TOP TOQUE:The clock is ticking, the judges are circling, pots are simmering on stoves. Work stations have become battle stations. It's the final of the Baileys/Euro-Toques young chef of the year. Places please ...
IT’S 8AM AND ONLY the porter and a cleaner are visible in the entry halls of Dublin Institute of Technology’s Cathal Brugha Street campus on Monday. But upstairs, in the one of the college’s gleaming, stainless-steel teaching kitchens, there’s tension in the air as some of the country’s most talented young chefs are lining up, ready to show what they can do with a kilo rack of pork from O’Doherty’s Butchers in Enniskillen, some artisan black pudding they’ve sourced themselves, individual garnishes of their own choice, and a double dose of creativity and confidence.
They’ve got 75 minutes to prepare two perfect plates of delicious and beautifully presented food, and they’ve got to do so under the constant observation of guest judge Shane Osborn, of the two Michelin starred London restaurant Pied à Terre, together with Irish chefs Neven Maguire, Lorcan Cribben and Neil McFadden.
To get here, they’ve already had to submit a tried and tested recipe for a seasonal, value-for-money main course for four people, and they’ve been interviewed at length on their ambitions, inspirations and intentions, by a panel of judges including Euro-Toques founder members John Howard and Gerry Galvin, in addition to Neven Maguire and Euro-Toques secretary-general, Ruth Hegarty. Their scores from these previous rounds will be added to those from today’s task, which carries 60 per cent of the total marks.
There are five work stations set up in the kitchen, and when the off is signalled, 23-year-old Patrick Powell, who works at Knockranny House Hotel in Mayo, hits the decks running. He is a previous finalist in this event, and he has given himself a lot to do today: “Roast rack of Fermanagh black pig, with maple and fig vinegar glaze, Kelly’s black pudding and pineapple ketafi, with black pudding paste, carrot puree, mustard gnocchi, cracked hazelnut and celery leaf dressing, with toffee and fennel seed jus”. It takes quite a while to say, never mind cook, and there are only 75 minutes on the clock.
At 10-minute intervals, the other four take their places and set to work in an atmosphere of high tension and naked ambition. Mark Treacy (24) is next up, and the Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud representative has an elegant dish planned: “Roast rack of pork, celeriac, apple and walnut puree, stuffed cabbage leaf, ravioli of black pudding, with Pedro Ximenes vinegar”. He will be making his own pasta, of course.
The Northern Ireland representative, James Devine, works at Deli on the Green in Moygashel, Co Tyrone. He is the only one who has chosen to de-bone his pork, and the judges are keeping a close eye from the outset. “Meat is usually better cooked on the bone,” says judge Neil McFadden. “It will be interesting to see how tasty his is in comparison.”
But Devine has a trick or two up his sleeve, and after deftly boning his pork and stuffing it with the black pudding, he loudly whacks the bones into small pieces to use as a trivet to cook his meat on, the roasted bones later contributing to the depth of his sauce. He spreads a mushroom and parsley duxelle over interlocking strips of pancetta, and wraps his cylinder of pork in this moist and flavoursome blanket, before rolling it in clingfilm and immersing it in water for a brief poaching – “to get the shape going” and then gives it a final roasting. Caramelised sage and onion puree, potato and chive cake, cabbage and carrot, and Carson’s Armagh Cider sauce will complete his plate.
Devine has his menu prominently displayed in a neat frame on his work station, the only one to do so. Everything about this quietly-spoken chef, who chose this career over studying for a law degree at Queens University, says measured determination, and control. Not content with just ordering in his black pudding, Devine spent a morning at O’Doherty’s butchers in Enniskillen, learning how to make it.
All around, there are flashy, cheffy things happening. Mark Treacy is making the pasta for his black pudding ravioli, rolling it again and again until it’s almost transparent, and Patrick Powell is making potato gnocchi, as well as wrapping black pudding in stringy, vermicelli-like, ketafi pastry. The judges are circling, clipboards in hand, and the clock is ticking, loudly.
Final-year DIT Culinary Arts student Eric Matthews (22), has done stagesat Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud and with Heston Blumenthal in the UK, and is already working part-time at popular Dublin restaurant, Le Gueuleton. He is painstakingly alternating celeriac and black pudding in a terrine mould, for his "rack of pork, pressed blood pudding and celeriac, apple and Balsamic puree, with cider emulsion".
