The 2022 competition
The biggest competition of its kind is back again for 2022. Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year is an opportunity for the best up and coming chefs to showcase their talent, originality and passion for food.
The theme for this year’s competition is “Cook Local, Act Global”, inspired by the unrivalled quality ingredients right on our doorsteps and sustainable cooking. Students are asked to prepare a creative and distinctive menu of two dishes of their choosing that use as many locally sourced ingredients as possible. Students must include at least two Knorr Professional products, one being Knorr Professional bouillon. Student chefs must include two ingredients from The Knorr® Professional Future 50 Foods Report.
Find full range of KNORR Products here and choose your best Bouillon here.
The 2020 competition
Maria Dunne from Athlone Institute of Technology was crowned winner of the Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year 2020 after a sensational cook-off hosted by TU Dublin, Tallaght Campus on Tuesday, 10th March.
Maria stunned the judges with her dishes and her application of sustainability and local ingredients to produce her starter and main course. For starter, using ingredients from Knorr® Professional Future 50 Foods Report and those she foraged herself from An Ghrian Glas Farm, Co. Westmeath she created her own take on garlic mushrooms with a garlic puree and foraged greens. Ling and Spelt was served for the main course comprising confit ling, Dunany organic spelt, cauliflower purée, lemon foam, wakame and An Ghrian Glas Farm greens.
Maria stunned the judges with her dishes and her application of sustainability and local ingredients to produce her starter and main course. For starter, using ingredients from Knorr® Professional Future 50 Foods Report and those she foraged herself from An Ghrian Glas Farm, Co. Westmeath she created her own take on garlic mushrooms with a garlic puree and foraged greens. Ling and Spelt was served for the main course comprising confit ling, Dunany organic spelt, cauliflower purée, lemon foam, wakame and An Ghrian Glas Farm greens.
Are you an aspiring chef?
If you think that you have the culinary credentials to mix with the country’s top young chefs, then make sure that you are a part of the Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year competition.
The competition is open to second year students from participating catering colleges, training centres and institutes of technology across the island of Ireland. Students must be recommended to enter by the head of their catering college, and only one student per campus can represent their college at the Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year final.
George Lowen from TU Dublin, Tallaght crowned the winner of Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year 2022
After a two-hour cook-off, student George Lowen from Technological University (TU) Dublin, Tallaght was crowned winner of the Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year 2022. This year ten student chefs from across the island of Ireland took part in the competition, which was hosted by TUS, Athlone Campus.
The theme for this year’s competition was “Cook Local, Act Global” which was inspired by the unrivalled quality ingredients right on our doorsteps and, sustainable cooking. Students had to prepare a creative and distinctive menu of two dishes of their choosing that use locally sourced ingredients.
For his starter, George prepared Homemade Labneh, Pickled Butternut Squash & Fennel, Gorse Syrup, Mint Oil, Zaatar Whey Cracker and a main of Seared Scallops, Tarragon Butter, Nori Leeks, Celeriac Puree, Pickled Apple gremolata, Roasted Hazelnuts.
This year’s judging panel comprised guest judge and renowned chef and restaurateur, JP McMahon, Audrey Crone, Executive Chef for Ireland and Alex Hall, Executive Chef for UK and Ireland, both at Unilever Food Solutions.
Cloe Walsh from Dundalk Institute of Technology took the Silver Medal for her menu while Stephen Cronin from MTU Cork took the Bronze Medal.
The full list of students competing included:
Client Sevillo, TUS Limerick
Keith O’Shaughnessy, TUS Athlone
Stephen Cronin, MTU Cork
Owen Ó Murchú, GMIT
Cloe Walsh, DKIT
Ebony Dickson, SWC Omagh Campus
Athicha Athimatr-Rafferty, SERC
George Lowen, TU Dublin, Tallaght
Alex Quilter, MTU Tralee
"The whole experience has been really exciting and rewarding" - George Lowen on Being Named Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year 2022
After a two-hour cook-off, student George Lowen from Technological University (TU) Dublin, Tallaght was recently crowned winner of the Knorr® Professional Student Chef of the Year 2022.
The young chef won out after stiff competition from nine other chefs. "Winning the competition means a lot to me, it definitely gives me a lot more confidence now when it comes to cooking food and also makes me want to compete in more competitions in the future, the whole experience has been really exciting and rewarding," said George.
The theme for this year’s competition was “Cook Local, Act Global” which was inspired by the unrivalled quality ingredients right on our doorsteps, and sustainable cooking. Students had to prepare a creative and distinctive menu of two dishes of their choosing that use locally sourced ingredients.
On the day, George cooked up a starter, followed by a main. For his starter, George prepared Homemade Labneh, Pickled Butternut Squash & Fennel, Gorse Syrup, Mint Oil, Zaatar Whey Cracker; and a main of Seared Scallops, Tarragon Butter, Nori Leeks, Celeriac Puree, Pickled Apple gremolata, Roasted Hazelnuts.
"Coming up with my dishes was probably the hardest part," said George. "I must give a big thank you to my lecturers especially Denise Murray for their support and advice without which I wouldn’t be here today. I had to think a lot to make sure I met the brief of cooking local, acting global."
"For my starter I was inspired by how chefs in their final year of BA(Hons) in Botanical Cuisine were interpreting ingredients and I thought it would be the perfect approach for the starter.
"When it came to my main course, I wanted to use scallops as they are sustainable, so I decided I would put vegetables that were in season into it and also, I wanted to use seaweed as it was one of Knorr’s 50 future foods."
The winning dishes were the culmination of months of practice by George, to ensure he nailed the recipes when he needed to most. "Preparation was hard; I practiced my dishes over and over again in the weeks coming up to the competition, but I wanted to make sure I could do my dishes with my eyes closed.
"I spent a long time developing the flavour to make sure I got the balance right in the dishes."
Part of winning the competition is also the final presentation of the dishes, something George also poured himself over. "Presentation was also key, not only how the food looked on the plate but also the plate itself, even making the decision around the plates took time. I eventually decided to use hand-made plates from a potter in Stepaside."
George focused on seasonal, locally sourced vegetables for his dishes. "All my vegetables came from McNally’s farm in Dublin and cress from little cress microgreens. The locally foraged gorse flowers and gorse syrup from Wild Irish foragers added a wild food aspect."
This local focus held on through the other ingredients. "I used a yoghurt to make my labneh and we got that from old MacDonnell’s farm in Wicklow. The oil we used for the mint oil and for cooking the scallops was Wicklow rapeseed oil. Another unique ingredient was the Bia Sol Brew flour, which is made from spent grain, I used this to make the cracker for the starter."
As well as Gordon Ramsay, George is also a huge admirer of JP McMahon, who was one of the chefs on the day of the competition.
For now though, George is focusing on his final year in college before deciding on his next steps. "My plan when I finish college is to travel, I want to work in other food cultures and develop other cooking experiences. I have always wanted to travel the world from a young age, I will probably start in Canada but haven’t decided yet; first I will be focusing on getting my final year in college behind me. Trying out all the different food cultures and working with different chefs really appeals to me."
