Tick-tock Euro-toque

YOUNG CHEFS:Culinary wizardry and cooking against the clock – it's Euro-toques young chef awards time. MARIE-CLAIRE DIGBYgoes behind the scenes

THERE’S QUITE A crowd gathered in Chapter One restaurant in Dublin, even though it’s a Sunday morning. Lorcan Cribbin is telling Paul Flynn about cooking Thanksgiving dinner for pop-star Rihanna. Ross Lewis is showing off his kitchen gadgets. “I’ve got a serious case of kitchen envy,” Paul Flynn says as he takes in the generous space, top-end equipment and stylish design.

Neil McFadden has his clipboard in hand and his serious face on as he channels the mischievous sense of fun that often surfaces when a few chefs get together out of working hours. McFadden, a consultant chef, is chairman of the five-man judging panel for the 2011 Euro-toques Young Chef of the Year and together with Cribbin, Flynn, Lewis and Marc Amand, managing director of La Rousse Foods, he will closely observe the six finalists as they prepare a dish of their own creation, using Achill Island farmed turbot and Dublin Bay prawns.

The entrants are all under 25. They have 70 minutes to prepare two carefully balanced, expertly executed and beautifully presented plates of food. “This is high-wire food; an all or nothing gig,” Lewis says as the first chef goes under starter’s orders.

Margaret Roche is chef de partie in the pastry section at the Merrion Hotel, and was runner-up in this competition last year. She is working on a champagne-poached Dublin Bay prawns with seared fillet of turbot, dulse croquettes, lemon foam, carrot puree and bisque sauce.

Bandana-wearing Kyle Greer, senior chef de partie at No 27 Talbot Street in Belfast, has started on his dish of pan-seared turbot, poached Dublin Bay prawns, textures of organic fennel, turbot “crackling” and Nantua sauce. Greer was a recent contestant on the ITV programme Britain’s Best Dish, and he seems comfortable with the close scrutiny of the judges.

Roche’s dish is a sunburst palette of colours that goes down well with the judges, who single it out for its freshness and elegance. “A super dish, with no negatives,” Cribbin says, while Flynn mentions Roche’s “body language”, saying, “I love the way you work in a kitchen.”

“You will go far . . . and I hope you remember us when you get there,” adds Amand to a chorus of laughter, having heard that Roche will be taking up a position with Alain Roux at the three Michelin star Waterside Inn in February.

By now there’s a third presence in the kitchen, and it’s Kamil Dubanik, originally from Poland, now working as demi-chef de partie with Seamus Commons at Knockranny House Hotel. He’s given himself a lot to do with his dish of roast turbot on the bone with langoustine tortellini, Jerusalem artichoke, mushroom and lovage. But he is moving with the careful choreography of a kitchen pro, and he has a few tricks up his sleeve – he turns dried lovage first into an oil and then a powder, using tapioca maltodextrin to complete the alchemic transformation.

Greer is also dazzling with his technical skills and he cleverly brings with him a mission statement explaining where he sourced his ingredients and the inspiration behind his dish. His turbot “crackling”, made with the fish skin, and the fennel pollen both attract a lot of attention. But when presentation is considered, Lewis says it’s “not as neat, not as artistic”.

Dubanik is the first contestant to employ a chef’s tweezers to meticulously construct his plate, and even though his hands are shaking, his dish comes together beautifully. The pasta is so thinly rolled that the tortellini have delicate lacy edges, and the lovage powder is a lovely pastel green. The judges really like this one. Dubanik has used the cheeks and the liver of the turbot in his dish. “I didn’t know turbot had cheeks,” Flynn pipes up before adding, “There’s a lot of work here, lads. I think we’ll have to have a dance-off.”

Lewis bring a smile to the serious young man’s face when he says: “The combination of the flavours, from the lovage right through to the sauce, which was understated, brought the dish to a crescendo and a harmony of flavours that were delineated and not confused.”

Timing hasn’t been a problem for the first three contestants, but David Magaeen, head chef at Restaurant Victoria in Belfast, is serving the turbot steamed, with prawn and cabbage cannelloni, pork belly crisps, smoked onion puree, and leek and potato sauce. As a two-minute plating-up extension expires, his white plates remain empty. But he’s allowed to continue and doesn’t seem ruffled by the overrun. “Conceptually, this is for me the best dish,” Lewis says. “It’s fresh, light, there’s harmony and it’s sophisticated.” But the judges are in agreement that the cabbage enclosing the prawns is undercooked.

Aisling Gallagher, chef de partie at Ballynahinch Castle, also finds herself running out of time preparing her turbot (poached in a butter sauce and with crispy skin), a seaweed and prawn croquette, carrot and pea purees, Sichuan pepper foam, shredded cabbage and prawn dressing.

Her dish is served on black rectangular slates, and although it looks pretty, the judges feel there isn’t enough food on the plate. “I have one criticism – your fish should be bigger,” Flynn says. “Remember your centrepiece compared to the size of your garnishes,” Cribbin adds.

The final contestant, Micheál Harley, runs the pastry section at Rathmullan House in Donegal, and the title of his dish demands attention. His dish – steamed turbot over bladderwrack, with Dublin Bay prawn mousse, foraged sea vegetables, Jerusalem artichoke and prawn jus – reflects his coastal location. “If this competition was about local and seasonal, he nailed it,” Lewis says.

Having established that the fish was steamed over bladderwrack seaweed, McFadden says it’s the first time he’s seen it on a menu and that the plate is very elegant. Once again there’s a but – this time it’s the turbot, which they feel is a little overcooked.

After the competition, there’s no time for jubilation or the licking of wounds. Although the judging is now completed, the six must report immediately to the Merrion Hotel, where they start work on a six-course lunch they will be serving the following day at the prizegiving ceremony.

As they line up after the awards lunch, having worked through probably the toughest 24 hours of their careers, they can momentarily bask in the appreciative applause from the Euro-toques guests. But there can only be one winner, and the Euro-toque Young Chef of 2011 is Kamil Dubanik. He gets an all-expenses-paid stage, or work experience, at the Ivy restaurant in London, plus a stage at Chapter One, and additional prizes from sponsors BIM and Fáilte Ireland

The 23-year-old’s achievement is remarkable. He started cooking just three years ago when Seamus Commons, also the mentor of last year’s Euro-toques winner, offered him a job as a kitchen porter. He now has an advanced certificate in professional cookery from GMIT, and a career that will take him wherever he wants to go.