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Entries open for the TUCO – Knorr Chef of the Year 2010

The search for the TUCO - KNORR Chef of the Year 2010 is officially underway with entries now open to find the UK’s best higher education chef.

The University Caterers Organisation (TUCO) have joined forces with Unilever Foodsolutions , through its KNORR brand, to provide a competition that enables individual higher education chefs to showcase their culinary talents by using their skills, expertise and knowledge to design a menu that is attractive and appealing to the ever-demanding student population.

Open to all TUCO member Universities and Colleges, the TUCO - KNORR Chef of the Year competition acknowledges and rewards the top chefs in the higher education sector.

Russ Allen, TUCO national competitions chair, comments: “The TUCO - KNORR Chef of the Year is the only competition where individual chefs can battle it out to be crowned the sector’s most talented chef. We are looking for a chef who can demonstrate exceptional culinary skills and create food with flavour, texture, balance and style, but most importantly that is appealing to students.”

This year’s winner and current TUCO – KNORR Chef of the Year, Allan Jones, says of winning the competition: “Being a chef in a higher education establishment is an important job as we have a responsibility to provide food for students, that tastes good as well as being good for them. Being able to enter competitions such as the TUCO – KNORR Chef of the Year is a great way for us to demonstrate our creative and culinary skills to industry professionals, whilst at the same time showing our ability to design menus that appeal to students. One of the highlights of winning the competition has been meeting with two highly esteemed British chefs, Marco Pierre White and Simon Hulstone at an exclusive KNORR master class.”

The competition is part of the TUCO Competitions and Training Event, being held on the 22nd - 23rd March 2010 at Blackpool and Fylde College and Blackpool Hilton Hotel. Other events taking place during this event are the TUCO National Training Event, the TUCO/CUBO (The Association of College & University Business officers) Foodservice Challenge and the TUCO Chef’s Challenge.

Tracey Rogers, managing director of Unilever Foodsolutions, adds: “KNORR is delighted to continue its support for the TUCO Chef of the Year competition in 2010. The event gives chefs in the higher education sector a chance to show the true extent of their culinary creativity and skills, and we are looking forward to a fantastic response to the 2010 competition.”

Criteria and competition format

To enter the TUCO - KNORR Chef of the Year 2010 competition, contestants must devise a menu including a soup course, a main course using a 1kg free-range chicken as the main ingredient and a dessert.

Fifteen finalists will be chosen from the paper judging stage, to compete in the final at Blackpool College on Monday 22nd March 2010. Each finalist will also attend the awards evening on Tuesday 23rd March, where the winner and two runners up will be announced and presented with their prizes consisting of:

First prize: Meal for two at The Elephant; Simon Hulstone’s – current KNORR National Chef of the Year – restaurant, plus knife set and trophy

Second prize: Knife set and trophy

Third prize: Knife set and trophy

Entry details

TUCO and KNORR urge all higher education chefs, male and female, to take up the challenge and enter the competition to discover whether they’ve got what it takes to be a winner.

Entry couldn’t be easier – simply download and complete the official entry form from www.tucoblackpool.co.uk and submit by email to russ.allen@nottingham.ac.uk with details of the entrant’s menu.

The closing date for entries is Friday 29th January 2010.