International Chef Day 2009 and SCA Family Day

The International Chefs Day has been marked as a special occasion by culinarians to salute the profession and create awareness of the profession of being a chef.

It has been a tradition since 2004, of which the Singapore Chefs would get together to do something meaningful. This year, it was exceptionally meaningful that The International Chefs Day was held in conjuncture with the SCA Family Day, at Vanilla Pod Restaurant and Bar. It was a fun-filled evening with food and activities lined up for the young and old alike.

Allowing the chefs and their families to get together, bonding them closer within their families, and in appreciation of the family’s support to their profession.

There were games for the children, stage activities to involve the families, and food for all. But as all this was taking place, two other teams of chefs were keeping themselves just as busy.

The Singapore Chefs’ Association, National Team was waiting to serve diners, from the public for the first time to raise funds for ChildAid, a charity concert that supports the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund and the Business Times Budding Artists Fund. The team (which came in fourth position out of 22 countries at the Culinary Olympics in Germany last year) will be whipping up an exclusive 5-course dinner*, paired with exquisite wines, thanks to the various sponsors from food and wine distributors.

We would also like to applaud the team of young chefs from various institutions and their mentors, who kindly came forward to assist with the 200kg Steer roasting. Working around the clock for 2 full days in an open space outside the restaurant, the teams came in shifts to ensure that everyone could enjoy their meal throughout the night. The experiences learnt during the steer roasting provided LIVE lessons for the mentor and the students such as learning about different parts of the beef and of temperature control etc….

INAUGURAL SUCCESS FOR SINGAPORE YOUNG CHEF GAMES 2009

INAUGURAL SUCCESS FOR SINGAPORE YOUNG CHEF GAMES 2009
BY NORWEGIAN SEAFOOD EXPORT COUNCIL

The grand final of the Singapore Young Chef Games 2009 by Norwegian Seafood Export Council came to a successful end on Saturday, 3 October at the Temasek Culinary Academy. The event provided a platform for the young aspiring chefs in Singapore to showcase their budding talent and skill as eight teams (each comprising of two students) from various institutions including Institute of Technical Education Singapore, Temasek Culinary Academy and Shatec Institutes came up with innovative and nutritious dishes using Norwegian salmon as the main ingredient and incorporating elements of the different continental cuisine allocated to them, such as African, Asian and Australasian cuisine – inspired by the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Singapore next year.

The competition rounded up a series of seminars on Norwegian salmon conducted at the three culinary institutes aiming to deepen the product knowledge about Norwegian salmon along with its proper handling techniques among the students as well as its nutritional value and versatility.

Rosella from Shatec Institutes emerged as the proud champions of the competition, with members Creasperson A Carlos and Melissa Liew Sau Mei successfully pulling off ambitious dishes that reflected their maturity in executing sophisticated techniques such as sous vide, home-smoking and charcoal-grilling, etc. The crowd was visibly moved by the winning team’s achievements as many were caught wiping a tear away as the all-female team collected their well-deserved award – an all expense paid 5D4N trip to World Expo 2010 Shanghai China. When asked about her thoughts on winning, Carlos shared “I’m truly shocked and happy. I couldn’t hold back my tears because to be honest, we didn’t think we’ll win. We were given one of the hardest continents and we had to get some of our ingredients from Africa to make sure that our dishes were authentic”.

First runner-up Temasek Torques, consisting of members Sean Lim Xin Hong and Aletheia Heah Shu Qing and second runner-up Temasek Commis, consisting of members Calvin Tan Qian Heng and Piak Jia Ying from Temasek Culinary Academy performed commendably as well. They won cash prize of S$500 and S$300 respectively.

Chief Judge Chef Rick Stephen, Executive Chef of Singapore Airport Terminal Services and member of Singapore Chefs Association, was happy with the performance of all the teams in the competition. He did, however, mention that it would be beneficial for the young chefs to have more practice working with a delicate ingredient like Norwegian salmon. The filleting class held prior to the competition by Chef Karl Dobler, campaign ambassador for ‘Norwegian Salmon – Mega Tasty’ and one of the judges, proved to be extremely important as the students learnt invaluable skills on how to handle delicate fish such as Norwegian salmon which will be useful in their future culinary careers.

 
The other judges, namely Chef Jimmy Chok, Executive Chef of The Academy Bistro, Mr Todd Farr, Assistant Director of Projects from Peter Knipp Holdings Pte Ltd, Leow Sooi Mee, dietician and nutrition consultant and Mika Tomiyama, Regional Manager South East Asia of Norwegian Seafood Export Council were all impressed by the overall performance of the young chefs. In particular, Farr shared that he found the passion displayed by the young chefs during the competition especially inspiring.

Other distinguished guests that graced the event include Norwegian Ambassador Her Excellency Janne Julsrud and Chef John Sloane, Continental Director Asia of the World Association of Chefs Societies.

Overall, the competition proved to be a tremendous success and it was indeed inspiring to witness the passion and dedication of the young chefs at the competition.

http://www.asiacuisine.com/

Junior Team Competition in Dubai

Junior Team Competition in Dubai

An Invite from the UAE Culinary Guild for

The Emirates Salon Culinaire 2010 (Junior Culinary Teams)

From the desk of Alen Thong

Coordinator - The Emirates Culinary Guild
Director - The Emirates Salon Culinaire

Please accept this as our invitation for your junior culinary team to participate in our Golden Coffee Pot Junior Challenge at our 2010 salon culinaire.

We are expecting c. 1,500 entries to the salon and we have engaged the services of 20 international judges to take care of all adjudication matters.

Entry to the Junior Challenge - the details of which are attached - is by invitation only.

As we are restricted to inviting just eight teams we would be most grateful for your soonest indication of your initial reaction to our invitation.

For details, please download the document

Teams that are interested to join, please contact Jasper at sjcc_jasperjek@yahoo.com

http://www.asiacuisine.com.sg/singchefs/