Last year semi-finals and finals of the inaugural CLA Game Chef of the Year in association with The Field took place at the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace. It was an exciting and fun event and hugely popular with the audience. The two finalists, one amateur and one professional, battled it out in the cookery theatre and it was a close contest but in the end Guy Paterson from Norfolk took the crown with his delicious pigeon breast dish.
From l to r: CLA Game Chef of the Year winner Guy Paterson, editor of The Field Jonathan Young and game chef Mike Robinson
Do you have the passion and skills to be one of the 2015 winners or do you know someone who enjoys cooking game?
This year’s competition is divided into two categories: amateur and professional. The competition is designed to find two unrecognised chefs who relish cooking with game and embrace the Great British Countryside through their food.
Four finalists, two amateurs and two professionals, will be chosen from entries received to cook in front of a live audience in the CLA Game Fair Cookery Theatre. The final of the amateur Game Chef of the Year will take place on Friday, 31 July and the final of the professional Game Chef of the year on Saturday, 1 August at this year’s CLA Game Fair at Harewood House in Yorkshire. The competition will again be judged by the editor of The Field Jonathan Young and Mike Robinson, the UK’s leading game chef and owner of the Pot Kiln in Berkshire and the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms in London.
Tony Wall, Director of the CLA Game Fair, commented: “We are delighted to welcome back this initiative. Last year’s winner, Norfolk-based Guy Paterson, will be a hard act to follow – his pigeon breast dish is still being spoken about!”
Editor of The Field, Jonathan Young, added: “Game has never been so popular. It’s easy to cook well, extremely good value and low in cholesterol. And since we’re lucky enough in Britain to have an abundance we want as many people as possible to make it part of their normal diet.”
The competition is open to amateurs and professional chefs aged 18 years and over who are not affiliated with more than one eating establishment and are ‘unrecognised’ by the judging panel. Entrants must send in a photo, a short amateur film (no more than 2 mins) of themselves cooking, a credentials summary and a unique recipe.
To enter, email by Friday 27 March to lucy.jenkins@cla.org.uk. For more details of how to enter visit www.gamefair.co.uk.
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