The Cooks Company is involved in many cookery competitions. Every year we host a Prize Winners’ Lunch to celebrate the enormous talent and dedication shown by the competitors. As always, we seek to encourage excellence, and champion young people in the food and hospitality industries.
Held at Innholders’ Hall on Wednesday 13 March 2024, this year’s principal guest was the 2022 MasterChef Champion, Ms Nikita Pathakji, who assisted the Master in presenting each prize winner with an engraved goblet to commemorate the occasion.
Huge congratulations to all our prize winners… they are:
Cressida Pidgeon – The Worshipful Company of Cooks, Food Policy Dissertation Prize. Awarded to an oustanding MSc dissertation on food policy by a student at City, University of London. Cressida’s dissertation titled “Are UK supermarkets doing enough to support the diets and health of their customers during the cost-of-living crisis? Developing and applying a framework to measure supermarkets’ commitments and actions” received a high distinction and was graded at 88%.
Sam Dixon – The Craft Guild of Chefs, National Young Chef of the Year. Sam is the talented demi chef de partie at Northcote. His winning menu was a starter of Norwegian cod, chicken skin, pickled mushroom, hen of the woods, smoked bacon using Seafood from Norway cod. Sam served up a main course of Aged Waterford Farm duck, glazed meatball, Ashcroft beetroot and for dessert a Manchester Tart.
Darby Hayhurst and Dylan Lucas – NHS Chefs of the Year. The winning team is from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, based at Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. Their winning menu featured cauliflower prepared in three ways, Moroccan spiced cakes, pan-fried duck and a choc, rock and pop crumble dessert. Sadly Dylan couldn’t join us for lunch, but Darby collected his goblet and passed it on with our best wishes.
Brian Preston – The National Association of Care Caterering (NACC), Chef of the Year. Brian is from the Royal British Legion’s Lister House. He excelled across the board, impressing the judges with his mouth-watering menu of breast of chicken with black pudding and apricots, and toffee apple pudding with cinnamon ice cream.
Valerie Kelly – The NACC Bev Puxley Award. Sponsored by The Cooks Company, it is presented to the care chef who has made a significant contribution to the enhancement of care catering within their workplace. Valerie is the Chef Manager at Houndswood House Care Home.
Raheem Morgan – LACA School Chef of the Year. His inspirational dishes are enjoyed by children at Torridon Primary School in Lewisham where he’s been the unit manager and head chef for 2 years. Prior to joining Chartwells, Raheem worked with Tom Aikens and held commis, demi and parti chef roles at Hotel Café Royale, Park Plaza Hotel and The Ivy in Sloane Square, London.
Zoe Omorodion – The Cooks and League of Club Chefs, Robert Lindsay Trophy. Zoe works at Brooks’s Club in Piccadilly and was accompanied to the lunch by Brooks’s Head Chef, William Best.
Anastacia Krivorukova – The William Heptinstall Award. She is the Chef De Partie at Moor Hall Restaurant in Ormskirk and the award, sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Cooks, provides her with generous grant to widen her culinary skills through travel and study overseas.
Paul Carne and Kayne Mather – City and Guilds, Cherry Grainger Awards. Paul works at the prestigious Michael Caines Academy at Exeter College and has also won the City & Guilds Livery Companies Award. While Kayne’s citation noted his invaluable qualities at bringing the best out of the other students at his college, where he has now become the sous chef in the college restaurant.
Kirsten Nugent – Springboard FutureChef Winner. The youngest award winner at the lunch, accompanied by her mother Edell, was only 15 when she won the FutureChef competition. Kirsten beat thousands of other competitors in the schools-based programme which aims to inspire young people to take up a career in hospitality.
Also, we have affiliations with units in the Royal Navy, Army, RAF and RFA, and our Armed Forces prize winners are:
Leading Catering Service Sean Wadworth – HMS Duncan, Cooks Company Sailor of the Year. He earned this prize by his consistent displays of leadership and drive to achieve the best standards during a long deployment abroad, combined with excellent stockroom management, and huge commitment to return the Galley to full working capability after a Galley fire.
Sergeant Nigel Young – 167 Catering Support Regiment, Cooks Company Soldier of the Year. An ex-regular soldier of 22 years’ service, he now commands a team of chefs, continuously investing in their development, reaching the highest standard in everything he does, from high-end functions down to barbeques and daily feeding of troops. Sergeant Young is an excellent chef, a first-rate instructor and leader of the finest calibre.
Corporal Yu Ting Yau – No 3 Mobile Catering Squadron, Cooks Company Aviator of the Year. His excellent culinary skills culminated in winning the Exercise Army-Sustainer competition with his signature Lamb and Aubergine Bau Buns and Seitan Goujons. An exceptional and selfless individual who is truly passionate about delivering amazing cuisine and raising the profile of RAF Catering at every opportunity.
Chef James Higgins – Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Cooks Company Chef of the Year. With a passion for creating dishes for fine dining, he is largely self-taught prior to joining the RFA. Part of the RN Culinary Arts Team entered in Exercise Joint Caterer, James was instrumental in the team winning a Silver medal and team Ethos award. This award recognises both his creativity and competition successes.
Finally, on Exercise Joint Caterer, which provides chefs, caterers and stewards of HM Armed Forces with a competition that further develops their culinary skills, other prize winners included:
Air Specialist 1 Ellen Thomas – Inter-Services Junior Chef of the Year.
Petty Officer (GS) Gina Towler-Harbon RN – Open Plated Fish Award.
Air Specialist 1 Peter Ktori RAF – Inter-Services Junior Chef and Open Cook and Serve .
