North Tees & Hartlepool NHS chefs win best in class at Hotelympia

Richard Kirton and Ian Cannon from North Tees & Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust won silver (best in class) in the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) Hot Cookery competition at Hotelympia last week.

 

Each chef team had one hour to cook a beef-based two-course hospital meal in the live theatre, which formed part of Salon Culinaire.

 

Kirton and Cannon won with their main meal of pot roasted beef cheeks served with vegetable and creamed horseradish mash, and rhubarb and custard with Italian meringue tart for dessert.

 

National chair Phil Shelley, said: "We are tremendously proud of the high standard and quality of this year's competitors which seems to improve year on year.

 

"New recipes have a huge impact on hospital kitchens but many staff don't have the time or resources to try out new things.

 

"This competition showcases recipes which by the nature of the competition rules will be compliant and ready to use within NHS kitchens nationwide."

 

The HCA competition was judged by five Salon Culinaire chefs. No allowance was made for the hospital background and all entries were judged on restaurant quality dining.

 

Judge Lawrence Keogh, former head chef at London's Wolseley, said: "Year on year we have seen huge improvements in the HCA hospital chef competition. This year in particular I was very impressed with the hygiene and cleanliness in the way they worked, proving this is really high on their agenda. It's absolutely marvellous that hospital chefs can compete at restaurant level, judged by award-winning chefs."

 

The competition seeks to showcase hospital catering and to highlight the constraints and environments that hospital chefs have to work under, producing scaled up dining every day.

 

The full list of results

 

Silver (Best in Class)

• Richard Kirton and Ian Cannon, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust

 

Bronze

 

-

 

Merit

• Mark Seales and Jamie Bolam, Newcastle Freeman Hospital
• Bilan Gurung and Bobby Womersley, Frimley Park Hospital
• Phil McPherson and Campbell Rodgerson, University Hospital
• Daniel Bamlett and Ian Glenton, Darlington Memorial Hospital
• Allan Campbell and Iain Keowan, Golden Jubilee National Hospital
• Andrew Page and Jean Spio-Garbrah, Great Ormond Street

 

Hotelympia:Â Salon Culinaire results >> Â
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Lloyd Walker wins Sodexo Chef of the Year 2016 >> Â

 

 

2016 winners (L to R) Judges Graham Crump and Steve Oram, David Grundy of Hobart Cooking Solutions, winners Richard Kirton and Ian Cannon, North Tees, Worshipful Company of Cooks, Judge Lawrence Keogh and Phil Shelley HCA National Chair