News

Feast Of Medals

11 November 2008

Feast of Medals Brought Home from Olympics

Chefs from the British Culinary Olympic Team are hot property after bringing home a staggering 35 medals from the biggest international cooking contest in the world. Competing against 32 other countries, the Senior British Culinary Olympic Team won 25 silver medals in the national team competition at the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany, in October, while the juniors scooped five silver and five bronze medals, making the overall team the highest performing team from the UK.

The team were supported by culinary partners Heinz Foodservice, Churchill China, Electrolux UK and the British Culinary Federation, who provided financial and practical assistance.

The senior British Culinary Olympic Team members were chosen for their combination of individual skills and ability to work together and complement each others' specialist skills. Simon Hulstone, Chef Patron, Elephant Restaurant, Torquay, was an inspired team captain, who used all his skills to motivate and inspire the team. Simon won the Chef of the Year award just before setting off for the Culinary Olympics, so expectations were high.

Team members Mark Hill, Executive Chef, House of Commons; Mark Fitzmaurice, Chef Director, Veg First; Alan Baker-Green, Executive Chef, Compass Government Services Dept; David Galpin, Programme Co-ordinator, South Devon College; Andrew Ditchford, chef, House of Commons and team manager, Roger Hulstone, Executive Chef, Rainbow International Hotel, Torquay, completed the team.

The national team competition is by far the most demanding competition in the Olympics. Each day, eight national teams competed in the Restaurant of Nations in glass fronted kitchens, observed by judges and the public. They each had to prepare and serve 120 three course, Michelin standard meals to paying customers, in a restaurant which served just under a thousand people.

The teams do not serve a special meal to the judges, which is the norm in most other similar competitions. Plates are pulled out at random by judges and the team do not know which meal the judges will eat. This ensures highest standards are maintained over all the covers.

The British team competed on the first day, not the best draw of the competition, but earned their first silver medals for this category nevertheless. On the third day, the team had to produce a cold buffet on a 20 metre, specially designed table, consisting of 8 varieties of tapas, show platters, plated main course meals, a four course plated meal, desserts, petit fours and a centre piece of sugar. Unfortunately the original centre piece collapsed on the way to the departure venue in the UK. However, the talented team were able to make another centre piece on arrival in Erfurt and saved the day.

The team worked well into the night throughout the competition and thoroughly deserved their haul of 25 medals.

The junior team members were chosen from Westminster Kingsway College and led by Simon Stocker who, along with his colleagues, spent the last year training the team. They were Jay Barnard, James Burger, Selin Kiazim, Ben Arnold and Charlotte Sharpe.

The team competed in a hot food competition and a ‘cooking studio' competition which would have stretched the talents of many senior chefs.Both teams had really good back-up teams. The back-up team for the seniors were Robert Bellitte and Louis Marie, Hilton Hotel, Park Lane and Rod Naylor, HMS Raleigh. Vince Cottam, Emily Evans, Gary Hunter and Chris Green from Westminster Kingsway College were behind the Junior team.

Norway were overall winners, Germany came second and Sweden third in the national team competition, in which the results of both the Hot Kitchen and Cold Buffet categories were collated.

Now the competition is over, the British Culinary Olympic Team will reflect on the honour of being chosen to represent their country, the importance of teamwork and the ability to stay awake night after night. The Culinary Olympics is the largest and most important competition for chefs in the world and the British Culinary Olympic Team members can be proud of their achievements.

Brian Cotterill, President of the Chefs and Cooks Circle and Executive Member of the British Culinary Federation, was overall organiser for the British Culinary Olympic Team. He was delighted with their performance and said: "In an international competition of this calibre, each chef is under pressure to use his or her own individual talents for the good of the team. The quantity of medals won at Erfurt is an indication not only of the immense skill, but also of the discipline and team spirit of all those involved.""Our team put on a great performance during those marathon days and nights of the Olympics. Pride in their country and pleasure in their achievements went hand in hand with the friendships they formed with chefs around the world, which is what makes the Culinary Olympics so special."

British Culinary Olympic Team Hot Kitchen Menu

Cannelloni of Devon crab & comfit of River Dart Salmon

Served on a citrus terrine with lemon grass, ginger butter and a soy reduction

Tenderloin of venison with Savoy cabbage & lardons

Butternut tartlet, truffle & potato terrine with a red wine jus

Treacle tart with blackberry and apple saffron custard

Served with a rich vanilla ice cream

Junior Team Hot Main Course Menu

Pot roast fillet of pork, wrapped in sage & pancetta

A pork & apricot cottage pie

West Country faggot stuffed with apple

Herb Derby dauphinoise