Student chefs shine at Reaching for Young Stars Competition

Entrants to the One&Only Reaching for Young Stars Competition raised the bar this year, as the four teams of young chefs from Silwood, International Hotel School, South African Chefs Academy and Cape Town Hotel School produced their winning recipes.

Winners

Each team presented a three-course meal and ingredients from sponsors SAPPO (South African Pork Producers' Organisation), Lancewood Cheese and Khoisan Sea Salt featured to a large extent. Each team also collaborated with a sponsoring wine farm, namely Solms-Delta, Slaley, Villiera and Oldenburg and wine stewards from Cape Town Hotel School and The Hurst Campus paired wines with each course.

Duo of Chefs

1st Prize - South African Chefs Academy - Stirling Shaw & Natalie Pinto supported by Villiera Wines
2nd Prize - Silwood Cookery School - Cuan Butterworth & Natasha Jacka supported by Slaley Wines
3rd Prize - International Hotel School - Zachary Shaik & Joshua Marais supported by Oldenburg
4th Prize - Cape Town Hotel School (CPUT) - Mackayla Heneke & Olwethu Kondu supported by Solms-Delta

Wine Steward

1st Prize - Cape Town Hotel School (CPUT) - Thandoxolo Nqaphayi supported by Solms-Delta
2nd Prize - Cape Town Hotel School (CPUT) - Stephanie Boettger supported by Villiera Wines
3rd Prize - Cape Town Hotel School (CPUT) - Morgan-Rae Doose supported by Slaley Wines
4th Prize - The Hurst Campus - Leandré Müller supported by Oldenburg Wines

The competition is organised by Annette Kesler and Chania Morritt-Smith of popular online food portal Showcook.com. Kesler is proud of what these young chefs are doing. "The standard has changed and improved dramatically, which mirrors the improvement in South African cuisine that is beginning to come of age. These young chefs have raised the bar tremendously."

The emphasis with this competition is on teams, and each is matched with one of the wine sponsors, from whom they receive input and they also visit the wine farms, meet with the winemakers and exchange ideas in a collaborative effect. The wine steward trainees in the competition also collaborated with the winemakers to match dishes expertly.

Judges, presenters from hospitality industry

The seven judges, all food, wine and hospitality experts, are Michael Olivier, Reuben Riffel, Aubrey Ngcungama, John Jackson, Floris Smith, Marieta Human and Penelope Horwood. Presenting awards were well-known food and wine commentator Michael Olivier, Dr Susanne Reuther of KitchenAid South Africa, top chef Reuben Riffel, Christelle Reade-Jahn of the SA Brandy Foundation and Johan Blaauw of One&Only Cape Town.

In addition to the wine steward and chefs' competition, there was also a brandy cocktail competition, sponsored by the South African Brandy Foundation. The winner was Matthew Rohleder from Granger Bay, with his cocktail, 'The Brandle', as judged by Johan Blaauw, Assistant Food & Beverage Manager, One&Only Cape Town and Danie Pretorius, GM of the SA Brandy Foundation.