MLA Blackbox held at Resorts World Sentosa.

TEMASEK CULINARY ACADEMY REIGNS SUPREME IN MEAT AND LIVESTOCK AUSTRALIA BLACKBOX CULINARY CHALLENGE

30 September 2010 – The gold medal and best establishment award in the prestigious Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) Black Box Culinary Challenge has been awarded to Temasek Culinary Academy !

The MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge is a hands-on outside catering concept for young chefs. For the first time, the event was held truly outdoors at the Coliseum at Resorts World, Sentosa. The venue created an atmosphere for a battle of the gladiators or in this case, the battle of the food gladiators. The ten teams in the competition served two tables each in a banquet style setting gala dinner for distinguished guests and members of the local food and beverage (F&B) industry.

For this competition, the 84th competition held globally, the theme was simple, encourage inspiring and innovative dishes of Australian lamb and beef. The mystery 18 ingredients, were revealed a day before to the participants for the preparation of the four-course menu. The teams were each given just one hour to come up with a menu to impress the judges. The feature of the ingredient list was Kobe Cuisine D rump and White Pyrness lamb leg.

The first runner up went to Royal Plaza on Scotts and the second runner up was Shangri-La Hotel Singapore. Their prizes include a medal and S$1,000 and S$500 respectively. The other awards of the night include best table display that went to Grand Copthorne Waterfront, best appetizer went to Marina Bay Sands and the best main course went to Royal Plaza on Scotts. Temasek Culinary Academy also sweeps the awards for best soup and best dessert.

The guest-of-honour of the night was His Excellency, Australian High Commissioner Doug Chester.

The judging panel was led by Alan Palmer, global competition coordinator of MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge, Chef Rick Stephen, executive chef of SATS, William Gibb Taylor, course manager of ITE, Chef Yen Koh, executive chef for Unilever Food Solutions and Chef Tony Khoo, executive chef for Marina Mandarin. The sponsors that provided the ingredients and venue for the night includes Resorts World Sentosa, Kobe Cuisine, White Pyrness, Culina, Unilever Food Solutions, DiGiorgio Family Wines, San Pellegrino and National Foods.

As the night draw to a close, the event was a success and we look forward to the next time the MLA Black Box Culinary Challenge comes to town again!

Extracted from Singapore Junior Chef Club

World Chefs Magazine Out Now...

World Chefs Magazine can also be ordered in hard copy format.

Please keep in mind for your future events.

See details:

http://issuu.com/worldchefs/docs/issue03

WACS Asian Forum 2010

WACS Asian Presidents Forum 2010

The World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) Asian Presidents Forum was held in Daejon, Korea, from the 3rd to 4th September 2010. I was privileged to be part of the Singapore delegation to attend the Forum. Together with me, Singapore was represented by Edmund Toh, Vice-President of Singapore Chefs Association (SCA) and Jenny Tan, Branding and Communications of SCA.

It was a meeting of the Presidents of the various chefs associations in Asia. The meeting was chaired by WACS Asia Continental Director John Sloane. Along with him were President of WACS, Gissur Gudmundsson, WACS Continental Director for Africa and Middle East, Arnold Tanzer, and WACS Continental Director for Pacific Region, Glenn Austin. Also present, besides the respective associations’ presidents, were Cassandra Hayden, representing Women in WACS, and Charles Carroll who is coordinating the WACS Congress 2012. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I have read one of Charles Carroll’s books before, entitled Leadership lessons from a Chef: Finding time to be great.

The meeting was fruitful with many topics being discussed. Presidents of the various associations took to the podium and shared with their fellow counterparts the on goings of their association. Hong Kong Young Chefs Club, like us SJCC, had a representative for the meeting and shared on her club. The HKYCC has been doing great, and has had recent overseas exchange programs.

