28th October 2019

CH&CO crowns its Chef of the Year

Written by: Edward Waddell
Alan Giannasi was declared the CH&CO Chef of the Year at the Seafood Training School within Billingsgate Market in front of an audience of colleagues, clients and suppliers.

Eight finalists across the CH&CO business battled it out for the Chef of the Year 2019. The judges included Jeremy Ford the director of food at Gather & Gather, Paul Mannering chef academy principal at HIT Training and Steward McQueen manager of the Seafood Training School.

To secure their place in the final the eight chefs had to create a three-course menu featuring a seafood starter, surf and turf main course with a twist and an autumn dessert.

During the inaugural final, the eight competitors had two hours to produce their three-course menu, showcasing technical skill, great flavours and good presentation.

Giannasi produced a menu of seafood suet rag pudding with a crab bisque sauce, squid ink cracker and torched langoustine. His surf and turf main consisted of a pan-fried pigeon breast and roasted monkfish Jerusalem artichoke puree, baby beets, watercress and pigeon jus.

His Autumnal inspired pudding was an orange, almond and bilberry cake with sloe gin ice cream, salted granola, yoghurt panna-cotta, bilberry gel and bilberry compote.

Steve Oram, culinary learning & development chef for CH&CO, said: “The inaugural CH&CO Chef of the Year competition was a resounding success. What a great way to celebrate the culinary talent within the business and our unwavering focus on incredible food experiences and people development. Huge congratulations go to all the finalists and to Alan Giannasi for taking the title!

“This was an excellent platform for our chefs from across the business – from workplaces, education and healthcare to destinations, venues, livery and events – to showcase their incredible talents and creativity. I thank everyone involved in bringing the event to life, from colleagues to our supplier partners. We look forward to growing the competition for 2020!”

As well as overall Chef of the Year, Giannasi was also awarded Best Starter, with Adam Robson scooping Best Main Course and Rachel Stebbing the Best Dessert. Giannasi won a meal for two at the Ritz plus a London food Tour for winning the CH&CO Chef of the Year.