WELSH NATIONAL CULINARY TEAM

BUSY YEAR AHEAD FOR GLOBETROTTING WELSH CHEF

Immediate: January 10, 2014

2014 promises to be a busy and exciting year for Graham Tinsley, one of Wales’ top chefs.

Mr Tinsley, who manages the globetrotting Welsh National Culinary Team, is executive chef at De Vere Carden Park near Chester and a director of the Castle Hotel, Conwy.

He has been invited to be the celebrity speaker at the Canadian Restaurant Association’s annual meeting in Toronto in early March and will also manage the Welsh team and judge at the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg in November.

Mr Tinsley, who was awarded an MBE in 2006 for his services to the food industry in Wales, will speak to the Canadian chefs about his experience of cooking for royalty. Over the years, he has cooked for the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, Prince Edward and visiting royalty from around the world.

During his visit to Toronto with his wife Sharon, he will also give cooking demonstrations and attend a couple of gourmet dinners in the city at restaurants run by famous chefs, including Michael Banacini, with whom he worked at The Dorchester, London early in his career.

Having developed a keen interest in developing recipes for people suffering from Crohn’s disease, due to his wife’s illness, he may also be invited to talk to Canadian groups during his stay.

He eventually hopes to publish a recipe book for people with Crohn’s disease. “It’s a really horrible disease and I would like to help people who are in a similar situation to Sharon,” he explained.

“Knowing what she went through before the illness was diagnosed two years ago, it’s important that people suffering from the disease receive every bit of help they can get to nurse them back to health.

“People with the disease have to be so careful with what they eat. It’s a very complex disease because it affects individuals in different ways in terms what they can tolerate in their diet.”

In November, Mr Tinsley will be attending the Culinary World Cup for the sixth time in his career. Although he will be helping the Welsh senior and junior teams prepare for the competition, this time he has to take somewhat of a back seat, as is one of 40 chefs from around the globe that have been asked to judge at the prestigious competition.

“The Culinary World Cup is my favourite because it’s an evening competition and there’s always a good, friendly atmosphere there,” he said. “Wales has won two gold medals at the competition in the past and the senior team will be keen to carry on their good work from the recent Dubai World Hospitality Championship.”

In Dubai, Wales won gold medals and finished fourth overall against the world’s best teams. Senior team selection will begin early in the new year, while the junior team is already begun preparing for the major competition.

Picture caption:

Graham Tinsley – busy 2014 ahead.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS EARLY TO SAMPLE BATTLE FOR DRAGON DISHES

January 10, 2014

Foodies wishing to sample dishes cooked by Wales’ finest chefs at next month’s Battle for the Dragon contest in North Wales are being urged to book their tickets quickly.

Regional pride will be a stake as teams from North, Mid and South Wales put their culinary skills to the test on consecutive days at this year’s contest, which is held during the Welsh International Culinary Championships hosted by Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos-on-Sea from February 25-27.

North Wales begin the contest on Tuesday, February 25 by cooking a three-course lunch for 90 people featuring Welsh Beef as the main course. Mid Wales are next in the kitchen on Wednesday, cooking Welsh Lamb as the main course and South Wales complete the line-up, on February 27, cooking Welsh pork as the main course.

The team captains are Toby Beevers (North), co-owner of Kokonoir, Broughton, Michael Bates (South), executive head chef at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport and chef patron at White Hart Village Inn, Llangybi and Nick Davies (Mid), chef owner of the Lion Hotel, Llandinam.

Their dishes will be served up to diners in the college’s Orme View Restaurant on each of the three days. Tickets for each lunch cost £23 or £21 each when booking all three and are available from Jane Cater, assistant director of marketing and communications at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, who can be contacted on Tel: 01492 542305.

It’s a big year for Welsh chefs with places in the Welsh National Culinary Team for the Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg in November at stake. The team returned with gold medals from the Dubai World Hospitality Championship last November, where they finished fourth in a new contest entered by a dozen of the world’s top culinary teams.

The Culinary Association of Wales has broken with tradition this year by inviting three regional teams from Wales to compete in the Battle for the Dragon and to showcase the best of Welsh cuisine, as part of its 20^th anniversary celebrations. In previous years, two international teams have been invited to compete against Wales in the contest.

Recognised by the World Association of Chefs’ Societies, the Battle for the Dragon contest attracts top class international judges and is one of the showpiece events at the Welsh International Culinary Championships. Organised by the Culinary Association of Wales, the championships are sponsored jointly by the Welsh Government, Unilever Food Solutions and Hybu Cig Cymru/ Meat Promotion Wales.

