Pastry skills encouraged with new competition

On Saturday, 16 July, 13 chefs took part in the inaugural Sime Darby Hudson & Knight Baking Masters Competition at the Southern Sun Centre for Culinary Excellence in Johannesburg.

With three categories, the competition was open to professional chefs, culinary students and corporate teams. Each entry needed to include a Pastrex and a Mastercraft product. The competition recognises traditional baking excellence and attention to detail in flavour, presentation and creativity.

Winners were as follows:

• Professional chef (prize R15 000): Stacey Lee Chan from Smeg in Johannesburg for her caramelised onion and porcini mushroom layered mille feuille, topped with pan-fried prawns and accompanied by lightly curried cauliflower puree and drunken grape vinaigrette
• Culinary student (R10 000): Amy Jayne Edwards from the 1000 Hills Chef School in KwaZulu-Natal for her dark chocolate butter cream cake with chocolate shortcrust base and crumble topping, beetroot frozen yoghurt and woven puff pastry lid
• Corporate team (R20 000): Team Audacia Manor represented by Mark Robinson and Jennifer Lombard for their apple crostata with crème Anglais.

Other finalists in the professional chef category were Bongani Mlambo from Southern Sun Hyde Park in Johannesburg and Kyle Hickman from Taj Hotel in Cape Town. Other finalists in the culinary student category included Callum Branfield from 1000 Hills Chef School in KwaZulu-Natal and Alicha Channon from Capsicum Culinary Studio in Centurion. The Team finalists included Team Ukweza Catering from Johannesburg represented by Arno Kruger, Frans Jooste and Robert du Plessis and Team Food Design Agency from Johannesburg represented by Kylie Debbo and Emma O’Neill.

Nobantu Mqulwana, marketing manager for Hudson & Knight, says of the event: “We have really enjoyed holding this competition and seeing the creative ways in which these chefs have utilised the Pastrex and Mastercraft products. It has been especially enjoyable meeting and networking with all of these talented chefs. Congratulations to Stacey Lee, Amy and Team Audacia Manor and thank you to all of the finalists for being here today and taking part in the competition.”

Andrew Atkinson, South African Chefs Association competitions director and head judge for the day, says: “The standard of entries and the cooking on the day was extremely high, and we were very impressed in the judging room. Pastry is such a specialist art, and it was a great pleasure to be involved in a competition that searched for and rewarded South Africa’s Baking Masters.”

Hudson & Knight’s Pastrex and Mastercraft range have been specially developed for use in the baking industry. The Pastrex range includes Pastrex Croissant, Pastrex Super, Pastrex Magnum and Pastrex Ultra, all designed for different applications of puff pastry, from croissants and Danish pastries to pies and sausage rolls.

Mastercraft Yellow and Mastercraft White are creaming and multi-purpose margarines that each have different functions. Yellow meets all of the baking, spreading and frying needs of the baker, while White is a premium creaming margarine which whips to a volume that makes it an excellent choice for butter cream icing.

Seen in the group picture above are (from left): culinary student winner Amy Jayne Edwards; Allister Esau from Bosasa and vice president of SACA; Nobantu Mqulwana, marketing manager at Hudson & Knight; Jonathan Pennefather, GM of Hudson & Knight; professional chef winner Stacey Lee Chan; and corporate team winners Mark Robinson and Jennifer Lombard.