Knockout Blow
In May Gordon Ramsay announced that he was founding a chefs' scholarship. A total of 1,300 young chefs applied, and by July just 18 were still in the running. Finally, the winners of a series of heats battled it out for the title. Janet Harmer reports.
The five young chefs striving to be the inaugural Gordon Ramsay Scholar arrived at London's Westminster Kingsway College for the final unaware of the difficulty of the task ahead. All they knew was that they would have to prepare a three-course meal - amuse-gueule, main course and dessert - for four covers within two-and-a-half hours.
This in itself was daunting. But with the competition being the brainchild of one of the UK's most talented and controversial chefs, media interest in the event was guaranteed. A barrage of clicking cameras circled the youngsters - aged between 18 and 22 - from the time that they walked into the college at 2.30pm. Blinding television lights greeted them, microphones hovered over their heads, and directors and presenters kept popping up when they least expected them.
Amazingly, they were all unfazed, their minds focused totally on the job in hand. At 3.45pm, about an hour before the serious business of cooking got under way, Ramsay divulged the mystery box of ingredients, including two items that had to form the centrepiece of the each competitor's menu: Scottish lobster for the amuse-gueule and grouse for the main course. The grouse, in particular, caused a sharp intake of breath from the contestants - they obviously had little experience of cooking the bird.
Ramsay was unrepentant at choosing such a tricky central ingredient, maintaining that it would test the talent of his finalists. "I didn't want the competitors to prepare classical dishes or anything intimidating, but I wanted them to be inspired to cook as they would in a working kitchen," he said. Indeed, he carried this intention further by allowing the young chefs the freedom to use their menu as a guideline only. "I didn't want the competitors to stick rigidly to the first ideas they had if they didn't want to," he explained. "It was important that they had the opportunity to evolve their dishes once they started cooking."
The revelation of the mystery ingredients was followed by some intense planning. Notes were scrawled, heads scratched and efforts made by the five chefs (see below) to incorporate the one special ingredient that they had been allowed to bring with them into their dishes. Interestingly, three chose wild mushrooms - Gemma Blow and Eddy Rains (cèpes) and Richard Bias (girolles) - while Leigh Myers brought puff pastry, and Paul Taylor came with Madeira.
Once the finalists had started cooking (at five minute intervals, beginning at 4.35pm) it was soon apparent that Blow, who emerged as the eventual winner, had taken Ramsay's advice on kitchen flexibility to heart. "Both my starter and dessert changed quite radically from the ideas I gave to the judges," she reflected after finishing. "Once I got into the kitchen and started working, I had more idea about what was going to work practically. Initially, my starter was going to be a salad, with maybe a sauce vierge, but then I changed it to a lobster bisque, incorporating some lobster tail, basil and caviar."
Blow's dessert also evolved: from a vanilla parfait ("I thought it could be a bit risky, as it might not set in time") to caramelised poached pears served with honey madeleines ("to provide texture and flavour") and raspberry chantilly ("a safe option").
Like all the other finalists, she roasted her grouse, following advice from Ramsay who had said that the bird should be treated in a similar manner to pigeon. Blow served it with creamed cabbage and bacon and a red wine jus incorporating Puy lentils. "They are classic accompaniments to grouse and provide a great marriage," she said.
In judging the grouse, Ramsay looked in particular towards John Williams, chef des cuisines at Claridge's, who stepped in at the last minute to replace celebrated US chef Charlie Trotter, who was unable to fly to the UK following the World Trade Center tragedy.
Williams's training and experience working in classical establishments has meant that over the years he has cooked many hundreds of grouse. "The crucial element in cooking grouse is not to cook it too fast and to constantly baste it," says Williams. "It is a very lean bird and needs to be barded for protection. My recommendation is to give it five or six minutes on each leg and four minutes on its back. About 15 minutes in total will produce a nice pink grouse.
Earthy flavours
"Grouse has a strong, distinct flavour, so good accompaniments include earthy flavours such as mushrooms and lentils, root vegetables - particularly celeriac. Bacon is excellent, as are crispy potatoes."
Ramsay and Williams were joined in the judging by Michael Caines, head chef and co-director of Gidleigh Park, Chagford, Devon, and proprietor of Exeter's Michael Caines at the Royal Clarence; Marcus Wareing, chef-proprietor of Pétrus, London; Mark Askew, chef de cuisine of Gordon Ramsay, London; and Philip Howard chef-proprietor of the Square, London. As Blow's boss, Howard stepped down from the final stages of judging.
The rest of the judges, though, were unanimous in their decision that Blow was the winner. As well as producing a well-balanced meal, each of her dishes were praised for their good flavours, with Williams noting: "She was the only one constantly tasting and seasoning throughout the competition."
