Young Chefs Vie for Top Prize at Taste of Grampian

The talent of two young chefs from the north-east will be put to the test in the final of this year’s Scotch Beef Aspiring Young Chef competition.

The promising pair, Giorgia Alcaras, 15, and Ross Maxwell, 17, have been unveiled as the finalists in this year’s cook-off, which will be staged at the Taste of Grampian food festival on Saturday 4 June, sponsored by Specially Selected Pork.

Columnist and renowned food writer Lady Claire Macdonald will be scoring the home-grown hopefuls as they go head-to-head, using the best of Grampian’s ingredients, in a competition supported by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and North East Scotland College.

Commenting on the semi-final heats, Carol McLaren, Head of Communications at QMS said: “It’s great to see budding chefs taking great pride in Scotland’s larder and making use of the flavour and quality we have available on our doorstep.

“The judges were extremely impressed with the youngsters’ skill level during the semi-finals and so we are all looking forward to seeing, and tasting, what’s to come as the competition heats up.”

Giorgia and Ross were selected after a cook-off at the college’s Aberdeen campus when four semi-finalists were tasked with preparing and cooking a two-course meal made using as many Grampian ingredients as possible.  The other two semi-finalists were Daryl Ross and Andrew Rennie.

The winner of the Scotch Beef Aspiring Young Chef competition will receive a £200 voucher to be used on kitchen equipment and a signed cookbook, with the runner-up receiving a £100 voucher.