Deadline Extension Announced for Country Range Student Chef Challenge

Catering colleges and aspiring chefs across the UK have been given their wish for extra time with the Country Range Student Chef Challenge deadline extended to December 22^nd.

With a great amount of interest and excitement from colleges and students across the UK and Ireland, the organisers have announced a deadline extension to ensure teams have enough time to perfect their menus and enter. 

Expected to be the most competitive competition ever, the deadline also allows teams who have already submitted applications extra time to practice, test and tweak dishes and menus. 

Graham Caldwell, organiser of the Country Range Student Chef Challenge, said:

“The start of the college year in September and lead up to Christmas can be such a busy period for lecturers and students so we felt it was only fair to extend the deadline to allow the teams extra time to fine-tune their menus. There has been a great amount of interest shown in this year’s challenge and we want to ensure the opportunity is open to as many teams as possible so hopefully the deadline extension will allow us to do this.”

The Theme

The focus for this year’s competition is “Love Local” and challenges teams to discover and showcase the best of their local area. The food culture and traditions of a local area are heavily influenced and entwined by its history, landscape, people and weather. Local food also plays a significant role in how we connect with, cherish and support our community.

Each team of three culinary students needs to prepare, cook and present a three-course, four-cover menu showcasing the produce, history, heritage and culinary traditions of their local area to the below criteria:

Starter

Vegetarian – can contain dairy and eggs.

Main

Seabass, one whole (suggested weight 1.2kg) can bring gutted but must be filleted as part of the competition. Served with a mollusc or bi-valve garnish, a starch, and British seasonal vegetables.

Dessert

Chocolate – at least 50% of white or dark chocolate must be used or a combination of both.

To celebrate the Country Range refresh that took place last spring, this year’s challenge has an added twist with five Country Range kitchen staples such the Chocolate Drops, lemon juice, bouillon, flour., tomato paste, pure clear honey, salt, bay leaves, sesame seeds, dried herbs and spices required to be used by each team.      

The first stage of the competition is a written menu submission and teams can send their menu submissions through to [email protected] by 22nd December.

For more information on the Country Range Student Chef Challenge 2024, visit here.