I briefed on our club and the perspectives our committee had on giving focus to young chefs for our profession’s future, being patient to young chefs and their mistakes, and guiding and encouraging young chefs in their work in junior chefs clubs. I also highlighted that each club can be unique and is perfectly fine to differ from one another, so long as it remains focus to the primary goal which is to inspire and guide young chefs. (E.g. some clubs are strong in competitions, some focus on membership figures; some do not have as many activities, while others are at their early forming stage)

President Gissur also gave us insights on new initiatives in WACS, such as Chefs Without Borders (A humanitarian aid project which chefs can play a big part in) and WACS’ endorsement of culinary institutions.

There were also paper presentations on Korean Food, WACS Congress 2012, and a Honey Candy making presentation (which reminded me of the Chinese Dragon Beard Candy). The Korean Chefs Association was a warm host, making sure there were translators around wherever we go, hosting us to sumptuous receptions, including a reception and outdoor concert graced by the Mayor of Daejon city.

Apart from getting used to having lots of Kimchi and Samgyetang, it was a productive trip of networking and gaining useful information to be shared with my committee and members.

Jasper Jek

President

Singapore Junior Chefs Club

Joel Robuchon in Singapore

French Culinary Maestro visits Singapore

World renowned Chef-Entrepreneur Joel Robuchon flew into the lion city with the prospects of having his signature restaurants opening their doors by next year at the Resorts World Sentosa. Chef Robuchon who is one of the world’s most Michelin Stars decorated chef was in town to discuss the launch of his latest F&B ventures to be opened at RWS as part of the government assisted efforts to transform the island city state into one of the world’s significant culinary capitals with the opening of the two Integrated Resorts recently. Both IRs have been courting world class celebrity chefs to be a part of their F&B dinning concepts program and Chef’s Robuchon’s partnership with RWS is certain to add more weight in making Singapore a culinary hotspot in the gastronomic world of fine cuisine.

During his short stay in Singapore, WACS’s Continental Director for Asia, Chef John Sloane and SCA Vice President, Chef Edmund Toh had the rare but excellent opportunity to exchange dialogue with the renowned French Culinary Maestro and to introduce Singapore Chefs Association and the organization’s dynamics to him. Chef Robuchon was briefed by both local veteran culinarians on how the professional chef’s career has evolved in Singapore as the country transformed over the years. They also shared success stories of SCA endorsed past and present National Culinary Teams in areas of international culinary competitions, SCA members integrating into and supporting community living programs and being culinary ambassadors for Singapore’s home grown cuisine through international cuisine exchanges and food related media programs.

In honour of his visit to Singapore, Chef Robuchon was also presented with the SCA 25th Anniversary commemorative cookbook that portrays the history of our progress, achievement s and a plethora of award winning recipes presented during the various international culinary competitions like Culinary World Cup Luxemburg, Culinary Olympics and Igeho Basel.

Eric Low

Nestle Professional Rising Chefs Challenge 2010

SJCC - Nestle Professional Rising Chefs Challenge 2010

NESTLÉ PROFESSIONAL FOCUS ON YOUNG CHEFS

The Spotlight On Singapore’s Young Chefs And New Talents

The Second Annual Rising Chefs Challenge 2010

23 SEPTEMBER 2010 – As part of its commitment to nurture the young in the hospitality industry, Nestlé Professional along with the Singapore Junior Chefs Club organised the second annual Rising Chefs Challenge 2010 last Saturday, 18 September at Tourism Academy @ Sentosa. Eight teams of two junior chefs each competed ina gruelling challenge that saw them pittheir culinary skills to be recognised as the Rising Chefs of 2010. The teams from different culinary schools and restaurants were given two hours each to prepare a restaurant platter for five, focusing on creativity, technique, taste and nutrition using three Nestlé Professional products – MAGGI Chef’s Secret, MAGGI Mash Potato Instant Mix and Buitoni Coulis De Tomate.

Temasek Polytechnic proved to be the culinary college to beat when three of its teams emerged as the top three winners of the competition. The champion walked away with a challenge trophy, certificate and the ultimate prize of an all-expense paid trip to China to intern and train at one of the country’s top restaurants. The winner was The Secret Chefs. Made up of Temasek Polytechnic’s applied science students, Andy Tan and Ethan Goh, the duo created a restaurant platter that showcased their creativity.

