Young Highland Chef of the Year
Last week saw the final of Albert Roux's Young Highland Chef of the Year cooking competition in Scotland. Kerstin Kühn reports
This is something Carole Herd, director at Shearwater Events in Tain in the Scottish Highlands, recognised and wanted to tap into. She felt there weren't enough opportunities in the North of Scotland for young chefs and so she launched the Young Highland Chef of the Year competition in 2006 as part of Taste of Tain, an annual food and drink festival. Although the contest was a success, a lack of funding meant it was a one-off until, in 2010, Tesco offered sponsorship of £3,000. With 
the added funding, Herd felt that for the competition to really take off, it needed someone high-profile to get behind it.
"Albert Roux had just opened his restaurant in Inverness and seemed keen to help develop young talent in the hospitality industry so I wrote to him asking if he would like to judge," she says, adding that, to her surprise, he was immediately keen to get involved.
"She really sold it to me," recalls Roux. "I feel very close to this event and even though my involvement is fairly passive, I'm 100% behind it. This part of Scotland is very close to my heart. It's beautiful but not as well known and visited as other areas such as Edinburgh or Glasgow. It needs some help to be put on the map and I'm delighted to be involved."
Roux came on board the competition in 2010 and since then it has gone from strength to strength. "The level of entries has improved with each year and this year was by far the best we've had so far," says Glen Watson, chef consultant to Albert Roux and competition organiser.
This year 20 chefs submitted paper entries, from which seven were selected to compete at the final (although only five chefs actually made it on the day). The brief was to create a three-course menu comprising a seafood starter, a game main course and a dessert of apple or pear, within a budget of £16.
At the final, which was held in the kitchens of Burghfield House, a training hotel run by North Highland College in Durnoch, competitors had two-and-a-half hours to cook their menus under the watchful eyes of judges Roux, Watson, Andrew Fairlie, Steven Doherty, Brian Maule, Derek Johnstone and Philip Corrick. Menus included ingredients such as Scottish salmon, partridge, pheasant and rabbit.
In the end it was 27-year-old Ross Sutherland, head chef at the Cross Restaurant with Rooms in Kingussie, who came out top. His winning menu consisted of salmon tortellini with pea and watercress velouté and lemon oil; roasted squab pigeon with mini pithivier, fondant potato and beetroot and blackberry jus; and apple tarte tatin with salt caramel and barley ice-cream.
As the winner Sutherland has been awarded £500 in cash as well as a week's stage at the two-Michelin-starred Le Gavroche in London, run by Albert Roux's son, Michel Roux Jnr, including travel and accommodation. The runner-up was Thomas Marshall, sous chef at the Boath House in Aldearn, who has won a week's stage at the RAC Club in London. Third place went to Matthew Lobban, demi chef de partie at Lovat Loch Ness.
Speaking after the prize giving, Sutherland is delighted. "I'm over the moon," he enthuses. "I entered the competition two years ago and it's so good to have come back and won it. 
It's great to have the association with Albert Roux and I can't wait to do my stage at Le Gavroche."
Roux says Sutherland's technical ability set him apart from the other competitors. "His menu showed the most skill and his dishes were the most flavoursome," he explains. However, he adds that all of the finalists failed to taste their dishes before presenting them to the judges. "There was a lack of seasoning to all of the dishes we tasted. It's so important chefs taste their food before sending it," 
he says.
Although there could only be one winner, all of the young Scottish chefs competing at the Young Highland Chef of the Year final have learnt a valuable lesson.
THE FINALISTS
Ross Sutherland
head chef, Cross Restaurant with Rooms, Kingussie (winner)
Thomas Marshall
sous chef, the Boath House, Aldearn 
(second place)
Matthew Lobban 
demi chef de partie, 
Lovat Loch Ness 
(third place)
Ross Payne
head chef, Melvich Hotel, Melvich Hotel
Matthew Parker 
sous chef, Burrelton Park Inn, Burrelton
THE JUDGES
Albert Roux
Steven Doherty, 
chef-proprietor, the First Floor Café, Lakeland, Windermere
Andrew Fairlie, chef-patron, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles
Derek Johnstone, head chef, Greywalls Hotel, Muirfield
Brian Maule, chef-proprietor, Brian Maule at Chardon d'Or, Glasgow
Glen Watson, chef consultant 
to Albert Roux
Philip Corrick, executive chef, Royal Automobile Club, London
SPONSORS â- Albert Roux OBE
â- Caterer and Hotelkeeper
â- Churchill Crockery
â- Clynelish Distillery
â- Forth Wines
â- Keltic Seafare
â- Mey Selections
â- Munro Fruit Merchants
â- North Highland College UHI
â- The North Highland Initiative
â- Skibo Castle
â- Tain Pottery
â- Thermomix
