Students shine at Rotary Young Chef Competition 2019

Students from across the Stamford Endowed Schools have achieved the top three places at the Rotary Young Chef Competition. First place was awarded to George Worthington, Year 9 at Stamford School, who has additionally qualified for the District Competition, which will take place in February. Second and third places were awarded to Jess Gilson, Year 7 from Stamford High School and Louie Raybould, Year 9 from Stamford School.The annual competition, held at Stamford High School at the end of November, invited eighteen Year 7 to 10 students to take part, with six students each coming from Stamford High School, Stamford School and Stamford Welland Academy. The students were required to prepare, cook and serve a two-course healthy meal, suitable for two people. This was required to comprise of a main course and dessert and be created as economically as possible.Earning his winning place in the competition, George cooked a five-bean chilli, served on a bed of brown rice, with homemade guacamole and tortillas, with a Mexican brownie for dessert. Jess chose to serve tender tandoori chicken thighs, on a bed of tri-coloured quinoa and kachumber salad. Gooey chocolate brownie with mixed berries and raspberry yoghurt concluded her meal. Third place winner Louie created a hand shaped beef burger with a side of Cajun wedges, which he served with smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheddar inside of a roll. He then chose to serve a creamy lemon cheesecake, with a shortbread base.Mrs Karen Wilson, Head of Food and Nutrition at Stamford High School, said: “All of the students from each of the three Schools were amazing. As soon as I said ‘start’, their heads went down and you could clearly see the focus and concentration on their faces. They all finished on time, to produce some skilful and well-presented dishes.“We were delighted to welcome Michael Jefferson to judge, who commented on how each year the standard just keeps improving. It was also wonderful to see parents arriving at the end of the competition just being blown away by the standard of work produced.“Overall, it was an extremely successful evening, with some of our students already planning ahead to next year’s competition!”Corporal Michael Jefferson, Team Manager for the competition chefs at RAF Wittering, said:  “The standard of work was amazing. It was so difficult to mark, meaning that I had to award points of a point, as the results were so tight!”