Goh said, “We decided to make full use of a whole duck when we brainstorm for ideas for our dish. We sous vide the duck breast and served it with an orange carrot purée while the duck thigh was braised with the Buitoni Coulis de Tomate. The bones from the duck were used to make our cooking stock and we also featured a polenta crumbed foie gras to complete the dish.”

Team Temasek CCM (Calvin Tan and Piak Jia Ying) proved to be a force to be reckoned with as the first runner-up. Their creation of herb crusted lamb rack and spiced loin, ratatouille of Buitoni Coulis de Tomate, asparagus and glazed pearl onion, Maggi croquette potato with currant and berry sauce charmed the judges with their originality and creativity. They also took home a challenge trophy and certificate for their effort along with a knife set worth S$1,400. Tan revealed, “We really enjoyed using these products. They’re so versatile and we benefitted from it. It was definitely a good challenge for us as we managed to incorporate the three products seamlessly into our dish.”

The second runner-up prize of a challenge trophy, certificate and S$700 book hamper went to Pay Sin Wei and Jessica Tan of Team BCS, also from Temasek Polytechnic. They both also won the best hygiene title. Presenting a unique dish, the duo went with sous vide shark steak in spicy tomato avocado sauce, sour cream Duchesse potatoes and sautéed asparagus in raspberry infused hollandaise. Pay shared, “When we found out that we’re supposed to use the Maggi Mash Potato Instant Mix, we knew we had to create a new version of the famous Duchesse potatoes. We’re very happy with the results. Like our fellow competitors, we used the Maggi Chef’s Secret Seasoning as our flavouring. We omitted the usage of salt because it was better than salt, full of flavours!”

The remaining participants each received a consolation prize as well as a certificate and they are Team Cuscaden (Yeo Sheng Xiong and Muhammad Shawal), Team Victory (Jessica Tan and Rachael Koh), Team Les Atascia (Kiti Kui and Leong Li Ping), Team MK (Chia Jue Xian and Jeagan s/o Nadzan) and Team Republic One (Agassiz Kong and Wong Quinnson).

The adjudicators of the competition represented the who’s who of Singapore’s culinary scene. Led by the culinary godfather, Chef Otto Weibel himself, the panel consisted of Chef Eric Teo, president of the Singapore Chefs Association, Roger Frei, Nestlé Professional’s regional food manager for Asia, Oceania and Africa and Lydia Tan, nutritionist with the Health Promotion Board. Speaking during the prize presentation, Chef Weibel said, “The judges saw a lot of creativity today and a lot of effort put in by all teams. Everyone did a good job today. It’s important for junior chefs like all of you to constantly push yourselves and participate in competitions like these. Only then you’ll have the exposure and experience. It’s more important than winning but always remember to try your best.”

Also at the prize presentation was Jasmmine Wong, country business manager for Nestlé Singapore. Speaking on behalf of Nestlé, she offered, “I’m surprised with the quality of work we have here today. It’s very impressive and I want to congratulate every one of you. All of you will be very successful one day, in your own individual way. Just remember to keep asking the question – how to make yourself better.”

Winning Dish

Winning Team- The Secret Chefs: Ethan Goh & Andy Tan Chun Fu

As the curtains drew to a close, Singapore Junior Chefs Club and Nestlé Professional have once again organised a successful competition and there was already buzz for next year’s competition which promised to be even bigger and better.

SJCC visit to Resorts World Singapore

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 (SJ

CC) 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

Fonterra foodservices Pastry Challenge 2010 Hong Kong & Macou

Announcing the Official Founding of the Young Chefs Club and the Chinese Chefs Club

14-06-2010

It is with great pleasure that we announce the official founding of the

Young Chefs Club
and the
Chinese Chefs Club
on the 25th of May 2010

The turnout for the ceremony was overwhelming, with more than 400 guests from the Industry, Press, TV and of course, the very large number of Chefs with representatives from various provinces in Vietnam and even from Cambodia.

