University Chef celebrates competition success

An elite team of chefs from the University of Exeter have won awards in The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) Chefs Competition 2013.

The staff at Reed Hall Conference and Events Centre, an Event Exeter venue at the University of Exeter, are bursting with pride as they celebrate the recent success of colleague Janet Woolacott (Chef de Partie), who scooped the bronze award in the Individual Major Chef of the Year category at this year's TUCO competition.

The annual TUCO competitions are designed to allow chefs at all levels from Universities and Colleges across the U.K to showcase their skilled craftsmanship, creative endeavour, artistry and professional development.
The Individual Major Chef of the Year category, sponsored by Major International, enabled Chefs to showcase their culinary skills, expertise and knowledge to deliver a 3 course meal for 2 covers.

Having previously competed in the Chefs Challenge Team Event at TUCO alongside other University colleagues, Janet, who has worked at Reed Hall for many years, decided to brave it alone and rose admirably to the challenge of the individual event.

Her menu, which had to incorporate products from the Major range, included a butternut squash, sweet chilli and coconut soup, followed by seared pork fillet with pan fried black pudding and a West Country apple cider sauce and finished with a clementine panna cotta, served with cracked black pepper shortbread and strawberry mint salsa.

Janet commented, "Although I have taken part in the TUCO competitions before, I have never competed on my own. It was incredibly nerve wracking but I got lots of support from the rest of the team and was really pleased with my dishes. To come away with an award was fantastic."

A team of four other Chefs from the University were also proud winners of the Chefs Challenge Team Event for the second year in a row, fighting off tough competition from over 60 chefs from 20 universities, also competing for the coveted gold medal. Their challenge was to produce a 4 course meal using red gurnard to start, guinea fowl for the main course, followed by a pre-dessert using seasonal British fruit and a dessert of the team's choice.

Head Chef Aaron Tong said: "We are delighted to have won the gold award for a second year in a row, none of us could quite believe it when the announcement was made. The standard is always so high at TUCO that we knew we would have to give it our all. I really enjoy competing at a national level and to win gold is just amazing.”