Ireland had three contestants at the S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy regional final for North Europe in Copenhagen earlier this week, where 15 chefs from Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland competed for a place in the grand finale of the 2022/2023 biennial competition, which will take place in Milan in October next year.
Sustainability, vegetarianism and the avoidance of food waste were dominant themes in the inspiration behind the dishes presented for judging to a five-member jury, which included Irish chef Mark Moriarty, who won the inaugural round of this global competition in 2015.
However, the jury’s choice for the top award, earning a place in the final, was a complex and intricate dish called Flavours of the Sea, cooked by Jet Loos, representing Norway. Loos, who is from the Netherlands, described her dish as “showcasing the best of both worlds by combining Norwegian cold-water seafood together with my Dutch heritage.”
The centerpiece was a pristine piece of Norwegian cod with charred scallop, nori, pickled daikon and citrus cream, and the accompaniments were picture-perfect miniature assemblages of beets, potato and cucumber, with an oyster espuma and anchovy butter served alongside.
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The 23-year-old chef works at Re-Naa in Stavanger, Norway which has two Michelin stars and her mentor for the competition is the restaurant’s head chef Mathew Leong. “I truly believe that the most important element is to have passion for food and cooking. Having passion for what you do will help to drive you to work harder every day. My culinary philosophy is that everything on the plate has to be “clean”, flavourful, and showcase the beauty of nature,” Loos said.
Norway also claimed the award for Social Responsibility, with Nils Flatmark’s vegetarian dish, From the Local Farm, created with vegetables grown by six farmers located within five miles of the hotel and restaurant Britannia in Trondheim, where he is sous chef.
“I want to send the message that we really must make sure that local food production survives in the future. In Norway, we are losing more and more of the producers because people don’t buy their vegetables/produce. I want to show how amazing vegetables can be,” Flatmark said.
Conor Halpenny, chef proprietor of Square Restaurant in Dundalk, Co Louth, was the first of Ireland’s three representatives to present his dish to the jury, after the allocated five-hour cooking session in the kitchens at Copenhagen Hotel & Restaurant School.
His dish of Bò Chiarrai dairy cow, Riverside Farm celeriac, tart of cured heart and heritage pearl barley, highlighted the sustainable practice of incorporating dry dairy cows into the food chain.
“My idea behind this dish was to use the whole cow, using the offcuts not just the prime cuts, using the shin, liver and heart,” he said. Halpenny was mentored for the competition by Jordan Bailey, head chef at Aimsir restaurant.
Lauma Jurkjane, sous chef at Kilronan Castle in Co Roscommon, cooked a vegetarian dish, Synergy, which she said was inspired by her workplace’s garden, where she spends a lot of her time. “Our own-grown vegetables and salads combined with chefs’ knowledge creates Synergy,” she said. Her presentation involved the jury adding a pipette of apple cider vinegar to the sauce for her dish, creating a dramatic colour change. She was mentored by her head chef Daniel Willimont.
Ireland’s third contender was Frank Imperial, who drew on his family heritage with his dish of Pork kare kare, pork belly in a peanut butter sauce, which he described as “a modern take on a Filipino classic.” He was mentored for the competition by his head chef at Orwell Road restaurant, Dan Hannigan.
Jury member Mark Moriarty said: “It was fascinating to see the level of cooking, personality and ambition shown by the 15 finalists, particularly as there was such a range of countries, styles and backgrounds. The standard was extremely high, with the Irish contingent representing our industry really well on the European stage.
“It’s great to see the competition improving every year and it is particularly important to have these outlets for younger chefs to shine, with all the obvious challenges our restaurants are facing this winter and beyond.”
