09:00 Monday 21 January 2013

A matter of Staffordshire taste

Written byRobin Scott

STAFFORD College opened its doors this week to a gastronomic showdown celebrating Staffordshire’s own distinctive culinary qualities.

Taste of Staffordshire

Now in its seventh year, The Taste of Master Chef and Young Chef of Tomorrow competition aims to raise standards, develop talented youngsters, promote local dishes and produce and celebrate the flavours that make the county special.

Launched every January, this year the competition got off to a bang in Stafford College’s new kitchen facilities, with last year’s finalists getting together for a cook-off all based around the delectable native delicacy, the Staffordshire oatcake.

Former Master Chef finalists Sean Sleigh and Jeff Thomas took first place and third place respectively, whilst former Young Chef finalist Rosanna Moseley impressed in second place with her oatcakes.

20 Images

Young chefs aged between 16 and 21 and experienced chefs over 21 are invited to submit a detailed three course recipe using seasonal, local ingredients, with six finalists selected in each category to compete in a challenging two-hour cook-off in May and winners announced at a gala dinner and awards ceremony held at The Moat House Hotel, Acton Trussell on the same day.

To find out a bit more about the competition check out our video coverage from the day below:

Video by Yasamin Saeidi.