Frederick Forster, head chef at Nuovo Restaurant has landed the ultimate prize in the culinary world by being crowned The National Chef of the Year 2011 winner by the Craft Guild of Chefs.
Frederick's victory came on the back of an exhilarating final at The Restaurant Show, held at Earls Court 2. In a two-hour cook-off between the final eight contenders it was Frederick's menu, style and execution of ingredients that saw the judges declare the Nuovo Restaurant chef the winner.
Frederick Forster
National Chef of the Year 2011
His winning dishes included sauté scallops with crab "Biegnet" and roasted breast of duck with braised thigh flavoured with smoked bacon. The illustrious award has seen top chefs from all across the country competing for the title.
Last month, the field was whittled down from forty contenders to the final eight following highly competitive semi-finals in Sheffield and London. Legendary figures in the culinary world Bruce Poole, Chris Galvin, Angela Hartnett, Atul Kochhar, Vivek Singh, Andrew Bennett, Gary Hunter, Mark Flanagan, Henry Brosi, and Graham Hornigold, were on hand to judge the dishes cooked up by the finalists.
David Mulcahy, organiser of the competition and vice president of the Craft Guild of Chefs, said: "All our congratulations go to Frederick on his fabulous achievement, in what was a tremendous end to another fantastic National Chef of the Year contest. In fact, the standard of quality on display throughout the entire competition this year has been remarkable.
"The dishes produced by all the final eight were of such a high standard. Choosing a winner was never going to be easy, but all the judges were in agreement that Frederick created a winning menu from the original basket of ingredients. His menu was innovative, well planned and brilliantly executed on the day under enormous pressure."
The National Chef of the Year 2011 winning menu
Frederick Forster - Head Chef, Nuovo Restaurant
Starter: Sauté scallops with crab "Biegnet", ceviche of vegetables
Description - (Warm / cold starter) - Pan fried scallop slices with deep fried white crab meat, served with raw marinated vegetables anda crab sauce.
Main Course: Roast breast of Gressingham duck with celeriac and duck "Maxin Potato" with blackberries sauc
Description - (Hot main course)Roasted breast of duck with braised thigh flavoured with smoked bacon, crispy potato, braised root vegetables and a duck sauce lightly flavoured with blackberries.
Dessert: Vanilla cream biscuit with exotic fruits mango and lime sorbet
Description - (Cold)Vanilla flavoured mousse on a biscuit base, topped with diced mango, citrus, mint and passion fruit served with a refreshing mango and lime sorbet.
Aside from being awarded the esteemed title of The National Chef of the Year 2011, Frederick received a prize fund worth in excess of £12,000 including an exclusive study trip to France, courtesy of Lockhart Catering Equipment one of the headline sponsors of this year's event, plus wine tasting in the acclaimed Hermitage region and dinner at a 3-starred Michelin restaurant.
Other prizes for the winner included a money-can't-buy masterclass with Marco Pierre White, courtesy of headline sponsor Knorr. Electrolux also provided Frederick with the equipment from the competition theatre used to prepare the winning dishes.
The finalists at The National Chef of the Year 2011
Craig Beacham - Sous Chef, The Elephant Restaurant & Brassiere
David Bush- Senior Chef de Partie, House of Commons
Richard Edwards - Head Chef, Park Restaurant, Lucknam Park Hotel
Frederick Forster- Head Chef, Nuovo Restaurant
Hayden Groves "” Executive chef at Lloyds of London, Avenance
Joe McCafferty - Senior Chef de Partie, ROKA Restaurant
Simon Webb "” Head chef at Restaurant Associates
Alyn Williams - Chef Patron at Alyn Williams at The Westbury
If you would one day like to compete for the National Chef Of The Year 2011, why not start your career today by searching for Chef Jobs in London, Manchester and across the UK using our fantastic job portal. Alternatively, you can share your culinary knowledge and discuss recipes in our Chef Forum and hopefully discover that winning dish.
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