Luke Flinter, also just 22 years old, and chef de partie at Waterford Castle, is the last to start and is now hard at work, carefully French-trimming the bones of his pork, grinding spices in a pestle and mortar, and laying the foundations for his “Roast rack of pork with Fingal Ferguson’s black pudding duxelle, bacon and Savoy cabbage, spiced apple compote and cider gravy”.
At 9.08, just seven minutes before he has to plate up, Patrick Powell has four pots on the go, and a deep fat fryer to watch over, too. The finalists are running now, between work stations, fridges, stoves and hot plates. Ruth Hegarty is time-keeper; she glances anxiously at her watch.
Neven Maguire of MacNean House and Restaurant is being characteristically friendly, and reminiscing about his win in this competition, and how much it meant to him: “one of the best days of my life,” he says, with conviction, and a great dollop of charm.
As the judges and monitors crowd around his workstation, Powell executes his presentation flawlessly, before answering questions from the judges – Neven Maguire wants to know if his dish is on the menu at Knockranny. “It was . . . well, a similar dish was.” Lorcan Cribben, head chef at Bang Cafe in Dublin, dissects the dish, making sure each judge tastes all the component parts, and they deliberate at length, before they return to the kitchen to watch Mark Treacy plate up.
Back in the kitchen, Treacy’s hands are shaking, making the complicated artistic arrangement even more difficult to execute. “Competitions can be very cruel,” whispers Cribben, stepping back to allow Treacy a bit of breathing space. “It’s time, now,” Ruth Hegarty announces, and happily the chef’s intricate plates are completed in time.
Australian-born Shane Osborn is enthused by the arrival in the tasting kitchen of James Devine’s plates. “You’ve given yourself a lot of work there,” he tells Devine. “I’ve done better, but I think it’s not too bad,” says the young chef, who later reveals that he practised cooking the dish at least 10 times, and even so, wasn’t entirely happy with how it looked on Monday. “I took the pork off the bone for presentation purposes. Realising that it could end up dry, I wrapped it in the pancetta,” says the highly articulate and confident finalist.
“The meat’s very moist,” affirms Osborn.“This is the first time we’ve seen crackling,” he notes, before adding, as Cribben bites into a piece, “that sounds like a crack to me!”
They like this one, a lot. “Everything on the plate works together,” Neven Maguire ventures.
“I liked the way he worked. This is going to be a hard one to beat,” Osborn adds.
But there are still two plates to be presented, and it’s not over till the piggy’s all gone. Eric Matthews begins his plating up with two of the confident exclamation marks of sauce, beloved of chefs, before building a heady composition of contrasting colours and textures. “It looked very elegant, till the celery cress went on,” says Osborn, perhaps suggesting that less, in this case, might have been more. There is great interest in Matthews’ cider foam, made with Double LL cider from north Co Dublin, “and the terrine is nicely made,” Osborn adds.
Lastly, Luke Flinter executes a deft move with his knife that sets his portions of pork upright on a sea of vanilla apple compote, and heads to the judging table. He is asked about the spicing of the compote, which is judged to be too sweet, and his Fingal Ferguson black pudding comes in for favourable comment.
All over then, bar the little matter of lunch to prepare for invited guests in Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud. Although not counting towards the result, this last element of the competition sees the finalists cook and present a five-course lunch for sponsors and their guests.
They are each responsible for one course, which they have designed with their chef mentors, and they are interviewed individually by MC Colm Murray.
When they finally make it out for the announcement of the result, having sent out five fantastic courses – and charmed guests with their articulate and witty responses to Colm Murray’s gentle probing – they’re a wan and tired-looking bunch, in contrast to nine hours earlier.
But the beaming smile on James Devine’s face as he steps up to receive the winner’s reward – a two-week stage with Osborne at Pied à Terre and a cheque for €1,250 – says it all.
So, what sort of experience can he now look forward to, working in London? “A ball-breaking one,” Shane Osborn says.
“It will open his mind to new techniques and recipes. Every day will be a school day.” And James Devine will be a star pupil. Remember the name . . . you’ll be hearing a lot about the young chef who took the law into his own hands.