Beaulieu student wins 'Skills for Life' cookery competition

Tuesday 31 October 2017

Beaulieu student, Emma Preisig, was the big winner at the JCG/Genuine Jersey 'Skills for Life' cookery competition, preparing a monkfish wrapped in Parma ham.

It was Emma’s fourth year cooking in the competition, and she scooped the Modern Hotels Award for Year 13 and the Jersey Market’s Trophy, sponsored by Vienna Bakeries, for Best Overall Entry in the Competition.

The aspiring chef has already set her sights on studying cookery at a culinary college in Birmingham after finishing her exams. She was one of 71 students from Les Quennevais, Beaulieu, Le Rocquier, Victoria College and JCG who competed in a bid to win a variety of trophies for their culinary skills and imaginative use of local, seasonal produce. Entrants were asked to create a healthy, balanced main dish, and then invited to make their dish against the clock for the judges.

The Shaun Rankin Award for Best Use of Jersey Produce went to Year 8 JCG student, Ada Ostroumoff, for her ambitious dish of beef, crab and vegetable sushi. Event organiser Antoinette De Louche, Head of Food and Nutrition at JCG, said: “Ada showed innovative and creative use of ingredients and her sushi looked and tasted superb!”

In its 11th year, the competition was open to adults for the first time and saw teacher Angela Crowcroft crowned as ‘best amateur chef’ for her dish of skate poached in La Mare wine with a Jersey butter and caper sauce. 

Pictured: Angela Crowcroft with John Garton.

Entrants were judged by local culinary experts including Andrew Baird of Longueville Manor, Rozena and Tim Pedley, Marcus Calvani of BeServed Group and Shaun Rankin of Ormer Restaurant.

Antoinette De Louche added: “The standard of cooking in the competition continues to rise with every year and was undoubtedly at its highest this year. This contest gives teachers and parents an opportunity to promote and raise awareness of the nutritional benefits of using local produce, in a fun and engaging way.” 

“We are incredibly grateful to Genuine Jersey for sponsoring the competition and to all of our other award sponsors without whom this event could not take place.”  

Genuine Jersey Chief Executive John Garton said: “This is always a fantastic event for Genuine Jersey to align itself with as it teaches Islanders, young and old, about the abundance of local produce we have available on our doorstep. The difference in buying your ingredients locally can be always be found in the taste and the Skills of Life competition really gets the students to taste everything they source.” 

Pictured: The student winners in this year's "Skills for Life" competition.

The JCG/Genuine Jersey ‘Skills for Life’ cookery competition took place between 16 and 20 October and aimed to capture the spirit of shows such as The Great British Bake Off and Masterchef.

The event was sponsored by Modern Hotels, Mange Tout, Dunn Ross Fisheries, Rondel’s Farm Shop, Longueville Manor, Genuine Jersey, The Boathouse Group, Shaun Rankin, the Pedley Family, Sandpiper and Vienna Bakery.