Just two weeks left to enter the 2015 Roux Scholarship
There are only two weeks left to enter this year's Roux Scholarship competition.
In its 31st year, the contest is run and fronted by the Roux family, and is open to all chefs in full-time employment in the UK, who are aged between 22 and 30 on 1 February 2015. The deadline to enter for 2015 is 30 January.
As part of their application chefs must submit a recipe for four people, based on guineafowl and chicken livers, a garnish with spinach leaves, and no pre-prepared sauces or stock.
The best 18 recipes submitted will win a place in the regional finals held in London and Birmingham on 12 March, at which entrants will be invited to cook their dish, alongside a mystery dessert box challenge.
The ultimate final will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park on 30 March, with the winner announced at an awards ceremony on the same day. The prize comprises £5,000 and the chance to train under the supervision of any three-Michelin-starred chef in the world, for up to three months.
Full details of how to apply can be found on the competition website here [http://www.rouxscholarship.co.uk/].
The technically-demanding competition was founded in 1984 by the Roux brothers, at a time when British chefs were, the contest's own website says, perceived to be incapable of understanding or achieving high standards of gastronomy. It aimed to rehabilitate British chefs' reputations, and give Roux winners a passport to training in great global restaurants, enabling them to return to the UK to start their own high-quality establishments.
Previous winners have included Mark Birchall, who went to El Cellar de Can Roca; Adam Smith who worked under Yanick Alléno at Le Meurice hotel in Paris; Hrishikesh Desai who worked at the French Laundry in California with Thomas Keller; Simon Hulstone who spent his time at Restaurante Martin Berasategui; and Sat Bains, who went to Le Jardin des Sens in France, and now runs his eponymous two-Michelin-starred site in Nottingham.
Last year's winner was Tom Barnes, sous chef at Simon Rogan's two-Michelin starred L'Enclume in Cartmel.
The competition is now supported by companies including Bridor, The Caterer, Direct Seafoods, Fairfax Meadow, Global Knives, Hildon, Kikkoman, Laurent Perrier, L'Unico Caffe Musetti, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, Restaurant Associates and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
The stipulations for the recipe entries are as follows:
•Two whole guinea fowl, with or without giblets, weighing anywhere between 1.2kg and 1.6kg, plus 200g of chicken livers, trimmed, to be served plated and accompanied by two garnishes
•One garnish must include spinach leaves, the other will be the entrant's choice
•A sauce must accompany the dish
•Entrants will not be allowed to use or bring any pre-prepared stock or sauce whatsoever for the meat or vegetable dish, and none will be provided
Roux Scholarship 2015 open for entries >>
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