The mouthwatering three-day event, which is open to the public free of charge, is designed to celebrate the nation’s culinary skills and rich variety of quality food. The popular event is packed with exciting competitions for learner, junior and senior chefs and waiting staff from across Wales and England.

Another feature of the championships is Cake Cymru, a competition for sugarcraft and cake decorating competitors from across the UK.

Coleg Llandrillo is also the venue for the National Chef of Wales contest on the eve of the championships, Monday, February 24. The four best chefs selected from the North and South Wales heats will compete for £3,000 prizemoney.

The four finalists are given three hours to cook a three-course dinner for four, using a ‘black box’ of ingredients predominantly produced in Wales. The chefs will be shown the contents of the box the night before the contest and they must then devise their menu.

The victor will receive £2,000 prizemoney, a trophy and the coveted title of best chef in Wales. The runner up receives £1,000.

Colin Gray, Culinary Association of Wales president, said he hoped members of the public would take the opportunity to visit the National Chef of Wales final and the championships over four days to view the high level culinary skills on display.

“This annual event provides the perfect platform to showcase the rich culinary skills and emerging talent that we have within Wales,” he added. “We also look forward to welcoming competitors from colleges across England, which adds the international flavour to the championships. It’s an event not to be missed.”

For more information visit  www.welshculinaryassociation.com.

Picture captions:

Judges put dishes through the taste test at last year’s Welsh International Culinary Championships.

David Kelman in action for the Welsh National Culinary Team at last year’s Battle for the Dragon contest.

One of the desserts created during last year’s Junior Chef of Wales final.

The globetrotting Welsh National Culinary Team has won gold medals at a major new international gastronomic contest in the Middle East. 

Wales was one of only 12 national teams invited to compete in the Dubai World Hospitality Championship, which ended with a presentation ceremony in the dessert today (Tuesday).

 The talented Welsh chefs, who were competing against the world’s best teams at the high profile event, finished fourth overall, just three points behind third placed Australia. Singapore won the competition with America second.

Had one of the team’s four chocolate and sugarcraft showpieces not been damaged en-route to the competition, Wales could have clinched third place. The fragile showpiece, which was being supervised by two chefs in the back of a lorry, disintegrated when the vehicle went over a speed bump. 

Team manager Graham Tinsley, executive chef at De Vere Carden Park near Chester and director of the Castle Hotel, Conwy, was delighted by the result, which saw the Welsh chefs beat the likes of Germany and Canada.

“It has been really hard competition, but a fantastic result for Wales when you consider the strength of the other countries we were competing against,” she said. “Everything is down to taste in this competition and the Welsh chefs were rewarded for their hard work. The hospitality has been brilliant.”

 The Welsh chefs each received a gold cooking pot with a medal made from three ounces of pure gold inside.

 The team was captained for the first time by Sally Owens, a lecturer at Coleg Llandrillo, Rhos on Sea and Barry-born Lee Jeynes, now the executive chef at the RACV Noosa Resort in Queensland, Australia, jetted in for the competition 

They were joined by Danny Burke, owner Shared Olive, Hawarden, near Chester, Gennaro Adaggio, head chef at La Dolce Vita, Shrewsbury, Harri Williams, of the Ellenborough Park Hotel, Cheltenham, Welsh Junior Chef of Wales champion Chris Tull from the Castle Hotel, Conwy and Etienne Lasalle from De Vere Carden Park near Chester. 

Four teams per day over three days each created an international themed edible buffet for 54 people, which included one hot dish, a selection of other food items and four showpieces made from chocolate, bread, savoury and ingredients of the chefs’ choice.

At previous international competitions, the Welsh chefs have presented a buffet table with only a few edible items. This time, all the food items, including carved fruit and vegetables, had to be edible and halal.

Everything was laid on by the competition organisers, including the transport, accommodation, food, equipment and a kitchen at the famous Meydan Horse Racing Stadium.

The team is sponsored by the Welsh Government, Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales), C&C Catering Equipment Ltd, Brakes, Unilever Food Solutions UK, Villeroy and Boch and Friedr. Dick, Germany.

Picture caption:

Posing for a fun photograph before leaving for Dubai are Welsh National Culinary Team members (from left) captain Sally Owens, Etienne Lasalle, manager Graham Tinsley, Chris Tull and Harri Williams, Danny Burke and Gennaro Adaggio.

Ends

For more information please contact Graham Tinsley, Welsh National Culinary Team manager, on 07765 404950 or Duncan Foulkes, public relations consultant, on 01686 650818.