online at ways to entertain themselves in the kitchen as well as ensure a healthy balanced meal for themselves and their family.

For those who want to get cooking straight away follow the Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef social media channels or visit the campaign page: https://eatwelshlambandwelshbeef.com/en/Uniquely-Welsh

Become a Zero Food Waste Business Through the OLIO Surplus Food Rescue Programme

Every year around 1/3 of all food produced globally goes to waste, largely ending up in landfill and accounting for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions per year.  If food waste were a country it would be 3^rd behind China and the USA in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

In the UK alone, according to WRAP, in the Hospitality and Foodservice Sector alone over 1.1M tons of food goes to waste each year, and 75% of this is food still fit for consumption, equating to 1.3bn meals.

Reducing food waste represents one of the greatest opportunities to reverse global warming and at the same time build communities and feed people.

While reducing food waste in the first place is where the primary focus should be, the reality is that, despite the best technology to achieve this, surplus food will always exist, and should be redistributed to prevent it from going to waste, reaching instead local communities. Charities play a key role here, but unfortunately not all charities are able to take all food types or have limited availability.  Additionally, there are several ‘food insecure’ families who do not visit food banks, for various reasons, including social stigma.

Through our unique platform, the OLIO Food Waste Heroes programme supports the hospitality industry to prevent surplus food from going to the bin.  Through our nationwide 8,000-strong food safety trained Food Waste Hero volunteers, we rescue surplus food from businesses and share it via our OLIO Neighbour-to-Neighbour sharing app with local communities.  In this way, not only are we helping to reduce food waste, but also helping to build communities as we reach people across the economic spectrum.   The sharing is safe, fast, friendly, and stigma-free.

Particularly during the current pandemic, we have also (through no-contact sharing) been reaching those most vulnerable/at risk who might not be able to visit supermarkets and/or food banks.

If you want to become a Zero Food Waste Business and have surplus food to be rescued due to covid-19, or if you would like to partner with OLIO for regular collections, please visit www.olioex.com or reach out to Martin Rohleder, Director OLIO for Businesses, at martin@olioex.com