Enter South West Chef of the Year!

The South West Chef of the Year competition, staged by Taste of the West and Michael Caines MBE and sponsored by 3663, is now in its ninth year and this year’s competition will be bigger and better than ever.  Five more judges have joined our judging panel so this year will see a rare gathering of some of the South West’s finest chefs creating an extremely esteemed panel of judges.  The panel, headed by Michael Caines MBE, will include Chris and James Tanner, Peter Gorton, Darrin Hosegrove, Simon Hulstone, Ian Webber, Matt Mason, Paul Ainsworth and Neil Haydock.

As ever, there are three classes:

·   Professional                                  Aged 23+

·   Young Professional                       Aged 16-22

·   South West Home Cook                Aged 16+

An additional round has been introduced this year for the two professional classes. Judges will select a group of semi-finalists who will be asked to prepare the two course meal submitted with their entries, using two compulsory main ingredients nominated by our judges. From these a number of finalists will be selected and invited to return for a final when they will be given a mystery box of ingredients with which to prepare a dish in an allotted time.

Entrants in the South West Home Cook of the Year will be selected directly for a final, as in previous years.

The winners of the competition will be announced at a prestigious awards presentation dinner to be held at ABode Exeter.  The dinner will be prepared by three of our judges who are also previous winners of the competition: Simon Hulstone, Ian Webber and Matt Mason. Additional awards will be presented during the evening for Best Menu, Best Presentation, Best Use of Local Produce etc.

For more information about the competition, the judges, the prizes and details of all of our previous winners, visit the South West Chef of the Year website atwww.southwestchef.co.uk.

Entry to the competition is by an online form on the website and the closing date for entries is strictly Wednesday 19^th September.

Why not follow @SWChefComp on twitter for regular updates.