CIT’s Jack takes the student chef crown
Jack O’Keeffe from Cork Institute of Technology won the 2013 Knorr Student Chef of the Year after a final cook-off at IT Tralee.
Print8 March 2013
The cook-off saw 14 of Ireland’s most talented student chefs from catering colleges across the country go head-to-head in a tightly-fought contest before Jack, from Doneraile in North Cork, was crowned this year’s winner.
As well as the title of Best Student Chef, Jack won a grand prize which includes a bespoke perpetual trophy and a once-in-a-lifetime culinary adventure to Girona in Spain where he will take part in an exclusive Catalan cooking masterclass and dine at the Michelin-starred El Cellar De Can Roca restaurant.
The theme of this, the 16th year of the competition, was Seductive Nutrition to coincide with the recent launch of Unilever Food Solutions’ third World Menu Report that calls on chefs to reduce the calories of their dishes without compromising on taste to help combat the global and national obesity crisis. Rather than creating a new ‘healthy’ dish, students were challenged to take a popular dish and give it a healthy twist, all under the watchful eye of the judging panel comprising Business Development Chef at Unilever Food Solutions Mark McCarthy, TV chef Martin Shanahan of Fishy Fishy restaurant in Cork, TJ O’Connor, Head of Section, Hotel, Culinary and Tourism Department at IT Tralee and celebrity dietician Paula Mee.
Jack prepared a starter of Sea Food Salad followed by a main course of Slow Cooked Cannon of Lamb Breast, sweet breads with aubergine caviar, spinach velouté and carrot glaze – both of which received rave reviews from the judging panel.
Tyler Greer from Belfast Metropolitan College scooped the Knorr Hygiene Award 2013 and also came second. Gerard Phelan from Waterford IT finished in third place.
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