Schools cook off finalists revealed

For the second year running Stagecoach South West is sponsoring Exeter College’s Schools’ Cook Off competition which sees its challenging final take place on the opening day of the city’s prestigious Festival of South West Food & Drink.

The competition, which gives the best young chefs from schools in Exeter and beyond a chance to demonstrate their culinary skills, originated from an idea from Michelin starred chef Michael Caines. Michael is not only one of the Festival’s founders but also Governor at Exeter College and founder and mentor for the College's elite Michael Caines’ Academy, which specialises in training young people for employment in the hospitality industry.

This year eight schools entered and, following a series of in-school heats, whittled down their aspiring chefs to the final eleven who were put through their culinary paces at the semi-final event. This was held in the new Skills Kitchen at Exeter College on the evening of Monday 24 March.

Here, each student cooked a two course menu of their own devising, with dishes on offer including such tasty treats as Sushi 3 Ways, Goats Cheese Ravioli, Herb Crusted Lamb and Thai Chicken.

Each menu was tasted and judged by Michael Watson, Managing Director of Stagecoach South West and John Wheeler and Stuart Fowles, Chef Lecturers at Exeter College.

After much debate amongst the judges, two finalists were selected: Kathryn McDowell from Exmouth Community College, who cooked American style Burgers served with Sweet Potato Chips followed by Blueberry Cheesecake with Fruit Coulis and Melissa Johnson, from The King’s School, who cooked pan fried Grey Mullet with Potato Boulangère with Pea puree, Hearts of Palm and roasted Tomato stuffed Peppers followed by Apricot Cheesecake with Crème Fraîche and caramelised Hazelnuts. Kathryn and Melissa will now go on to cook their winning menus at the live ‘cook off’ final which is being held at the festival on the afternoon of Friday 25h April.

Michael Watson commented “I’m delighted we’re once again sponsoring the cook off competition and very impressed at the high standards of cooking on show here today. It’s made choosing the finalists an extremely difficult task but, after much debate, we all felt Kathryn and Melissa deserved to make it through to the final heat.”

John Wheeler, Deputy Head of the Hospitality Faculty at Exeter College, said: "We devised this challenge for local schools to show the public that flock to the Food Festival each year the massive amount of culinary talent our young people have. We are very proud of the achievements of all the catering and hospitality students that join the college, and we felt it was important to celebrate the achievements of even younger students in the schools in the area. I’m already looking forward to the finals at the food festival!"

John added “It’s great that after such a success at last year’s festival the competition has again attracted a really high standard. We’re even more delighted that last year’s runner up, Bethany Baines, just pipped to the top spot, has applied to be one of our elite Michael Caines Academy students- a real example of how this type of competition can inspire excellence.”

Deborah Capon, Teacher from Kings’ School said: “The Schools’ Cook Off is a fantastic opportunity for students to work in a real catering kitchen that we can’t provide. It is nice for our students to mix with students from other schools.”

All semi-finalists and the finalists received certificates plus vouchers for free bus travel on Stagecoach South West buses.