Revealed by lead judge, the Craft Guild of Chef’s Chris Basten, the maximum ingredient budget for all three covers has doubled from £15.00 to £30.00, which equates to £10.00 per cover.
He explained: “After speaking to various tutors around the UK, the general consensus was that an extension to the deadline was needed in order to give as many colleges as possible the best chance of entering teams.
“We understand that the workload for both students and tutors has increased (in the lead up to Christmas) so hopefully the extra two weeks will help alleviate some additional stress and help them perfect their applications.
“As for the ingredient budget, it was set at £15 to make it as realistic to industry standards as possible but after some consideration, we believe that it may stifle some creativity so we have increased the maximum cap to £30.
“There has already been tremendous interest in the competition [now in its 24th year,] so we hope these changes will help teams improve their applications without causing too much inconvenience.
“The Student Chef Challenge is the pinnacle when it comes to improving and testing key skills and techniques but most importantly, in helping students to find work post college.
“Competition cooking is as close as it gets to working in a fast-paced quality restaurant kitchen and as can be seen from the success of Emily (2016 winner) and Sean (2016 finalist), if you have the desire and ambition to be the next Tom Kerridge, Marcus Wareing or Michael O’Hare, the Student Chef Challenge can be an incredible launch pad.”
2018 Challenge criteria:
- The challenge requires teams of three students to develop a three-course, three-cover menu in 90 minutes
- This year’s theme is ‘Around the World in Three Spices’. A different fresh or ground spice has to be used in each of the courses
- Teams have a maximum budget of £10.00 per cover (£30.00 worth of ingredients for all three covers)
- For full details and to enter online visit - via www.countryrangestudentchef.co.uk
- Deadline for entries is the 15th December
- Live Regional Heats will take place at easily-accessible catering colleges between the 22nd January - Friday 8th February 2018.
- The Live Grand Final will take place on Wednesday 7th March 2018 between 11:00am - 12:30pm in front of an exhibition audience at Hotelympia 2018
- In addition to taking home the winning title, the three victorious students will each win a bespoke set of three Flint & Flame knives, a trip to the 2018 Universal Cookery & Food Festival, Westlands in September 2018 and treated to one night’s accommodation and dinner at Michelin-starred restaurant Simpsons (Kenilworth.)