Three teams of HMNB Clyde-based Royal Navy catering staff recently competed against three teams of catering students from the City of Glasgow College in a cooking contest.
The inaugural Royal Navy and City of Glasgow College “Cook and Serve” competition was hosted at the College’s Cathedral Street Campus on Wednesday, October 9.
Each team consisted of two chefs and one member of serving staff and the challenge was to devise, cook and serve a three-course meal, including wine and coffee for four people. The budget was set at £120 and the meal had to be cooked, served and cleared away within 90 minutes.
BBC Professional MasterChef winner and City of Glasgow College Chef Lecturer, Gary Maclean, led the panel of expert judges from the Royal Navy, The City of Glasgow College, and the Gleneagles Hotel, who assessed every aspect of the cooking, presentation and serving of the meals.
The City of Glasgow college were crowned the overall winners of the contest while the best RN Team, HMS Vanguard, were presented with the Captain DJ Turner Memorial Salver in honour of Captain DJ Turner, a Royal Navy Submariner and Logistics Officer who sadly died earlier this year.
The trio from HMS Vanguard cooked up a storm with a scrumptious starter of wood pigeon with cobnuts, rack of lamb with a lava bread crust for the main event and finished with a delightful dessert of deconstructed pina colada.
After the official judging, the food did not go to waste. A few lucky diners were invited along to enjoy the delicious dishes, including a few of the staff and residents from the Erskine Trust.
The competition serves to further cement the developing relationship between the Royal Navy and the College who are finalising a formal arrangement which will support students who are keen to join the Royal Navy at the end of their studies. The arrangement will enable students to undertake all their recruiting activities before the end of their college course and seamlessly join the Royal Navy on completion.
Petty Officer Andrew Rome, who organised the “Cook and Serve” competition, said:
“I would like to thank May Donald, Stephen Benn and the college team for facilitating this very successful event which builds on the developing relationship we have with the City of Glasgow College. It was a fantastic opportunity to work in a competitive environment alongside the catering students and I look forward to working with the college on future ventures.
“We are also extremely grateful to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, Brakes, Inverarity Morton Wine and Mclays Ltd for their generous sponsorship of the event.”
