Three teenage chefs reach final of Yorkshire Golden Apron contest

Three teenage chefs have reached the finals of a Yorkshire-based cookery competition run by Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass chef James Mackenzie and the Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School.

Cookery student Jake Fawcett (aged 18) from Wakefield, hospitality student Oliver Robinson (15) from Otley, and school pupil Georgie Smithson-Brown (14) from near Hornsea, all reached the final of the Golden Apron 2014, also known as Yorkshire's Best Young Chef contest.

The Yorkshire Golden Apron award will be presented to the best chef on 7 April following a gala dinner at the Pipe and Glass, one of only five Michelin-starred institutions in Yorkshire. The students will each work alongside the restaurant's usual kitchen team, and produce one course each.

The winner will also be given a work placement at food suppliers Cranswick (who help supply the competition), working with the new product development team for Sainsbury's supermarkets.

For a place in the final, the chefs each had to compete in two heats, firstly cooking a pork dish of their own choosing, before being asked to create a two-course dinner using chef Mackenzie's own recipes. These included salmon tartare with hot smoked salmon Scotch egg and pickled samphire, followed by forced Yorkshire rhubarb with parkin and rum Chantilly.

Fawcett is studying for a Level 3 Diploma in Advanced Professional Cookery at Wakefield College, while Robinson studies hospitality and cookery once a week at Leeds City College, and attends school the rest of the week. Smithson-Brown is a full-time school student and has never worked in a professional kitchen before.

Tim Rymer, chairman of suppliers JSR and also of the Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School, congratulated the young chefs on their achievement. He said: "The standard of dishes served to us by these young chefs was really impressive. They would not be out of place in any fine dining restaurant."

Last year's inaugural winner was Philippa Lister from Wakefield, who competed against Gemma Lawrence from Doncaster, and Josh Whitehead from Leeds.

Wakefield student crowned Yorkshire's Best Young Chef >>