Young Chefs Impress at Taste of Grampian

The judges were so impressed with the skills of two young chefs, Giorgia Alcaras (15) and Ross Maxwell (18) they named them both joint winners of the Aspiring Young Chef award at Taste of Grampian on Saturday. In a first for the award, the judges found themselves unable to split the two after they scored exactly the same in the technical scoring undertaken by the judges. The pair wowed the judges with their spectacular three courses, including Scotch Lamb PGI and Specially Selected Pork main courses. They will both receive a £200 voucher to buy cooking equipment with Giorgia receiving a further special surprise prize from Scottish Pig Producers for the top pork dish - a £100 voucher to be spent in a Scotch Butchers Club shop. Summing up the dishes the young chefs had produced Lady Claire Macdonald said the standard of the work put into producing them had been exceptional. "They were working in an environment which even a very experienced chef would find challenging and using equipment they are unfamiliar with and I really think what they achieved was so very impressive," said Lady Claire. Giorgia and Ross made it to the final after emerging as the winners in a cook-off held at the campus of North East Scotland College, which supports the award along with Quality Meat Scotland.