MCGB At expogast
We are immensely proud of Master Chefs David Auchie, Graham Singer, Barry Fleming and Shona Sutherland who flew out to Luxembourg to participate in the 14th International Trade Show for Gastronomy, or in chef speak, the ‘Expogast Culinary World Cup’.
The Master Chefs members competed as part of the Compass UK Culinary Team and were honoured to be part of such committed group of consummate professionals.
There are two parts to the competition, firstly the ‘Culinary Art’ programme. This is broken down into:
Finger Foods
Plated Starters
Festive Platter
Five Course Fine Dining Gastronomic Menu
Petit Fours
Individual Plated Desserts
With Graham Singer, the Team Manager and Compass Culinary Director for Scotland, the organisation and logistics were superbly well organised.
Motivating the 14 strong team over the gruelling 4 days of preparation prior to the competition day on Saturday 26 November was easy with a real harmony in the camp and a determination to succeed.
For the cold display each of us were charged with specific duties. David Auchie’s role was to undertake the 3 dishes on the ‘Plated Starters’. Barry Fleming was charged with the desserts and petit fours and Shona Sutherland had the artistry finishing and the centre piece to showcase the table (this was also awarded a ‘silver’ in the chocolate category the day afterwards). Graham had the task to ensure every piece met the exacting standards required.
The team were delighted to receive a magnificent ‘Silver Medal’ and take the positive and highly constructive feedback from the International Judges. With only 2 Gold medals having been awarded over the 6 days of competition this left us in a position of potentially finishing in the top 10 in the world.
Having recovered and refreshed it was onwards to the preparations for the hot kitchen on Monday to support the team competing. With a 03:30-departure time from our hotel to the Expo Centre and a start time of 07:00 we had to be well organised and focused on the job in hand for the 11:30 commencement of service. Supporting in this role was every bit as important and to offer encouragement and assistance with the necessary logistics of transporting the food and equipment.
The hot kitchen team also won a ‘Silver Medal’ and a huge improvement from Stuttgart in 2022.
Overall rankings were a well-earned 6th in the ‘Regional Table’ and 9th in the ‘Community Catering’ section both which give the team automatic selection to compete at the Culinary Olympics in Stuttgart in 2024.
Immediate preparations will commence with the next goal at ‘Scothot’ and ‘HMRC’ both in Spring 2023 being used as a springboard to identify ideas and push new boundaries.
Huge congratulations to the Compass UK Culinary Team:
Regional:
Barry Fleming: Pastry
David Auchie (Team Captain): Plated Starters
Chris Macleod: Platter
Simon Coutard: Finger Food, Support
Nathan Clark: 5 course Gastronomic
Shona Sutherland: Petite Fours, Support
Shannon Lippiatt: Plated Starters, Support
Gordon Mackenzie: Finger Food, Support
Community Kitchen Team:
Rob Kennedy: Main
Dennis Mwakulua: Vegetable, starch
Gordon Mackenzie
Barry Fleming: Pastry
Izabela Ginter: Chef Support
Additional Support and Logistics:
Nick Vadis
Graham Singer
Kevin Rocks: Pastry