SJCC RWS Tour Article

Land of Far Far away

IT WAS a hot Saturday morning for a group of future young chefs to visit the land of Far Far Away showcasing lifestyles of the rich and fairy tales’ fantasy characters living within tall, graceful walls sweeping over a pavilion-covered courtyard.

On the 16th of October 2010, the Singapore Junior Chefs Club (SJCC) organized an educational tour '' Discovering the New World – SJCC Educational Tour " to the Resort World Sentosa. Members from the SJCC get a chance to discover a whole new world that is truly rewarding. Resorts World Sentosa, is the leisure and gaming company that owns and operates Singapore’s biggest Integrated Resort, a 49-hectare development which is located on Singapore's holiday island of Sentosa.

 The tour started on with warm welcoming refreshment prepared by a team of professional chefs at the Leo’s meeting room. We had a unique variety of food ranging from oven baked mini pizza, beautiful danish pastry to freshly steamed Tim sum and homemade sandwiches accompanied with coffee and tea. Our member’s definitely enjoyed the food prepared specially for us.

Thereafter, our members proceeded into the meeting room for a short introduction and presentation of the resort world’s daily operations. The sharing session was conducted by Chef Edmund Toh, the Executive Chef of the Hotels & Casino, Chef John Sloane, the Vice President of Food & Beverage and Chef Alan Orreal, the culinary production Manager from the Universal Studios Singapore. The session was indeed inspiring and enlightening for our young future chefs.

Soon after, our tour takes on a magical swing when our members break into groups of four and began their extraordinary VIP Tour in the universal studios Singapore. Princess Fiona, Shrek’s, Puss in Boots and the talking donkey from the land of Far Far Away castle came alive

that takes our experience into a whole new level with lots of pleasant surprises and good food provided during the tour.

Besides the Universal Studios Singapore, our members were amazed to visit the spectacular range of six world-class luxurious

hotels and places such as Osia, Palio, Rotunda, Crockfords Tower, Feng Shui Inn, Boulangerie, Fiesta & Pool, Bagus Café, Starz, Pool, Cabana, Coliseum, Compass Ballroom and Central Production.

Of course, the good times ended in a swift when we eventually parted from resorts world Sentosa, marking the closure of our short but memorable tour. On behalf of my Chairman and President, we would like to thank the staffs from the resorts world Sentosa for their tremendous hospitality for hosting such a wonderful and memorable Education tour for our SJCC members.

We really appreciate all the efforts that made this a successful tour and I am sure that our members are definitely looking forward for another wonderful event organized by the Singapore Junior Chefs Club.

Thank You.

Joab Wang

Events & Activities

Singapore Junior Chefs' Club

The Youth Arm of Singapore Chefs Association

Women in WACS

Ladies, do join World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) in its Women in WACS initiative. The initiative strives to increase visibility of women chefs worldwide as well as supporting them in their efforts to advance their careers while balancing work and family. Join the Group!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=331331241005

Discovering the New World with SJCC

8 More Days

For the Most EXCITING Tour

With the Singapore Junior Chefs Club

 ARE YOU READY ??

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Dear Successful Participant's,

next week SATURDAY,

don't forget our Date at the Resort World Sentosa. 
please check your e-mail for Tour Details.

any queries,please email me,

Joab Wang at sjcc_joab@yahoo.com   

SEE YOU THERE !!

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THE SUN RISE FROM THE PENCIL BOX!

1 October 2010 – The battle of the food gladiators continues, with the first ever Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) Young Chef Pencil Box Culinary Challenge held in Singapore this week. This iron chef style battle amongst the young gladiators consisted of leading students from different culinary institutes battling it out to create innovative and inspiring dishes of Australian beef and lamb.


The winner for the inaugural event went to Karolyn Chua, a trainee student from At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy . Currently attached at Mandarin Orchard Hotel, Chua won the challenge with her creativity and technical skills. “I feel relieved but at the same time happy, as I felt uncertain about what to create when I saw the ingredients at first” said Chua after the unveiling of the results. Chua trained religiously two to three times a week in preparation for the challenge. “I have learned a lot from my instructor during this period of time and this challenge has definitely exposed me to much more knowledge about food and cooking”.

Held previously only in Korea , the MLA Young Chef Culinary Pencil Box Challenge arrived on our shores for the first time this year! MLA has brought this competition to Singapore to recognise the high standard of culinary institutes here and the high level of professional students which are training to become Chefs. The aim of the challenge is to encourage creativity amongst young chefs to individually prepare a main sized portion of Australian beef and lamb, as the centrepiece ingredient, within the pressure of a competitive environment.

