Blow wins first Gordon Ramsay Scholar award
Twenty-year-old Gemma Blow has been named the first Gordon Ramsay Scholar after a cook-off in London last night.
As well as receiving a cheque for £5,000, she is now looking forward to working stints in Chicago with chef Charlie Trotter, in Singapore at the Raffles Hotels, and back in London with Gordon Ramsay.
Blow, chef de partie at The Square restaurant, London, beat four fellow competitors to the prize after a gruelling two-and-a-half hour final at Westminster & Kingsway college.
Their task was to cook a three-course meal for four from a mystery box of ingredients, using Scottish lobster for an amuse guele and grouse for the main course.
Blow's winning menu included a lobster bisque with basil and caviar; roast grouse with braised creamed cabbage and bacon, red wine Puy lentils; and caramelised poached pear, honey madeleines, and raspberry ripple chantilly.
Ramsay, who intends the scholarship to become an annual event was delighted with the overall standard throughout the competition. "Considering the oldest competitor today was just 22 years of age, the quality of food they have prepared has been phenomenal," he said.
Ramsay was joined on the judging panel by John Williams of Claridge's, who stepped in at the last minute in place of Charlie Trotter who was unable to fly from the United States because of last week's terrorist attacks.
Also on the panel were Michael Caines of Gidleigh Park, Chagford, Devon; Marcus Wareing of Petrus, London; Mark Askew of Gordon Ramsay, and Philip Howard of The Square.
The four runners-up were Richard Bias, 20, chef de partie, Mansion House Hotel, Poole, Dorset; Leigh Myers, 22, sous chef, Simply Heathcote's, Preston; Eddy Rains, 18, student, Exeter College; and Paul Taylor, 19, student, South Trafford College, Manchester.
- For further coverage of the competition, see Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine on 4 October.