Scotland Turns Up the Heat!
Students in Scotland show us what they’re made of in the first Scottish heat of the Major Series.
On Tuesday 9th October, students from colleges across Scotland and the North East descended on West College Scotland, Paisley campus for the first Major Series Scotland. As they gathered around the kitchens, the air was filled with excitement and nervous chatter and soon it was time to begin.
Things kicked off with heat 1 of the chicken challenge. Tasked with creating a modern style chicken dish using the Major products, the students wasted no time getting their dishes started and delicious smells were soon drifting from their stations. Meanwhile, in the kitchen next door, the first heat of the Street Food Challenge was also off to an excellent start with the students taking inspiration from a number of global cuisines for their on-trend dishes. After the first round of judging, the second set of heats began and alongside a second set of chicken competitors, junior students got to work using the Major Stocks to create delicious bowls of pasta in the Pasta Challenge.
As the day went on and dishes began to be served, it became clear that the standard was high. Joe Queen, Chairman of the Judges for the Scottish Chefs, was extremely impressed and commented on the students’ excellent use of flavours, “The students use of the Major products has been second to none today and they’ve really demonstrated an understanding of their uses and versatility. It gives me great pleasure to see such talented students expressing themselves and getting rewarded for it.” Fergus Martin, Executive Development Chef for Major International added, “The standard and professionalism shown today was extremely good and myself and the other judges were all highly impressed.”
After a busy day of heats and an inspiring display of talent, it was time for the highly anticipated results and the restaurant was soon full of students and lecturers waiting for the winners to be announced. There were medals across the board but it was James Russell from West College Scotland, Paisley who won the Chicken Challenge meaning that he will go on to compete against the other 2018/19 winners in the Grand Final at the Foodservice Show in January 2019! Congratulations as well to Shannon McNeil from Edinburgh College, Milton who wowed the judges with her Street Food dish and Lee Brown from West College Scotland, Paisley who’s Pasta proved a hit.
As the day drew to a close, David Bryant, Managing Director for Major International reflected on the hard work put in to make today possible, “We’ve been working towards holding a Major Series heat in Scotland for several years now and its excellent that we’ve finally made it a reality this year. On behalf of all of us at Major I would like to say a big thank you to West College Scotland for hosting the event and to our excellent judges Joe Queen, Jav Aziz, Willie Pike and David Hunt for taking the time to come and judge. On a personal note I’d also like to thank Neil Thompson, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chefs for his support and of course all the colleges and students for coming along to compete. Without you all, today just wouldn’t have been possible.”
For more information about Major Series 2019/20 keep an eye on our website and social media pages - after the success of this year, it’s building up to be another good one!