An update on a very fun year

Well its been very much over a year since i last posted on here and it has been a very busy year for me from work to competitions. i have nearly finished my first year as an apprentice at Northcote manor and its been such am amazing learning experience so far, doing this apprenticeship is allowing me to develop and learn the key skills and attributes needed by any chef starting out in the catering  industry.

I entered into a competition called the future chef competition and this is open to 12-16 year old's across the UK, their are a total of four heats across many months for the first round we had do develop a two course menu that was designed around seasonality both courses had to be costed to reach a budget and had to be completed in a certain time limit. I manged to make my way through that round and all the way through to the national round which was held in London at the kingsway college, we were invited down to London the day before the competition for a special banquet for all the competitors and judges . Over 12,000 people entered the competition and i managed to get into the final 12 for this round we had to create a 2 course menu for three people from a list of ingredients that we were given a couple of months before this day, i worked with Northcote and my college to design and develop a delicious 2 course meal which was a Turkey wellington with dophinouse potatoes tender stem broccoli and a sauce then for dessert i created a choux bun with a vanilla creme pate, apple compote and a butterscotch sauce sadly i didn't win but overall the whole experience was a great learning curve for me and will aid me with my career i hope to do more competitions in the future as i get older And learn new skills and techniques.

A couple of months after the National finals of the future chef competition i was granted permission of Blackburn college to feature my main course as part of  student lead evening titled a taste of spring, at this event we served around thirty people consisting of parents teachers and regular customers. For my dish i was able to work with a college tutor to add some more elements onto my plate such as a parsnip puree and parsnip crisps, this experience was amazing because it gave me an insight into what it is like to be conducting a service of food that you have developed yourself.

I will try to update you more often when i have time in between work and college, thank you to everybody who has viewed this page as i wouldn't of been able to get where i am now without you.
Thank you

Below are some photos from the past year.