IS ESF Chef 2019 1st round – Mystery box challenge
It is that tome of year again, where the ERSF Chef starts up at Island school. the Senior section saw the students given a mystery box of chicken and some vegetables and then they could choose from a selection of carbohydrate ingredients and they had acces the herbs and spice and dry store basics. Once they had chosen their ingredient they had 10mins to plan and then 1 hour cooking time, before it was judging time. Ms Leung and Mr Woods judged along side some Y13 students and had the very envious job of deciding who goes through t the enxt round. There was a clear winner, with Charlotte Wong from 12W almost getting full marks form all the judges, for her risotto dish and it was close between the next 5 competitors, making the next round very interesting on 1st March
Well done to all and thanks to the judges
Here arte the top 6 goin g through to the next round
1.
| W | Charlotte Wong |
2.
| N | Wai Lam Yau |
3.
| F | Angelina Wong |
| N | Victoria van de Pol |
5.
| R | Jazmin Sadler |
6.
| E | Priya Brown |
BTEC Starters, judged by Hyatt Chef and Manager
Today the heat was on in the kitchen for the Y12 BTEC hospitality students. The students are in 4 teams and each have designed their own Asian themed restaurant. Today they were making their starters, one of which was meat based, one, seafood and one vegetarian. The aim is to decide which dishes make it onto the final menu for their charity pop up fine dining restuarnat in April, so we invited the head chef and manager of the Hyatt in Sha tin to come and judge alongside Mr Wilkinson and Mr Pawlyn who also teach the hospitality and business BTEC classes.
The standrd of food was very high and studenst plating up some lovely dishes making it very hard to decide, but eventually we decide that going through o the final menu, are the following dishes that guest wll have to coose from.
Kimchi Pancakes,
Mulligatawny soup
Thai Shrimp cakes
California sushi rolls
Many thanks to Mr Wilson Lee and Mr Hongman Cheung, from the Hyatt, for giving up their time to come in and judge the studenst cooking and give them great feedback
If the Choux Fits – Star bakers (Rachael, Sarrah, Prekesh, Emilie, Emisa)
This week in Sweet Indulgence was all about chop. Students had to make a batch of cream puffs using the same recipe and then differentiate by accuracy and presentation techniques. Doris Chan the students teacher made an amazing croque-en-bouche to show how to elevate the product to high class bakery standard
The standard of final results was the best so far form the entire class and Ms Leung found it really difficult to choose her favorite, but went for the students who had put the most detail into the plating. Well done to Rachael, Sarrah, Prekesh, Emilie, Emisa who won the star baker award
Just Chilling – Star bakers (Halle, Barbie Emilie)
Sweet indulgence today were making chilled desserts and we ahd huger variety of panna cotta’s and cheesecakes. This was a challenge of presentation and styling and the Halle, Barbie Emilie were awarded Star baker for being the creative and innovative with their designs.
ESF Chef Final
Last Friday saw the annual finale of the ESF Chef competition, where all the winners from all the ESF schools come together to compete for the title. This year the competitors were given the brief to “Plan, prepare and make a technically challenging, 2 course meal (main course & dessert) that reflects the theme “sustain” and would be suitable to serve at a new, International style HK restaurant that wishes to showcase locally sourced ingredients.”
Representing Island school in the juniors, were Andrea and Yu, who worked together to make their two course meal of free range chicken with homemade pesto and tomatoes and Chocolate fondant with mint chocolate ice cream.
The students collaborated really well together , but were beaten by two boys from West island.
Jennifer represented Island school in the Seniors, after winning every round of the island school heats. She decided to make her take on a Vegan Edible Garden and Chocolate and cherry dessert, served ina white chocolate dome coloured blue and green to represent the earth. Both dishes showed fantastic creativity and presentation and was a rerally interesting interpretation of the brief
I was a really close competition and the judges deliberated for a long time, but the Senior winner was Summ,er from Discovery College, who made a belly pork dish and poached pear with chilli chocolate sauce
many thanks to Magic Season Organics that donated a lot of the vegetables that students used. This is a an organic vegetable box delivery company recently set up in Hong Kong by ex-Island school students. You can find out more about their company here https://magicseasonorganics.com/pages/our-story
Alos a big thank you to Island School PTA and Masterful Ltd, who arranged the prizes.
ESF Island School Final Senior Winner – Jennifer Frawley
In Friday 20th April, the three senior finalist competed in the Island School final. The had the brief of Modernized street food, which gave them a wide scope to be creative and take inspiration from different cuisines. The students had two hour to produce a main course and dessert and they were being judged on the creativity, skills, presentation and taste of the dishes.
In Third place was Natalie Wong (12F), who made a Mexican inspired menu of a deconstructed pork taco and carnal flan.
Second was Natasha Wang (12W), who made a Won ton and Noodle Main course and the then a Fortune cookie croque en bouch with creamy mousse,
This year winner was Jennifer Frawley (12F), who made Fish made with a batter flavoured with hot cheetos, chips and curry sauce and then a Filipino dessert of a fruit filled spring roll with Banana ice cream. She will now be representing the school at the vESF final on 25th May at South Island School.
Many thanks to the judges, Mrv Loggie, Mr Roper, Mr Pawlyn, Ms Law and Ethan Li and to the PTA, who donated the prizes of a selection of kitchen utensils
Y8 Wilberforce cereal bar winners.
It was the year 8 Wilberforce tutor groups turn to take part in the Life Skills cereal bar/bite challenge this week, where students worked in small groups to design and make their own healthy cereal snack product. The winners were lex and Hei Ching, who made cereal bites which they named HEX Balls. Mr Wilkinson and MR Pawlyn were the judges and decided that the HEX ba;l;s had the perfect texture and were were deliciouis without being too sweet.
they will now make this with all of the other tutor groups winning products on Wed 13th June, during Healthy Eating Week.
Eggs Benedict Challenge – Chefs of the Week (Jessica and Natalie)
Well doen to Jessic and Natalie, who were awarded Chef’s of the Week in Lord’s Kitchen Elements for their restaurant standard Eggs Benedict, they collaborated well and paid particular attention to detail to make this dish and show off their Hollandaise sauce making and egg poaching skills. Already looking forwad to next weeks homemade pasta and sauce dishes.
IS ESF CHEF Semi final Senior Winner – Jennifer Frawley
In this Semi final of the Island School Senior section of the ESF Chef competition,the the competitors were give the brief to use a fruit in three different ways to create a dessert. The standard o skills and level of creativity was probably the best ever at this stage of the competition., with some students even putting their food science knowledge to the test with molecular gastronomy techniques. The Judges (Mr Reed, Ms Chan, Ms Law and Mrs Craig, visiting from West Island),were blown away with the presentation and then found it really hard to decide on the winner and who was going through to the IS final. In the end it was three way tie for Second place, with
Natalie Wong who made Strawberry cheesecake, strawberry sponge and strawberry spheres.
Natasha Wang, for her mango zero gravity creation
and Natalie Leung with her deconstructed Mango Passion fruit cheesecake
Jennifer was a clear winner though , with her Raspberry cheesecake, with Raspberry Coulis and Sorbet\
*R Cereal Bar winners – Anakin, Wo Hang and Aaron
Well done to Anakin, Wo Hang and Aaron from 8R who won the form competition for their cereal bar in life skills/healthy eating this week. Their product was voted the most popular by the rest of their form group. Many thanks to Ms Newby, who conducted the sensory analysis with the group whilst Mr Lord was in Thailand on the BTEC Hospitality trip
