Posted: 28/02/2023
They say, ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ and that was definitely the case for a group of our catering students who took part in an internal cooking competition to create a delicious breakfast dish. One of the competition’s judges was Swinton Estate CEO, Iain Shelton, who provided the winning student with an exciting prize. The winner was awarded an overnight stay at the hotel, a meal in the Terrace Restaurant, and their winning dish was to be added to the Swinton Estate breakfast menu for 6 months.
In the kitchens our 3 student finalists Reece Crockett, Finlay Kane, and Joshua Weisse, were creating a range of fantastic dishes including Huevos Rotos con Chorizo, Breakfast Bruschetta, and a delicious dish containing a miso bechamel sauce and a fried egg. These dishes were inspired by the importance of breakfast within catering for the hotel industry and contained a range of fresh and exciting ingredients. Iain complimented the students on the originality of their dishes, and was very impressed by their skills, especially their working practices such as food hygiene.
The winning dish was chosen with a unanimous decision from all three judges, although they made it clear just how close the competition was. Finlay Kane’s Breakfast Bruschetta took the win; the dish included toasted ciabatta, cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and fresh basil, topped with a perfectly cooked poached egg, Finlay’s inspiration for the dish was his passion for Italian cuisine which he practices at his place of work Rocco’s Italian in Tickhill Doncaster.
Chef Lecturer, Simon Barton, commented “The collaboration between Doncaster College Catering department and Swinton Estate has been amazing for our staff and students, over the last couple of years of working with them, we have visited there hotel and grounds with students on trips and they have visited the college several times to do talks and demos during our industry weeks, it is imperative that colleges work closely with champions of our industry to ensure it can be a sustainable choice for future chefs and hospitality workers of the future.
Swinton Estate is an excellent example of what this industry should be about, they care about their staff and wellbeing, working with the Burntchef project, Iain and the staff at Swinton have been inspirational to our staff and students and we hope we can continue working closely with them in the future.”
Well done to all our students who were involved in the competition and congratulations to Finlay who can now proudly sample his winning breakfast dish on the Swinton Park Estate’s breakfast menu during his upcoming stay.