With the deadline for entries for the Country Range Student Chef Challenge being extended until December 18th, Craft Guild of Chefs Chairman of Judges Chris Basten is calling on catering colleges across the country to get involved and make the 25th edition of the prestigious cooking competition a year to remember.
The Country Range Student Chef Challenge provides full-time hospitality and catering college students with the perfect platform to improve their cooking skills, knowledge and technique, while developing real life experience under intense pressure and competition situations.
Run in collaboration with the Craft Guild of Chefs, the challenge has played a huge role in developing young chefs and talent around the UK. The Challenge criteria for this year’s Challenge centres on the essential core skills and techniques studied on a second-year professional cookery course and Chris Basten believes it’s the perfect test of the students’ knowledge of both classical cooking and the more modern methods of the last 25 years.
He said:
“We wanted to make the theme extra special for this year’s competition as the Challenge celebrates its 25th year but also to test the key skills students learn on their cookery courses. One of the main aims of the competition is to prepare students for future careers in the industry and I believe the Challenge, it’s theme and criteria this year do exactly that.”
As well as being able to add ‘Country Range Student Chef Challenge Winner’ to their CVs, the winning team will also receive a day’s work experience placement at a Michelin-starred restaurant, as well as being taken on foodie tour of London which includes a guided tour of the capital’s famous Billingsgate Market where they will be taught fish filleting skills by the resident master fishmonger.
Commenting on the prize, Basten continued:
“Winning the Country Range Student Chef Challenge title sets students up perfectly for a life in the catering industry and shows they can handle the pressure in the kitchen under strict competition conditions. As well as the obvious benefits of winning the title, the successful team will also have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work in a Michelin-starred restaurant which many aspiring chefs can only dream of. It really is a fantastic competition and one I highly recommend chefs and catering colleges to get involved in.”
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