Avery Chefs Whip Up a Treat at The National Finals
Talented Avery chefs across our portfolio of homes are always creating tasty treats and mouth-watering, nutritious meals for our residents. So, it comes as no surprise that Avery Healthcare had two outstanding chefs in the National final at the National Association of Care Catering (NACC) Care Chef of the Year competition, who came away with two fantastic awards!
The NACC raises the profile of care catering and is celebrated across the care sector. This year the finals were held at Barking & Dagenham College’s Technical Skills Academy on Wednesday 6th June. It was a fierce competition where chefs had to showcase their innovative, tasty two-course menus, suitable for a care environment, whilst demonstrating the understanding of the nutritional aspects of ingredients used, as well as highlighting skill, flair, technical and presentational executions.
Martin McKee from Hawthorns Care Home, Aldridge, cooked up a storm and was awarded second place in the entire competition. This is Martin’s third success at representing Avery at the NACC National Finals and he certainly continued to impress everyone with his mouth-watering dishes. Martin’s main course was delicious, comprising of a tender blade of Staffordshire beef, with broad bean mash, braised red cabbage and honey glazed carrot puree, poached asparagus and Yorkshire pudding. For his show-stopping dessert, Martin crafted a Buckinghamshire cherry and Belgian chocolate Bakewell mousse with almond joconde.
David Oswin from Loxley Park Assisted Living showed off his culinary talent, preparing a pan-fried Mackerel with beetroot, horseradish & garlic puree, braised celery, roast new potatoes and chargrilled cauliflower with a yoghurt & olive oil dressing for his main course. He continued to wow the judges’ taste buds with his show-stopping dessert of a raspberry jelly with custard mousse, accompanied by a sweet cheese and basil mascarpone with honeycomb. The judges were so impressed that they awarded him Best Dessert, which is certainly impressive given the high level of competition in the finals.
Simon Lawrence, Group Culinary Manager for Avery Healthcare, was incredibly proud of both of the finalists. “Both chefs are very talented and deserved to be at the nationals. As well as celebrating true talent that exists within the field, the NACC Care Chef of the Year competition also fulfils the important role of highlighting the specific culinary knowledge, skills creativity and dedication to ensure consistent excellence within care catering.”
All our chefs did exceptionally well across the NACC competition this year, with several making it through to the Midlands regional competition too.