Blow was one of 1,300 British-trained chefs aged between 18 and 25 who originally entered the competition, 18 of whom were selected from paper judging to compete in regional heats in Birmingham, Bournemouth and Glasgow. A fourth heat was held at the restaurant P‚trus in London for six students selected from entrants who had been nominated by their colleges.
Perhaps surprisingly, it was the college heat that caused the biggest surprise, with overall standards being declared by Ramsay as "exceptionally high". In the event, the tightly fought contest resulted in the winner, Eddy Rains of Exeter College, and runner-up Paul Taylor of South Trafford College, both going through to the final - the result of an on-the-spot decision made by Ramsay to reward their exceptional talent.
Now set to become an annual, and major, fixture in the catering competition calendar, the event was declared by its founder to have been an enormous success. "When I first thought about setting up the scholarship two-and-a-half years ago, I had a clear idea in my mind that I wanted to organise a competition that gave a proper insight into a working restaurant environment. What has impressed me so much is the exceptional standard that the young contestants were cooking to," said Ramsay, speaking at the award ceremony following a minute's silence for the victims of the New York terrorist attacks.
He added: "It was a particular joy to see the great skill and enthusiasm that the college contestants had, together with the support they received from their lecturers. At a time when there is so much criticism about the state of our catering colleges, this was really exciting.
"Everybody came up with some fantastic dishes, and the quality of what they produced was quite phenomenal - particularly considering they had no knowledge of the ingredients they were allowed to use until just an hour before they started. There's no doubt that I was not cooking at the kind of standard that we experienced in the final when I was their age."
The runners-up
Richard Bias, 20, chef de partie, Mansion House hotel, Poole, Dorset, won his place in the national final by winning the Bournemouth regional final. Originally from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Bias has worked at Mosimann's and City Rhodes in London before moving to the Mansion House. In the final he cooked a light tomato soup with caviar and a lobster and basil ravioli; roast grouse with wild mushroom charlotte and creamed celeriac; and rhubarb crumble with crême fraîche chantilly.
Leigh Myers, 22, sous chef, Simply Heathcotes, Preston, Lancashire, was the winner of the Glasgow regional final. Myers has returned to work in his home town of Preston having completed an apprenticeship at Paul Heathcote's in Longridge and graduated from Paul Heathcote's School of Excellence in Manchester. He has also worked at Northcote Manor, Langho, and the Devonshire Arms, Bolton Abbey, Skipton. Myers's menu in the final included salad of Scottish lobster with celeriac panna cotta; roast grouse with basil pommes purée, sautéd wild mushrooms, cabbage with bacon and red wine jus; mulled pear tarte tatin with vanilla crême fraîche.
Eddy Rains, 18, student at Exeter College, won the college final, earning himself a working stint at an Italian Michelin-rated restaurant and a visit to an Italian winery. In the national final he cooked a lobster salad with a julienne of cucumber, crême fraîche, caviar and chervil; roast grouse, cabbage and bacon, creamed leeks and celeriac, port thyme sauce; poached pear with star anise and cinnamon, cardamom chantilly cream.
Paul Taylor, 19, student at South Trafford College, was the runner-up in the closely contested college final. His menu in the finals included lobster vierge on a mâche salad with coriander seed vinaigrette; roast grouse on pommes rösti, broth of celeriac, leeks, carrots and sautéd cèpes with Madeira; cinnamon panna cotta with rhubarb compote.
The winner
Gemma Blow, 20, chef de partie, the Square, London was the winner of the Birmingham regional final. She began her career as a 15-year-old in the Gables restaurant in her home town of Harlow, Essex, before moving to London to work at City Rhodes, the Greenhouse, and then the Square. Her final menu comprised lobster bisque with basil and caviar; roast grouse with braised creamed cabbage and bacon and a red wine and Puy lentil jus; and caramelised poached pear with honey madeleines and raspberry ripple chantilly.
The prize
The world is now Gemma Blow's oyster. As the first Gordon Ramsay scholar, she is £5,000 richer and is soon to fly off for working stints in Chicago, with Charlie Trotter, and Singapore, at Raffles hotel. Blow, chef de partie at the Square in London, will also spend a week working alongside Gordon Ramsay at his restaurant in Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, and will receive six signature plates on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Villeroy & Boch factory in Luxembourg, when she will stay at the Château Septfontaines and visit a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Commenting on her win, she said: "I've always wanted to work my way around the world and end up in Australia, and now I've got the money to help me do it. I shall continue to work at the Square for at least another year, and by 2003 I think I shall be ready to go. But I've got some other travelling - to Luxembourg, Singapore and the USA - to do first."
For more information visit the competition's Web site, www.ramsayscholar.com
