Stafford College Catering students win at the British Culinary Federation Team Challenge Finals

The team of two Chefs and a Waiter comprised of 19 year old catering apprentice George Edwards, 18 year old Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery student Matthew Degg, and 19 year old NVQ Level 3 Hospitality Supervision and Leadership student, Ellen Marshall. As part of the competition, the students had to design a menu and complete a written submission around the brief provided by BCF before preparing and serving the food in the competition. The menu, served with complementary wines, comprised of the following:

Starter - Seared seabass, scallop, heritage tomatoes, olive tapenade, basil foam, squid ink tuile

Main Course - Chai smoked duck, baby carrots, pak choi, parsley root puree, noodles, sesame crisp, five spice jus

Sweet - Elderflower panna cotta, parma violet gin gel, popcorn

The BCF Student Cook & Serve Team Challenge, which is open to all full-time and part-time students is now in its eighteenth year and students from Stafford College, part of Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, successfully made the final for a third year in a row which was this year held at University College Birmingham. In addition to achieving third place in the prestigious competition, the college team were also named Best Kitchen Team and walked away with prizes including a state-of-the-art food processor, worth over £1,000, professional knife sets, pans, mugs as well as a glass trophy and certificates.

On the success of the students, Hospitality Lecturer at Stafford College, Richard Allan, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the talent of our students, they have shown huge passion and commitment towards the College and the Hospitality industry as a whole. The competition was of a very high standard and the team were up against some of the best Hospitality and Catering colleges in the country. To compete with these colleges is a credit to our students and the hard work they have put in.”

Stafford College offers a wide range of Food, Hospitality and Catering courses and is home to the AA College Rosette and multi-award winning restaurant, The Riverbank Restaurant. Staffed entirely by Hospitality and Catering students at Stafford College, The Riverbank Restaurant is open to the public for lunch and dinner most weekdays and meals are freshly prepared daily by the College’s students using top-quality fresh ingredients cooked and presented to fine dining standards.