Judges announced for National Secondary Schools

Judges announced for National Secondary Schools

Culinary Challenge final

Auckland, 26 June 2015: The judges are on stand by and it's nearly time to sample some of the best cuisine from New Zealand's top up and coming young chefs.

The regional events of the National Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge (NSSCC) are nearly complete, and from those 10 winning duos will compete in the national final on Friday August 28 in Auckland at MIT.

The Year 12/13 students will go head-to-head in a live cook off preparing, cooking and presenting an individually plated entree featuring beetroot, and main course to include chicken, potatoes and fresh vegetables, all within 90 minutes.

Students are scored across a number of criteria - food preparation, hygiene, presentation, taste, and the use of New Zealand grown vegetables and chicken.

Judges at the NSSCC 2015 final are:

· Chief Judge, Chef Mark Wylie of Cater Plus: National and international award winning chef who has a keen interest in nurturing youth within the industry. He has trained many chefs over the years to reach great success in competitions.

· Ben Bayly: Chef at Baduzzi and The Grove restaurants in Auckland and judge on TVNZ's hit show MKR NZ.

· John Kelleher: AUT University Senior Lecturer - Professional Cookery. John has lived and worked around the world in restaurants and has led many AUT culinary teams to gold medal sucess at national competitions.

· Craig Lucas: Chef Lecturer at Manukau Institute of Technology's Culinary School (MIT) and an experienced Auckland hotel chef.

· Jeremy Schmid: Owner/Chef at The Officer's Mess at Fort Takapuna and author of 'Bangers to Bacon' and 'Smoked'.

Mark says that the event is an invaluable experience for young chefs and the beginning of their career offering networking opportunities, even opening doors for potential job offers.

"I am proud to be associated with the NSSCC. We have a great group of judges, some enthusiastic sponsors and it's always pleasing to see the talent and skill of the finalists.

"The individuals that compete are potentially the future of our industry. These are the best culinary secondary school students in the country and to reach the national final they had to win their places through very competitive regional finals. They are always well trained and often showcase skills and ideas that are of an industry standard."

NSSCC sponsor, Moffat National Sales Manager, Brian Davies says he is looking forward to this year's final. "Attending last year's final was a rewarding experience for me, to see the commitment and high standard of competition, as well as the high level of food preparation and presentation was amazing."

Part of the winners' prize package is a Blue Seal Turbofan oven from Moffat for their school, an asset to any chef's kitchen. "As most high school training kitchens are fitted out on a very tight budget funds are generally only available for the basic oven ranges , to have a Turbofan convection oven in the mix is not always possible , this why Moffat has chosen to donate this added bonus to the winners," Brian says.

He adds that the competition is a great learning experience for the young chefs. "The earlier we train our chefs of the future the better prepared they are for entering full time study at the next level of their training."

The winners of the national event will soon wing their way to Tahiti to compete in an international Secondary Schools Culinary cook off fromOctober 4 - 10. Mark will mentor the team at this event.

The ISSCC challenge in Tahiti sees the young chefs write a food order with a full costing, photograph the dish and write work plans. During the competition the team of two students will prepare, cook and display 4 servings of one main dish within 1 hour from start to finish. The dish may be modern, classical or original and all dish ingredients must come from the list provided by event organisers.

While in Tahiti contestants will also immerse themselves in local cuisine and culture with a tour of the island visiting a local pineapple plantation and fruit juice factory, enjoy a picnic on nearby Moorea Island, visit a local marae and dine at the famous waterfront Place Vaiete roulottes (foodtrucks) in Papeete.

NSSCC would also like to acknowledge the strong support of its key industry sponsors in helping create this great event, which is helping nurture New Zealand's future top chefs.

ends

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