Learning from the professionals

"I've been waiting to enter this competition for two years," says Barry Tonks, one of the finalists in the 1995 Nestlé Toque d'Or competition. "I think it's the most prestigious student competition there is. To have made it to the UK finals is an achievement in itself."

Tonks and team-mate Kerri Johnston, two third-year students from Aberdeen College, will be cooking a three-course meal for four people in three hours at the finals of the competition at London's Westminster College next Wednesday. The results will be announced the following day during a lunch at the Dorchester.

Tonks and Johnston beat off stiff competition to win the Scottish heat of the regional finals last February. In previous years, they would have then been left to work alone in their college kitchens perfecting dishes for the final. But 1995 sees the Scots contenders preparing their dishes in the kitchens of Alan Hill, executive chef at Gleneagles, Perthshire.

To give the students a taste of a commercial kitchen and gain first-hand experience of how professional chefs compile new dishes, competition sponsor Nestlé asked four leading chefs to act as "chef-mentors", in effect becoming consultants to their local student teams.

"The chef-mentors have been brought in to help perfect the students' techniques," explains Peter Trimingham, general manager for Nestlé foodservice. "And while the experience itself will undoubtedly boost the students' confidence and their career prospects, it should also help to bridge the gap between education in colleges and the real world of cooking."

Hill is one of these chef-mentors. From the outset he has been adamant that the students "aren't just going to shadow his brigade". Instead, he arranges for the pair to work with three members of his brigade - head chef Gordon Dochard, senior chef de partie Neil Jones and pastry chef Bruce Boyd. These three will then discuss Tonks and Johnston's combined efforts, together with Hill. "I'm just giving the dishes a fresh pair of eyes," he explains.

The students arrive at lunchtime, accompanied by their chef-lecturer Trevor Wyllie. They are visibly nervous so Hill immediately takes time to make them feel relaxed.

For the competition, Tonks and Johnston must base a three-course meal around a starter of brill, a main course using two whole ducks and a dessert including rhubarb. Their proposed menu has already been faxed to Hill - risotto of brill, breast of duck, followed by a rhubarb and ginger crème caramel - plus their suggested presentation and ingredient list.

Hill briefs Dochard, Jones and Boyd to cook their own interpretation of the students' menu. Without hesitation both student and staff teams set to work. Hill stays out of the kitchen until they are ready to present their dishes.

The starter cooked by the students is similar to that prepared by the Gleneagles chefs, while there is more variation in the main courses.

"The starters don't look that dissimilar, but the flavours are quite different," explains Tonks, tasting the risottos. By gradually adding fish stock to the rice Dochard says a better flavour has been achieved. Tonks and Johnston's dish relies on just water, which explains its blandness.

The students serve a pan-fried breast of duck, accompanied by game sausages, turned vegetables and apple chutney, on a rich Port and cassis-flavoured jus. Dochard and Jones conjure up pan-fried duck with celeriac purée and apple fritters, served on the same jus.

While tasting the duck, the team decide to try serving it with celeriac purée, topped off with celeriac and caramelised apple crisps. They talk about disregarding the sausages, but Tonks and Johnston stress that as part of the competition criteria, the whole duck must be used. They agree on braising the duck leg, which will add flavour to the sauce and reduce the bird's fattiness.

A winning balance

Next under the spotlight are the rhubarb and ginger cräme caramels, garnished with crystallised strips of rhubarb and set on a rhubarb and honey coulis. The students' cräme caramel is made with cream, while the Gleneagles team produces a lighter variation with milk. Johnston is keen try out this version of the recipe.

"We found it really hard to come up with a rhubarb dessert," says Johnston. "We wanted to go back to traditional puds, but rhubarb crumble just kept springing to mind."

Hill sums up: "What you have presented here are three individual dishes to win the competition. What you have to do is present a winning, balanced three-course meal." Tonks and Johnston look slightly despondent.

Dinner service looms and the magnificent seven put thoughts of the competition dishes to one side until the morning.

Away from the students Hill reiterates his role: "It's the job of the mentor to force ideas which the students can mull over. I'm throwing stones in the pond to make a ripple. The menu has to be 100% their work, otherwise they won't feel confident going into the competition."

Early the following day, the students arrive in kitchen fresh and refocused. Johnston goes to work with Boyd in the pastry kitchen, while Wyllie and Tonks work on the starter and main courses with Jones and Dochard in the main kitchen.

Tonks recites Hill's theory on menu balance: "Yesterday certainly made us think. Now we're putting forward a winning menu, not three winning dishes."

By mid-morning the team is ready to present the three revised dishes. A complex starter of mushroom and brill risotto arrives. It is topped with a mixed green salad, surrounded by three pimento sauces and three scallops. A crab dressing with mint waits to be tried out.

Assessing the presentation, Wyllie suggests the plate looks cluttered and the dish is probably too big as a starter. Hill agrees: "We mustn't forget the main ingredient for this course is brill."

A discussion as to how it can be perfected ensues. "The scallops are dominating the plate," says Tonks. They discuss placing just one on top of the risotto and salad dome. Dochard pours a trail of crab dressing between the pimento sauces. But the dish is still not right.

Johnston proposes omitting the pimento sauces and simplifying things visually - the risotto, topped with salad, surrounded by the crab dressing. A dish is immediately prepared conforming to Johnston's suggestion. They all agree it is now perfect.

There is little time for self-congratulation before the next course is put under the microscope. Everyone is pleased with the revised duck dish, the only alterations having been made in its presentation. "I'm happy with what you have done here," says Hill. "You can see the colour in the sauce, a lovely rich, dark colour."

They move to the pastry kitchen to discuss the dessert. The crème caramel is much lighter, and Tonks and Johnston are generally pleased with the dish, although Johnston says she wants "to go away and play with it".

"What we have to do now is cost out the three dishes and work out a time plan to ensure we cook it in three hours," says Tonks. Hill will then sample the final version of the menu when he visits Aberdeen College at a later date.

Hill congratulates the students on their achievements over the past day and a half. "Before cooking in our kitchens they were presenting ‘picture on a plate' food. They needed to concentrate more on flavours and taste, which is what they've done," he says.

"Although Kerri and Barry felt shot down after we first discussed the dishes, they are now feeling more confident about their menu. Nestlé wanted to broaden the competitors' horizons and I think that's what we've done. Let's hope they'll bring the trophy back to Scotland!"