We had the honour to welcome

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tho
Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association (HTA)
Ms. Angela Dickey
Acting U.S. Consul General, Ho Chi Minh City
Ms. Nguyen Thi Khanh
Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association (HTA)
Mr. Nguyen Chi Vien
Representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture,
Sports and Tourism
Mr. Nguyen Tuan Quang
Secretary of Saigon Tourist Company
Mr Huynh Van Qui
General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association (HTA)

With the launch of these new clubs, the committee has our work cut out for us. We have received a large list of topics which both clubs would like to be trained in.

To my greatest satisfaction, the first topic on the list is Food Safety and Hygiene. On this subject, Mdm Bui Thi Suong will be conducting a training session in June for the Young Chefs. Ms. Margaret Say from the USAPEEC has confirmed that she will sponsor more in-depth trainings for the Young Chefs and the Chinese Chefs on the same topic with a lecturer from Singapore.

The second topic is product knowledge. Beside members of the SPC committee, our long time supporter Fonterra has confirmed that they will hold trainings on dairy products. Interflour Vietnam has confirmed training on flour and flour products and Rich’s have confirmed training on non-dairy creams. Puratos will be giving demonstrations on bread making. MLA and USMEF have also confirmed their support.

Should there be any individual or company interested to contribute to the training of our chefs, please contact the undersigned, the SPC office or any of the SPC committee members.

We are very much looking forward to list you as a volunteer for this extremely important task.

With Culinary regards
Norbert

SJCC goes off island in the name of food waste reduction

Pulau Semakau Educational Trip Writeup

On a recent Sunday, the Singapore Junior Chefs Club organized an educational fieldtrip to Pulau Semakau, the world’s first of its kind offshore landfill. The purpose of the visit was to educate members on wastage in particularly food wastage and the importance of being responsible with Food. A total of 50 members attended the fieldtrip, alongside members of the SJCC committee. The trip started off with a 40 minutes ferry ride to the island, south of Singapore. The members were full of excitement on the Sun-deck of the ferry, some of whom were sitting a ferry for the first time in their life.

When asked about why SJCC decided to organize such a trip for its members, SJCC President Jasper Jek replied “What better way to allow members to learn about Food Wastage and its effects on the environment, than for them to visit the landfill and to see for themselves what happens to the food they waste in their kitchens and restaurants when they dispose them off. Chefs take a huge responsibility for the food they order, they produce and its wastage. This out of the kitchen trip will deeply impact our members, and what they learn will stay with them a long way into their career. As SJCC envisions nurturing future talents in the Food and Beverage field, reputed for their character, it will be good to have such a trip. Furthermore, it goes in line with what was presented in WACS Congress 2010 in Chile on Reducing Food Wasting.”

Upon arrival on the Pulau Semakau, the members were brought into the Visitors Centre, where they were presented a video about the landfill. Thereafter the guide briefed them about how the Landfill came about, the need for Singapore to have such a landfill and other aspects of the landfill. They were also taught about the process of what happens when things go into the rubbish bins. The members were surprised to learn that in 2009’s festive period, a total of 187 tons of food was wasted, and that when food waste is not treated properly, it gives off methane which is harmful to the environment. Members were also taught on the 3Rs: Recycle, Reuse and Reduce, and ways to reduce food wastage in the kitchen, e.g. using old bread to make bread and butter pudding.

After the presentation, members were brought onto mini shuttle buses to tour the landfill. The guide gave detailed explanation of the operation process which takes place on each location. The government has made efforts to make the island more recreation friendly by incorporating scenic locations for mangrove intertidal walks, bird watching, sports fishing, star gazing and others. The beautiful scenery of the offshore landfill gave members another impression of landfills.

In conclusion, we believe the fun and educational fieldtrip deeply benefited the young chefs and SJCC will continue to introduce ways to guide young chefs in the right path. We would like to specially thank Nestle Professional for their kind support and sponsorship for this fieldtrip, and making it possible!

