Final duo for the NW Young Chef of the Year challenge

Andrew Postlethwaite from the Castle Green Hotel, Kendal, and Tom Lee from the London Carriage Works in Liverpool have made it through to the final of the North West Young Chef of the Year 2010.

They competed with five other finalists under 25 years old at the cook offs at Kendal College on March 30 and Wirral Metropolitan College on March 31, with Postlethwaite winning the Cumbria heat and Lee the Merseyside heat.

Their challenge was to cook a three course meal for two using produce sourced in the north west costing up to £25 for a judging panel that included competition organiser and British masterchef Brian Mellor.

Postlethwaite, following in the footsteps of last year's Cumbria winner Martin Frickel, who also worked at the Castle Green Hotel, produced a winning menu that consisted of freshly caught rainbow trout, pickled cockles, beetroot and samphire, followed by wild rabbit, butternut squash, Black Combe ham and wild garlic. For dessert, he made rhubarb, Curthwaite goat's cheese and Grasmere gingerbread cheesecake.

The cook off was Lee's second stab at the title after winning the Merseyside heat last year and being a runner up in the final at Manchester College. At this year's heat, he produced a tortellini of Anglesey mussels with crispy pancetta, leeks and parsley foam, followed by pan roasted rump of Barnston Longhorn beef with miniature cottage pie, new season carrot purée, field mushrooms, spinach and natural jus. For dessert, he made an iced parfait of Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire cheese with Crispin apple and sorbet. Significantly, prior to the competition, he only had a chance to practise parts of his dishes, and the heat was the first time he had plated the entire menu.

The two chefs will now compete with the other heat winners, namely, Martin Hargreaves from Lancashire, Michael Tate from Manchester and Jamie Bridgett from Cheshire, at the final in June. The prize for the champion will be a week long bursary in a top European restaurant with mentoring from an accomplished chef. The winner will also win a weekend for two at a luxury hotel and a set of chefs' knives.

Nigel Crane, managing director of competition sponsor Essential Cuisine, gave the following advice to all five chefs going forward to the final: "Keep it hot, keep it simple, local and in season."

Andrew Postlethwaite in action at the Cumbria heat of North West Young Chef of the Year

Words: Sheila Eggleston

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