Roux Scholarship National Finalists announced

After the exciting regional finals in London and Birmingham yesterday, the Roux family announced the names of the six chefs who will compete for the title of Roux Scholar 2020/21 on 25 October 2021.

After an 18-month delay, the regional finals went ahead yesterday at University College Birmingham and University of West London. With a mystery box that included apples, oranges and Grand Marnier for the dessert challenge, the 18 regional finalists also cooked their recipes for hake, clams and leeks and six were successful enough to claim a place in the national final.

The six finalists are:

Ryan Baker, Maison Francois
Nathan Cornwell, The Barn at Moor Hall, Lancashire
Jonnie Ferguson, The Raby Hunt, County Durham
Ben Champkin, The Newt, Somerset
Curtis Tonge, The Forge, Chester
Oli Williamson, The Fat Duck

The challenge

Their challenge was to cook the recipe they submitted with their application, which uses one whole fresh gutted hake, weighing anywhere between 1.6kg – 1.8kg and 600g of live whole grooved carpet shell / palourde clams (ruditapes decussatus). They had to be plated together with two simple or composed garnishes/accompaniments. One of those had to include leeks and the other was a garnish/accompaniment of the applicant’s choice. One of these can be served separately if preferred and a sauce has to accompany the dish. The regional finalists had 2½ hrs to cook their dish, along with a dessert from a mystery box of ingredients given to them on the day. The judges were looking for recipes and methods, which demonstrated the best balance of creativity, taste, style and practicality in the finished dish.

Mystery Box Dessert Challenge

The task was to create a dessert for four people. The chefs were allowed to omit one ingredient, but had to use at least 50% of the remaining ingredients.

30ml Grand Marnier liqueur
400ml whole milk
150g caster sugar
200g plain flour
100g unsalted butter
4 Mandarin oranges
4 medium-sized Granny Smith apples
80 g mixed orange and lemon candied peel

Quote from the judges:

Alain Roux: “When you work on a dish that you care so personally about, you tend to get carried away and I wonder if the finalists had eaten the finished dish enough times, with all complements, with the sauce on plate. Did they serve it to friends and family, or their customers to get feedback? In food, you never get it 100% right but the challenge is to get as many people as possible to like it and prove the dish works. For many of these dishes, the balance just wasn’t there.”

Michel Roux Jr: “Happy to be back tasting some fabulous food and to finally see the chefs in action and taste the recipes we’ve sat on for the last 18months.”

Simon Hulstone: “I think they should have practiced more, classic example, for me forgetting a bit of innovation to make the desserts to stand out. We say every year you can win or lose on the dessert but the main course has been a bit forgotten in practicing. The main dishes were not as well executed as well as we hoped on the day.”

Sat Bains: “What’s crazy, and I say it every year, what you see in the kitchen doesn’t always translate to what we see on the plate. These guys have had an extended 18 months to practice but I thought we would have got a lot better quality. We can’t emphasise enough you have to nail the dish you’ve submitted. I’m looking forward to the final, Bjorn Frantzén is coming over and the legacy of the Rouxs lives on; whoever wins has a really exciting career ahead of them!”

Angela Hartnett: “It’s always an honour to judge the Roux Scholarship. What is so clever is that with the mystery box for the dessert, Alain and Michel always bring it back to basics to see the true skills of these this young chefs.”

Fast Facts

• Three of the six finalists are competing for the first time, the other three finalists have all made it to the national final before.
• Only one finalist comes from an establishment in London, the other five come from as far afield as Somerset and County Durham.
• Many of the judges felt that some of the competitors could have practiced more, giving more attention to their main dishes.
• Jonnie Ferguson from the Raby Hunt spent time working for our first scholar, Andrew Fairlie.
• Nathan Cornwell was the second reserve and only joined the line-up on Monday after being told another competitor had dropped out.

Find out more about this prestigious competition.