What makes this challenge different from others is that the ingredient list is kept confidential until before the actual competition starts. Unlike other competitions, the unique style of the Pencil Box is that after the unveil of the mystery ingredients, the participants are given half an hour to plan their menu and afterwards, two dishes are required and two portions of each must be prepared during the competition on the same day which will last one and a half hour and be presented to the judges for scrutiny!

The on the spot challenge was led by judging panel, Alan Palmer, MLA’s official Young Chef Pencil Box Culinary Challenge coordinator, Chef Yen Koh, executive chef of Unilever Food Solutions and William Gibb Taylor, course manager of ITE. “It is not just about the results but most importantly, the process and the experience the students can walk away with” Palmer said before the prize presentation.

The sponsors for the challenge include Stanbroke Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore Chef Association, Shatec Institutes’, and Unilever Food Solutions.

Chua took home a gold medal and S$1,000 in cash! The first runner up went to Creasperson A Carlos from Shatec Institutes’ and the second runner up went to Kelvin Tan from Temasek Culinary Academy . They each received a medal and S$500 and S$250 in cash!

As the curtains draws to a close, the MLA Young Chef Pencil Box Culinary Challenge was a success and hopefully it will come back bigger and better the next time round!

Competitions

Its competitions frenzy with the recent SJCC-Nestle Professional Rising Chefs Challenge, and the MLA Black Box Singapore Challenge just passed us by. In just a month’s time, November, SJCC members can expect the Otto Weibel Norwegian Salmon Scholarship.

Competitions often offer attractive prizes; from book prizes, knives sets, cash prizes, fully paid overseas internships and experiences. However, one might ask if it is really worth competing in one? Afterall, there will always only be the top three people/ teams who make it.

There are chefs in the industry who introduced the term “Competition Chefs” to those who always compete. “He’s a Competition Chef, I’m not”, one would say. Many chefs feel that competing requires you to have a wealth of experience and talents. Contrary to that, I believe you will suceed as long as you put in your best in training and train from the best.

My personal view of competitions is not about winning or losing. Of course winning should be your biggest goal, but one should look at the smaller benefits it would bring you.

The process of training for competitions often stretches you beyond your daily routines and work. You’ll spend extra hours planning and experimenting dishes, then organizing your workflow to make your steps smooth. You’ll seek advise, learn and work much closely with your chefs. You’ll train and train till you perfect your dish and work. You’ll look into and organize other finer details such as transportation of equipment, tableware, menu cards , table display etc. You’ll read up about the organization/ company that is sponsoring and organizing the competition and learn about their products and services. All of the above, I would say a young chef would not do if not for competing in a competition. After the competition, he may put what he has learned along the way, into he's daily work routine.

Chefs should not be afraid of, or feel too discourage when losing a competition. Take it with stride, ask for feedback for improvements from the judges after each competition and learn from the mistakes. It’s the process of learning, experiencing and growing that counts. I would highly recommend young chefs to make a list of competitions they would wish to compete in within the next five years. It could start from junior competitions, team competitions, moving up to higher level competitions, and even national team competitions.

Here’s an example of a list.

Year 1

SJCC Tabasco HoTchef Team Challenege

Year 2

SJCC- Nestle Professional Rising Chefs Challenge

MLA Blackbox Competition

Year 3

Enter into the National Junior Culinary Team

Compete in FHA Culinary Challenge

Year 4

Otto Weibel Norwegian Salmon Scholarship Competition

Hans Bueskhans World Junior Challenge National Selection

Year 5 and beyond

National Team Selection

Global Chefs Challenge Selection

Bocuse D’or Selection

Team Manager for MLA Blackbox competition

Culinary schools should always give their students the fullest support they need. They should not only support those who have "talents", but always consider those who are eager to learn, sacrifice and give their all. When teams from schools lose a competition, their management should not be worried that the lost gave away their reputation, and cease sending teams for future competitions. This will only hinder young chefs from growing.

In conclusion, my words to young chefs would be, if there's a will there's always a way. Never stop asking till you get a satisfied answer or someone who can help you. There is always a win and a lost, but you are already winning if you tried your best.

Wishing all SJCC members a fruitful culinary adventure!

With Culinary Spirits,

Jasper Jek