The Staff Canteen Live 2014 got off to a great start with live demos from Michelin-starred Tom Aikens, Dominic Chapman and Sam Moody at the Hotel and Catering Show in Bournemouth.

The day kicked off with a live cooking demonstration from Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens of Restaurant Tom Aikens in Chelsea, who cooked baked scallop, yeasted mash potato, fermented grains and bread soup, showing off lots of different techniques like sous vide, dehydrating and making a consommé.

Speaking about working with The Staff Canteen, Tom said: “I really like what The Staff Canteen is all about – a platform for chefs and everything that goes on in and around gastronomy. It’s a very interesting website for young aspiring chefs to go and see how other chefs work as well.”

The Staff Canteen Live, which took place at the Bournemouth International Centre next to Bournemouth beach, also saw Michelin-starred Dominic Chapman of The Royal Oak in Bray cook live. Dominic cooked crimped cod with oyster sauce, cockles and mussels and samphire, a recipe which he brought out especially for The Staff Canteen Live having previously developed it for a competition.

Dom also had some great advice for any young chefs in the audience, saying: “For your first job, find a restaurant that uses the best possible ingredients and a chef you like and respect and you’ll be scoring goals for the rest of your career.”

After the lunch interval Sam Moody joined the action. The Michelin-starred chef from The Priory Hotel in Bath cooked roast Dorset rose veal sweet bread with purple sprouting broccoli, confit lemon and veal jus; a dish which highlighted the importance of cooking with offal and lesser used parts of the animal.

After his demo Sam said: “”It went really and it was really good fun. It’s lovely working with The Staff Canteen and the crowd were really interested in what we were doing, so it made it easy really.”

There was also a Saturday Kitchen-inspired ‘omelette challenge’ which saw Dominic Chapman go head to head with The Staff Canteen’s own managing director, Mark Morris. Although Mark lost narrowly on time, being four tenths of a second behind Dominic, he won overall on the audience vote, taking home a rubber chicken for his efforts. The Staff Canteen Live is back tomorrow for day two with Michael Wignall, Luke Holder and Richard Davies on the hobs.

To see the day one chefs’ recipes click here For more details of day two click here

>>> Read more about The Staff Canteen Live here

>>> Read more about The Staff Canteen Live 2014 here

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