
12th April 2013
Summer 2009 - Skills for Chefs 2009
The 12th annual Skills for Chefs conference on July 15-16 promises to be even more innovative this year as the Craft Guild of Chefs takes a key role in its organisation.
The 2009 Skills for Chefs event kicks off at Sheffield University on July 14 with a special “ice breaking” pre conference dinner that will pave the way for the next two days of fact finding business sessions backed by a lively social scene.
The Craft Guild of Chefs, stalwart supporters of the conference over the years, is taking a more active role in this year’s event to give Sheffield University’s training and development manager David McKown additional support. “The Guild is moving the event forward and ramping up the programmes with further backing from event organisers Dewberry Redpoint,” says McKown.
The University’s Tracy Carr says the special dinner will be “a festival of locally sourced produce”, in which she will be creating dishes showcasing the best that Yorkshire has to offer, and it will be followed by a quiz night to test delegates’ knowledge on how chefs can benefit from utilising the food on their doorstep mingled with networking.
Carr will also invite delegates on Wednesday evening to “excite their palates with global food ingredients” for the Eat The World dinner, which will culminate in entertainment from Professor Jolley whose feats are described by the organisers as “mind blowing”.
The conference and exhibition will open with live theatre contests to compete for the 2009 Skills for Chefs Cost Sector Chef of the Year and the Restaurant Chef of the Year – both using a mystery basket to challenge the chefs.
For the Cost Sector Chef of the Year, entries will be selected from the education, healthcare, government and contract catering sectors and competitors will have to produce a starter and main course, or a main course and dessert. The format is the same for the Restaurant Chef of the Year 2009 but entrants will be from the hotel, pub and restaurant sectors.
Chefs heading individual sessions include Peter Sidwell of the Good Taste Café in Keswick in the Lake District; Craft Guild chairman Nick Vadis, UK executive chef with Compass Group; Simon Hulstone, chef owner of the Elephant bar and restaurant in Torquay, Devon; Andy Aston of Restaurant Associates; Compass executive chef Andy Twells; Cyrus Todiwala of Café Spice Namesté; and last but not least celebrity chef Sat Bains, who will give a keynote session entitled: The Restaurant Chef.
The first of the business sessions on Wednesday, July 15, will come from Sidwell, who recently produced a four course dinner for 70 intrepid climbers, 1,000 ft up a Cumbrian mountain. This event was a sell out success with guests arriving formally dressed – black tie and gowns – to sample his classic menu that included potted Silloth shrimps, home cured Lakeland salmon with wild sorrel and slow braised local shin of beef.
He will be sharing his expertise on how he has utilised his environment to best advantage throughout his career, from his fine dining roots at the HSBC Tower in Canary Wharf to his current everyday style of cooking.
Another session entitled: Vive le Difference, will highlight the properties of French guinea fowl, described as “more unusual than chicken, less expensive than game meat, and offering caterers a delicious alternative for their menus”.
Vadis’ presentation will be: Cooking in the Credit Crunch. “I am hoping to show delegates how to create dishes from sustainable fish, crossing all sectors and budgets. I will also be presenting a new twist on the ‘bowl food’ concept and demonstrating a range of suitable recipes to reflect the
current economic climate,” says Vadis, who will ask members of the audience to join him afterwards to sample his creations.
Hulstone will take delegates through his experiences in the run up to winning the 2008 Knorr National Chef of the Year contest and his recent participation in the 2009 Bocuse d’Or where he came 10th in the world, and what winning means to him. He will also recreate one of his winning desserts.
Aston will be working with two local producers of regional and seasonal produce. He will create dishes using various ways of incorporating ingredients that are flavoursome and healthy, with the producers standing by to answer any questions relating to the produce.
The gala dinner menu will be unveiled under the leader ship of Andy Twells and the Craft Guild’s Culinary Academy of young chefs, to give delegates a taste of what’s to come on the Thursday evening. The young chefs will demonstrate and explain how each of them plays a vital part in its production.
Thursday’s sessions will open with award winning chefs from education, contract catering, restaurant and pub sectors being invited to compete and create a two course menu from a mystery basket of ingredients that will only be revealed 24 hours before the competition.
In the Global Kitchen, Todiwala will be going head to head with a mystery challenger who will not be disclosed until the morning of the event. Todiwala will recreate a traditional Indian meal, while his competitor will demonstrate his own creative menu, and then the delegates will decide who wins.
The future will be revealed in a session entitled: Future Trends, given by Jonathan Doughty, chairman of FCSI and group managing director of Coverpoint, who has an extensive background in foodservice, a theme that will continue after lunch with a Tomorrow’s Food presentation. Here panellists, fresh from the debate on the Farm to Pharma programme on BBC4, will take part in a question and answer session with delegates, chaired by restaurant critic and author Charles Campion. The panellists include food scientist Anthony Blake, University of Reading’s Professor Bob Rastall, and Oxford Brooks University’s Donald Sloane.
Sat Bains will then take to the stage with the keynote session entitled: Restaurant Chef. Derby born Bains will take his audience through his career, which includes a move to Nottingham when he was 21, and how he launched his own restaurant in the city and the challenges he faced in making it a success. He will also demonstrate his signature dish.
