Catching up with Thomas Swaby, National Chef of the Year 2022

"I felt that I had done better than the previous year, but even so. I walked up in a bit of a daze, took hold of the trophy and just walked off. David Mulcahy had to grab me back to say a few words."

Mulcahy, NCOTY competition organiser and food innovation and sustainability director at Sodexo UK and Ireland, gave Swaby, the head chef at Inverlochy Castle in Fort William, the opportunity to announce that he was off to the Caribbean, but sadly the chef's health and the pandemic soon put paid to that adventure.

After recovering from treatment for varicose veins on his leg, Swaby has spent the early part of 2022 visiting some of his favourite restaurants, including Paul Ainsworth at No 6 in Padstow, Cornwall, Russell Bateman's the Falcon at Castle Ashby, Northampton, and the trip to Northcote included in his NCOTY prize pot . From next month he'll be working the summer season with one of his chef mentors, Steve Groves, at Glyndebourne in East Sussex.

"The problems with my leg meant that the position in the Caribbean just wasn't feasible. My condition had got quite bad, and the hot weather didn't help," he says. "But I've lost more weight since I've been back in the UK, and altogether I've lost 12 stone in the past three years. Being a chef is tough if you have that issue and, when I was at my largest, I did get side-lined. The competition has helped me get some of that confidence back."

Post Glyndebourne, the chef's future is fluid and Swaby has recently completed stages at Paul Ainsworth at No 6, the Gilpin Hotel & Lake House in Windermere and is currently working at the Fat Duck in Bray. Long-term, he says: "I'd like to run my own kitchen – to be a head chef at somewhere like here [he signals to the kitchen at Northcote] and I had some experience of that at Inverlochy Castle in Fort William."

The NCOTY competition

Recalling the competition in 2021, Swaby says that the atmosphere in the Cordon Bleu kitchens in London where the heats were filmed was good. "There was lots of chat, everyone was doing a bit of digging to suss out the competition, but we were all helping each other when we needed it."

Swaby had previously competed in NCOTY in 2020 (also in a closed environment due to restrictions) so he was prepared. The brief was for each finalist to tell their story of the pandemic through food, incorporating a vegetarian starter with ingredients on the Knorr Future 50 Foods list, a main course showcasing British suppliers with a dish incorporating both meat and fish, and a dessert that would reflect the start of the pandemic, when ingredients were sparse and households turned to baking for comfort.

He was shortlisted with a starter of maitake chawanmushi, mushroom ketchup, roasted maitake, nasturtiums, pickled enoki and mushroom tea (pictured left), a main of British suckling pig with Orkney scallop, burnt apple purée, spinach, Chardonnay vinegar mash, apple, shallot and pig sauce (far left), and a dessert of sticky toffee pudding.

For the final the chefs were given another challenge – to create a light bite that also represented their lockdown. Swaby presented a chicken wing, de-boned and stuffed with truffle, chicken and herb mousse, Pérignon sauce, confit egg yolk, pickled shallot and herb oil – reminiscent of a short stint in the Caribbean earlier in 2021. "The inspiration came from the street venders and selling chicken wings. You must use your skills as a chef to elevate your memories, and this involved using a part of the chicken that's not necessarily seen on the plate in this form."

The Craft Guild of Chefs, which organises NCOTY, also managed to stage a training day, bringing the competitors together with competition mentors including Ainsworth and Bateman.

"Russell advised me to focus on my flavours and, having learned from being in the competition before, I was more composed and it helped me with the nerves. It's still full-on though – within minutes the judges are in and asking you about your menu. My goal was to serve my first dish after an hour [the minimum time] and get it away. I treated it how I would serve a normal meal in a restaurant: focus on the starter then the main. I was most worried about dessert as mine was quite stripped back and there was no room for error."

The judges, including James Knappett and James ‘Jocky' Petrie, delivered their critique post-service and Swaby says neither of them gave anything away. The results of the competition were presented at the Everyman Broadgate theatre in London, but not before all the chefs watched footage of their fellow competitors from finals day. "It put some doubt in my mind – hearing chefs giving their answers," he laughs.

Chefs come back time and time again, not only because they want to win this huge title, but because of how much they grow and learn from the experience

Sustainability continues to be a focus of the competition and Swaby says future competitors should "believe it and show it". He adds: "Do your research and use producers who are actually doing ethical and sustainable farming and growing, as we all need to be thinking about sustainability intelligently. You need to understand how it works within your business and for your customers."

50th anniversary of National Chef of the Year

Next year is the 50th year of the Craft Guild of Chefs and Kenny Atkinson, the new NCOTY chair of judges, is asking competitors to produce a three-course celebration menu. The starter may be a fish, seafood or vegetarian dish worthy of the occasion and judges will focus on the sourcing, provenance and sustainability of the ingredients used.

