Final call for Roux Scholarship 2024 submissions

Chefs have one more week to submit their applications for the Roux Scholarship 2024.

Entrants have until midnight on Monday 22 January to upload their recipes via the online application system.

The competition was founded by Michel Sr and Albert Roux and celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

The final will be held at the Alain Roux Culinary School at the Waterside Inn, in Bray, Berkshire, for the first time.

Alain Roux said: “The 2024 final will feel like a homecoming! We are literally bringing the Roux Scholarship home... to my father’s home and I could not be happier.

“There can be no better tribute, as we look to celebrate 40 years since the founding of the scholarship by my father and uncle. The legacy of which he was most proud is the Roux Scholarship. Next year, in his own kitchen, we will choose our new scholar to join the family.”

How to enter

Entrants to the 2024 competition have been tasked with creating a recipe for four people using short loin of free-range gilt pork from the shoulder end, weighing anywhere between 1.6kg and 1.8kg, untrimmed with four bones in.

The dish must also use two fresh pork kidneys plated with crackling and two simple or composed garnishes, one of which must include sweet potatoes. Dishes must be accompanied by a sauce.

Emily Roux will join existing judges Alain and Michel, Brian Turner, Sat Bains (scholar 1999), André Garrett (scholar 2002), Simon Hulstone (scholar 2003), James Martin, Clare Smyth, Rachel Humphrey, Angela Hartnett and honorary president Thomas Keller.

Emily Roux said: “I am super-excited to be joining the panel of judges. Being alongside some incredible chefs and previous winners is a real honour. The Roux Scholarship is a real trampoline for any young chef’s career.”

For the second year, the competition’s winner will choose whether to undertake a two-month stage at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant anywhere in the world, or a bespoke training plan tailored to their skills and knowledge gaps.

The 2024 competition will also mark the fourth time the Mentorship Award is offered as a prize. As well as the £6,000 awarded to the winner for their career development, an additional £6,000 is awarded to them on completion of 15 months’ service with their current employer after they win. Should they take up a new role in that time, the funds will be awarded to the original employer to help in the development of the remaining brigade.

For additional rules and stipulations, see rouxscholarship.co.uk/how-to-enter/rules/.