Spanish Young Chef of the Year title goes to Pierre Koffmann protege
Posted by Alan | Under Celebrity Chefs Thursday Jan 26, 2012
Spanish Young Chef of the Year title goes to Pierre Koffmann protege
A young protege of Pierre Koffmann has been named as the Spanish Young Chef of the Year in the 2012 competition. Ben Murphy is a 21 year old chef working under Koffmann at the Berkeley, and his prize for coming first in the competition is to spend a week in the kitchen of one of only the few restaurants in Spain which have 3 Michelin stars; Akelare.
Ben travels to Spain later in the year to complete his placement under the world renowned chef Pedro Subijana. Ben competed against 8 other finalists in the cook-off stage of this nationwide competition, which has a first round that is paper based. This is an annual competition held with the aim of encouraging chefs under the age of 25 to experiment and explore the exciting range of fresh Spanish produce and other ingredients.
Dishes which are inspired by the great Spanish cuisine are actively encouraged, and every course has to feature an ingredient from these pairs; rice or pulses, persimon or picota cherries and strawberries or raspberries.
Ben’s winning menu was a starter of Salmon with pickled lemon zest, cauliflower, chorizo and yolk; a main course of leg and breast of duck, potato cannelloni and stuffed morcilla cherries; and Tonka bean & almond soufflé, with cherimoya, raspberry and almond for dessert.
Second place was awarded to William Chilila of The Orrery restaurant in London, and third place went to Billy Stock of the Opera Tavern also in London.
William’s menu included a dressed crab starter with persimon and beetroot salad; seared marinated fillet of black Ibérico pork with pickled fennel, caramelised salsify, white onion puree and wild rice for main course; followed by orange panacotta with marinated Spanish strawberries and basil sorbet for dessert.
Billy’s menu featured Spanish style potted crab with ajo blanco, raspberry gel and Iberico de Bellota for starter; a main course of spiced Ibérico pork loin with braised Ibérico cheek and black bean stew finished with Pedro Ximenez jus; and Créme Catalan parfait torta de almond crumb and black olive caramel for dessert.
María José Sevilla, Director of Foods from Spain said: “The quality of this year’s finalists has been outstanding. It’s great to see young chefs taking inspiration of Spanish cooking and ingredients to produce such superb dishes.
“We were very impressed by Ben’s menu and knowledge of Spanish cuisine. I’m sure his placement at Akelaŕe will be both enjoyable and beneficial to his career and we wish him every success in the future”.
The judging panel was made up of Director of Foods from Spain, María José Sevilla, chef and author Peter Gordon, President of the Guild of Food Writers, Jane Suthering, and chef lecturer José Souto.
The competition was sponsored by LA Organic and Endor Gourmet Foods, who provided ingredients for the cook off. Foods from Spain expects to launch the Spanish Young Chef of the Year 2013 competition later this year.
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