THESE were the delightful scenes at the Institute of Technology in Tralee this Thursday as the master chefs of tomorrow showed off their wonderful culinary skills.
And it was a very special day in particular for Killarney Community College student Natalia Leane who was crowned Supreme Apprentice Chef for 2018.
The transition year pupil, who will turn 17 on Friday, created a delightful dish of Skeaghanore duck with a sweet orange glaze to impress the judges who presented her with the top prize.
To reach the final creative Natalia had already impressed with cooked pan-seared duck breast served with butternut squash ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce, charred clementine segments and sautéed spinach garnished with roasted hazelnut pieces.
Her culinary skills saw her see off stiff competition from secondary school students from across Munster and Leinster who travelled to cook in the IT Tralee kitchens.
The big event, sponsored by Flogas Ireland and Fáilte Ireland, saw each finalist assigned to an experienced chef to provide mentoring to help them design and create unique signature dishes using locally sourced ingredients.
Kerry also took second place thanks to a dark chocolate mousse with raspberry sorbet, honeycomb shards, shortbread crumb and filled profiteroles by Isabelle Lynch, Mercy Mountawk, Tralee. Jack Granville from McEgan College, Macroom, Co Cork came third with a roast rack of Shandangan lamb, red wine jus, tian of courgette, lamb shoulder croquettes with hasselback potatoes.
In addition to the winner’s trophy, Natalia won a set of professional knives, €1,000 equipment for her school, a year’s subscription to Easyfood Magazine and a professional food styling session at Easyfood Magazine HQ this summer.
This is the sixth year of the Apprentice Chef Programme which was established by Mark Doe of Just Cooking Cookery School and Mark Murphy, lecturer in Culinary Arts at IT Tralee.
Mark remarked: “Since 2012 we have delivered a series of demonstrations and workshops to over 4,000 students. We are committed to encouraging young people to enter the industry to help alleviate the chef shortage in Ireland whilst simultaneously promoting the importance of healthy eating to enhance physical and mental well-being”.
Pictures: Sean Curtin, True Media. Click on individual images for details
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