A fitting end to the conference will be the gala dinner at which the winners of all the live theatre competitions will be announced and presented with their awards by BBC TV’s One Show reporter and former Celebrity Masterchef Hardeep Singh Koli.
• For further details, email [email protected] or call 0845 1085504 or visit www.skillsforchefs.co.uk
The Craft Guild of Chefs, stalwart supporters of the conference over the years, is taking a more active role in this year’s event to give Sheffield University’s training and development manager David McKown additional support. “The Guild is moving the event forward and ramping up the programmes with further backing from event organisers Dewberry Redpoint,” says McKown.
The University’s Tracy Carr says the special dinner will be “a festival of locally sourced produce”, in which she will be creating dishes showcasing the best that Yorkshire has to offer, and it will be followed by a quiz night to test delegates’ knowledge on how chefs can benefit from utilising the food on their doorstep mingled with networking.
Carr will also invite delegates on Wednesday evening to “excite their palates with global food ingredients” for the Eat The World dinner, which will culminate in entertainment from Professor Jolley whose feats are described by the organisers as “mind blowing”.
The conference and exhibition will open with live theatre contests to compete for the 2009 Skills for Chefs Cost Sector Chef of the Year and the Restaurant Chef of the Year – both using a mystery basket to challenge the chefs.
For the Cost Sector Chef of the Year, entries will be selected from the education, healthcare, government and contract catering sectors and competitors will have to produce a starter and main course, or a main course and dessert. The format is the same for the Restaurant Chef of the Year 2009 but entrants will be from the hotel, pub and restaurant sectors.
Chefs heading individual sessions include Peter Sidwell of the Good Taste Café in Keswick in the Lake District; Craft Guild chairman Nick Vadis, UK executive chef with Compass Group; Simon Hulstone, chef owner of the Elephant bar and restaurant in Torquay, Devon; Andy Aston of Restaurant Associates; Compass executive chef Andy Twells; Cyrus Todiwala of Café Spice Namesté; and last but not least celebrity chef Sat Bains, who will give a keynote session entitled: The Restaurant Chef.
The first of the business sessions on Wednesday, July 15, will come from Sidwell, who recently produced a four course dinner for 70 intrepid climbers, 1,000 ft up a Cumbrian mountain. This event was a sell out success with guests arriving formally dressed – black tie and gowns – to sample his classic menu that included potted Silloth shrimps, home cured Lakeland salmon with wild sorrel and slow braised local shin of beef.
He will be sharing his expertise on how he has utilised his environment to best advantage throughout his career, from his fine dining roots at the HSBC Tower in Canary Wharf to his current everyday style of cooking.
Another session entitled: Vive le Difference, will highlight the properties of French guinea fowl, described as “more unusual than chicken, less expensive than game meat, and offering caterers a delicious alternative for their menus”.
Vadis’ presentation will be: Cooking in the Credit Crunch. “I am hoping to show delegates how to create dishes from sustainable fish, crossing all sectors and budgets. I will also be presenting a new twist on the ‘bowl food’ concept and demonstrating a range of suitable recipes to reflect the
current economic climate,” says Vadis, who will ask members of the audience to join him afterwards to sample his creations.
Hulstone will take delegates through his experiences in the run up to winning the 2008 Knorr National Chef of the Year contest and his recent participation in the 2009 Bocuse d’Or where he came 10th in the world, and what winning means to him. He will also recreate one of his winning desserts.
Aston will be working with two local producers of regional and seasonal produce. He will create dishes using various ways of incorporating ingredients that are flavoursome and healthy, with the producers standing by to answer any questions relating to the produce.
The gala dinner menu will be unveiled under the leader ship of Andy Twells and the Craft Guild’s Culinary Academy of young chefs, to give delegates a taste of what’s to come on the Thursday evening. The young chefs will demonstrate and explain how each of them plays a vital part in its production.
Thursday’s sessions will open with award winning chefs from education, contract catering, restaurant and pub sectors being invited to compete and create a two course menu from a mystery basket of ingredients that will only be revealed 24 hours before the competition.
In the Global Kitchen, Todiwala will be going head to head with a mystery challenger who will not be disclosed until the morning of the event. Todiwala will recreate a traditional Indian meal, while his competitor will demonstrate his own creative menu, and then the delegates will decide who wins.
The future will be revealed in a session entitled: Future Trends, given by Jonathan Doughty, chairman of FCSI and group managing director of Coverpoint, who has an extensive background in foodservice, a theme that will continue after lunch with a Tomorrow’s Food presentation. Here panellists, fresh from the debate on the Farm to Pharma programme on BBC4, will take part in a question and answer session with delegates, chaired by restaurant critic and author Charles Campion. The panellists include food scientist Anthony Blake, University of Reading’s Professor Bob Rastall, and Oxford Brooks University’s Donald Sloane.
Sat Bains will then take to the stage with the keynote session entitled: Restaurant Chef. Derby born Bains will take his audience through his career, which includes a move to Nottingham when he was 21, and how he launched his own restaurant in the city and the challenges he faced in making it a success. He will also demonstrate his signature dish.
A fitting end to the conference will be the gala dinner at which the winners of all the live theatre competitions will be announced and presented with their awards by BBC TV’s One Show reporter and former Celebrity Masterchef Hardeep Singh Koli.
• For further details, email [email protected] or call 0845 1085504 or visit www.skillsforchefs.co.uk