More information on Pulau Semakau Landfill can be found on:

www.nea.gov.sg/cms/esd/brochure/TMTS.pdf

Bocuse D’or Asia In Shanghai

By Federico Michieletto:

In this Note I will like to congratulate my team Malaysia with  Chef See Lay Na , Commis Chef Gho Mio Di  Mandy , and Coach Marcel Kofler, with support of Chef David King and Chef Riccardo Ferrarotti  for winning the Bocuse D’or Asia In Shanghai .   

Attach our Menu and Philosophy to share with you all .

I will like also to extend the congratulation to  the following teams :

2nd Place: China

3rd Place: Japan

4th Place: Indonesia & best Commis prize winner

All above teams will proceed to Lyon 2011 Bocuse D’or in January next year .

foodcult-home

foodcult-home

www.foodcult.tv

What happens when you put chefs on the competition arena? Cooking like you have never seen before. FoodCult.TV traces the journey of the Singapore National Culinary Team as they prepare for the FHA Culinary Challenge and fight for the prestigious Battle for the Lion title.

WACS Young Chefs Club on Facebook

Come & share your thoughts and ideas, click on the picture below to join us on Facebook.

The Facebook link for WACS Young Chefs Club is:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/WACS-Young-Chefs-Club/125963590764424

FHA NationalTeams Cold Table Displays

National Teams Cold Table Displays

what an amazing year, very clean and clear work for many of the teams.

FHA National Teams Hot Cooking

The Battle for the Lion in the Restaurant of Nations was nothing short of extraordinary with great executed skill, brilliant plating and taste bringing the Lion back to its home is Singapore

FHA Gormet Team Challenge

This years Challenge was a closely contested battle with the teams producing their very best

FHA Hot Cooking Neptunes Catch

FHA Cakes and Carvings

FHA Plated Desserts

FHA Ethnic Asian Family Meal

FHA Plated Entrees

FHA Plated Appitizers 4&6

There were a large number of entries again this year here are some of the highlights

Congratulations to all the winners & participants at the FHA 2010.

Here are the results, look out for more pictures from the event coming up shortly...

The World Association of Chefs Societies Appoints Two New Young Chefs Ambassadors

At the recently held World Association of Chefs Societies board meeting in Melbourne Australia last week the world president Mr. Gissur Gudmundsson ratified the appointments of the two new Young Chefs ambassadors for the term of office 2010 to 2012.

The successful candidates chosen are:

Ms. Kelly Lee Conwell from the United States of America, representing the American Culinary Federation. Kelly’s training place was Johnson County Community College. She now uses and shares her acquired skills at Raphael Hotel in Kansas City, USA.

Ms. Sarah Primrose representing the New Zealand chefs Association. New Zealand. Sarah trained at The Culinary Institute of New Zealand. (Bay of Islands, Northland), and is now practising her art at The Pear Tree restaurant in Kerikeri, New Zealand.

Both of them recently attended the 34th WACS bi-annual Congress in Santiago, Chile where they participated in the Dr Billy Gallagher WACS Junior Chefs Forum, where over 60 young chefs from throughout the world participated in seminars, round table discussions and competitions.

The two candidates will take up their positions with immediate effect, they will be reporting directly to the chair of the young chefs liaison committee Mr. Andy Cuthbert. Their role will be to give input to the Presidium and board of elected continental directors on matters pertaining to young chefs from around the world.

At their appointment, they commonly stated:

We are thrilled and honoured to be chosen as one of the two students appointed as WACS Young Chefs ambassador from such an elite group. WACS has given young chefs worldwide an amazing opportunity to mentor, as well the opportunity to express their opinions on issues that matter to us. Now we are looking forward to meeting chefs from around the world and working on a great mentorship between the Junior Chefs and Senior Chefs.

Source: http://www.wacs2000.org/wacs2009_beta/en/news/news.php?cat=wacs&id=2766