The competitors will again be asked to use at least one of the ingredients on the Knorr Future 50 Foods list. These ingredients have been identified with the support of the WWF as having a positive impact on the environment, by improving the diversity of the crops we consume as well having excellent nutritional credentials. This element can be used in any of the three dishes but must be clearly detailed in the menu and ingredients list.

For the main course, chefs should use British or Irish venison and incorporate more than one element, whether offal or a secondary or prime cut. The judges will want to see natural seasonal accompaniments with this dish. For the final course, the brief has been left open and is simply a warm or cold dessert for a grand finale, which provides balance to the menu and has a clear wow factor.

Atkinson, chef-patron at House of Tides in Newcastle, said: "With it being the 50th anniversary of NCOTY, I want the whole hospitality industry to join us in this celebration.

"Entering one of the UK's longest-running and most prestigious competitions is an exciting prospect for any chef, so I want to see as many entries as possible.

"My brief gives chefs plenty to play with, whether that's digging back into the archives of culinary trends over 50 years, showing how things have evolved or celebrating hero dishes, ingredients and chefs. It's completely up to their interpretation, but I want to see passion, creativity and culinary talent oozing out of the menus.

"Entries are open online and chefs now have until 31 May to work on and submit their menus."

Once all the entries have been received, the judges will whittle them down to semi-finalists, who will then be invited to the second stage, which will be completed online in July. The final cook-off will take place at Le Cordon Bleu in September followed by a VIP event. This will be held to not only announce this year's winner but to celebrate those who have been a huge part of the competition over the last 50 years ,including former competitors, judges, ambassadors, sponsors and the media.

Mulcahy explains: "For the past 50 years, we have seen so much talent cooking in the kitchens of NCOTY, with some of the biggest names in the industry judging. There has always been so much respect for this competition because we've adapted it for the current times while ensuring its heritage and credibility within the industry has remained our top priority.

"Chefs come back time and time again, not only because they want to win this huge title, but because of how much they grow and learn from the experience. There are no barriers to entry and celebrating our rich culture and culinary heritage is done best when reflected by the diversity within the industry. Just imagine taking the title of National Chef of the Year as we celebrate such an incredible milestone."

What do NCOTY winners receive?

The National Chef of the Year 2022 prize pot includes:

• Membership of the Craft Guild of Chefs
• £7,500 towards Swaby's own development project or to create his own digital recipe book, as well as a media training session up to the same value from Knorr Professional.
• A culinary trip alongside former winners of NCOTY from Continental Chef Supplies.
• A winner's plate framed together with the winner's medal, as well as £500 worth of products from Churchill.
• A Dick Premier Plus 11-piece knife set with roll bag from Rational.

A winning trip

Swaby and previous winners of NCOTY, Steve Groves and Nick Smith, joined Continental Chef Supplies. and David Mulcahy on a winners' trip with a difference.

The three-day gastronomic celebration, designed around the 2021 Obsession line-up, commenced at Northcote with dinner prepared by Alex Bond of Alchemilla in Nottingham. The next day the group travelled to L'Enclume in Cartmel for a tasting lunch.

Katie Bowland of artisan food and drink operator Bowland & Bay whisked the group off on a discovery tour of Lancashire the following day, including supplier visits to Mrs Kirkham's Cheese, Wild Fox Distillery, the Cartford Inn (for lunch), Farm Yard Brew Co and Wallings Ice Cream. For those still requiring sustenance, the prize trip concluded with dinner by Hrishikesh Desai back at Northcote.

Mark Lombard is the divisional purchasing director at Bunzl UK and Ireland, which supported the winners' trip. Bunzl brand Lockhart Catering Equipment sponsored NCOTY and has done for almost 20 years. "In recent years, we have sponsored the event with our Continental Chef Supplies brand," says Lombard. "This gives a greater opportunity to connect with so many innovative, hard-working chefs, both established and those making their name through the NCOTY competitions. Working closely with the UK's leading chefs has always been our number one priority to ensure we continue to innovate and inspire chefs with tableware to support food presentation. NCOTY allows us to do this with a host of past and future winners.

"The pandemic unfortunately curtailed the previous two years of chefs' prize trips and we therefore felt it appropriate to create a prize trip that allowed the 2020, 2021 and 2022 winners to join us and enjoy some time sitting at the table rather than standing at the pass.

"We couldn't think of a better time to showcase the gastronomy of the north of England, and specifically Lancashire. During our stay, we had the pleasure of dining at Lisa Allen's Obsession festival twice, with Alex Bond and Hrishikesh Desai, as well as treating the chefs to a stunning 15-course lunch at the newly awarded three-Michelin-starred L'Enclume.

"The feedback from the chefs was phenomenal, and the artisanal food tour of Lancashire allowed us to bring three winning chefs together to witness everything from cheese-making to gin-tasting, micro-breweries and locally produced ice-creams."

Continental Chef Supplies will once again be partnering with the Craft Guild of Chefs to sponsor the 50th anniversary of NCOTY and will be hosting an event at the London Innovation Centre near Oxford Circus later this year.