Rotary Young Chef Competition

Every year Rotary clubs throughout Britain invite young people to take part in Rotary's Young Chef competition. It starts with local heats and progresses to Rotary District finals and then a National final.

This is the 6^th year that the Rotary Club of Market Bosworth has sought local entrants for this competition and for the second successive year the pupils of the Market Bosworth School took up the challenge

The Market Bosworth School entered 4 finalists for the "cook off" on Wednesday 30th November. Each had to prepare, in two hours, a three course healthy meal comprising starter, main course and dessert for two people and costing less than £15 or euro equivalent. The judges were Rotarian John Whitehead and his wife Jill, and Chris Hayes, wife of Rotarian John Hayes.  The Club is always impressed by the enthusiasm of the finalists and this year was no exception.

The quality of all the food was excellent even by celebrity chef standards and this made the judging a very difficult task, requiring much resampling of the mouth-watering preparations. One can only imagine the burden of responsibility the judges felt having to sample all that delicious food but someone has to do it!.

After extensive deliberations the judges awarded Mae the gold certificate and a £15 WH Smith gift voucher. Summer won the silver and a £10 voucher and Jessica the bronze plus a £5 voucher. Runner-up was Ellie. All the contestants received a signed certificate from the Club and an embroidered Young Chef apron.

Mae's winning menu was a starter course of  warm asparagus wrapped in Parma ham, served with a soft egg poached in a bag. This was followed by a main course of prawn risotto and finally a dessert course of lemon soufflé.

John said, "This year's standard was higher than ever. Congratulations to all four finalists and to Mrs. Wright, the teacher, who has supported this competition with enthusiasm. We look forward to seeing Mae compete in The District Finals early in the new year."

Watch the slideshow to meet the contestants and to see what tasty dishes they prepared.

Rotary Young Chef Competition. Read what it's all about

The Rotary Young Chef Competition is a national competition organised and promoted by Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland and sponsored by Filippo Berio.

It is a four stage competition that  aims to encourage young people to:

• Learn how to cook a healthy meal
• Develop food presentation skills
• Consider food hygiene issues
• Develop organisational and planning skills
• Develop an ability to cope in a demanding situation

The competition is open to all students in full time education between ages 11 and 17.

The Four Stages of the Competition

Local Heats These are organised by local Rotary clubs and hosted by schools or colleges between September and December. The winner of each local heat is entered into the district finals.

District Finals Organised by Rotary at schools or colleges between January and mid-February. The winner and runner up from each district final will be entered into a regional final.

Regional Finals Organised by Rotary at schools or colleges between mid-February and March. The winner of each regional final is entered into the national final.

The National Final The 2016/17 national final will take place on Saturday, 13th May 2017 and be held at Lincoln College, Monks Road, Lincoln, LN2 5HQ.

Competition Guidelines

Task To prepare in two hours a three course healthy meal comprising starter, main course and dessert for two people costing less than £15 or euro equivalent.

Judges allocate marks as follows:

• Costing 5 points
• Planning 10 points
• Healthy choice of dishes 10 points
• Presentation of table including flowers, cloth etc 10 points
• Meal served at correct temperature 10 points
• Neatness of working area and hygiene 15 points
• Range of skills used 20 points
• Taste and presentation of starter 20 points
• Taste and presentation of dessert 20 points
• Taste and presentation of main course 30 points

          Total 150 points

Full details can be found here