South West Young Chef of the Year 2024

Congratulations to Ruby, Scarlett and Eva for representing Sheldon in the Wiltshire leg of the South West Young Chef of the Year Competition earlier this month.

To start the competition, all 100 Year 10 GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition students had a week to research a dish and cook it during a double practical lesson. Judges from our DT department, Mr Finch, Miss Owen and Miss Cheverton, then selected 17 students to move to the next level of the competition. From this three Sheldon students were selected to compete against three other top chefs from Wiltshire at Trowbridge College on Monday 17 June.

During the final round, the students had 90 minutes to prepare and make their dishes. One was put on show for the public and the other was judged Master Chef style by illustrious professional chefs -- Hywel Jones, Executive Chef at Lucknam Park in Bath; Chris Cleghorn, Executive Chef at the Olive Tree in the Queensberry Hotel, Bath; Stephen Lloyd, Chef Lecturer at Wiltshire College.

Ruby prepared a lovely dish of pork sausage rolls prepared with local honey and mustard, served with rapeseed oil mayo potato salad. The judges said that it was the best sausage roll and rough puff pastry they had eaten in years!

Scarlet's dish was a pan fried local chicken breast (taken from the bone) served with fresh tagliatelle, cave matured cheddar sauce and broccoli with steamed asparagus. She received rave reviews for her handmade pasta with judges remarking that it was the best pasta made during the competition (three other competitors also made pasta).

The judges were impressed by Eva's local lamb Wellington with a creamy mushroom topping served with a chive and garlic mash along with steamed asparagus. They said it was the most challenging dish made during the competition.

While our students did not progress to the South West Final of the competition, we were incredibly proud of their work and their commitment to Sheldon values, especially 'be brave' and 'be the best you'. They made impressive, complex meals that tasted delicious as well!