Stacey-Lee Chan is a keen competitions chef and has just won the international Jeunes Commis Rotisseurs competition in Helsinki. She is pictured here at one of the Hostex competitions held earlier this year, which she also won.
Takes international title in Jeunes Commis Rôtisseurs competition in Helsinki
The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs showcases the skills of young chefs through the Jeunes Commis Rôtisseurs or Young Chefs Competition. The international finals took place in Helsinki last week and South African finalist, chef Stacey-Lee Chan from The Food Design Agency, took first place.
Chan has competed in and won many competitions, proving her ability to stay calm under pressure and produce best in class and creative dishes from a mystery basket of ingredients.
This particular competition was first organised in 1977 in Switzerland to support and promote young, aspirant chefs by giving them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. Competitions are held at regional, national and international levels in countries that have a strong Chaîne presence, which includes South Africa.
This year, in what is considered a huge achievement, South Africa took first place. Germany came second and Canada came in third.
Chan says of the competition: “This past week in Helsinki has been an experience of a life time and something I wouldn’t trade for the world. We had a jam-packed agenda everyday ranging from eating traditional Finnish food, to sightseeing, factory tours, meeting competitors from all around the world and of course the competition.
“There were 23 competitors from all over, four girls and 19 guys. The competition was held on the Friday and set out over a morning and afternoon session as the number of competitors was huge.
“I pulled the morning session out of the hat so at 5am we left the hotel to go and compete. The black box consisted of beef sirloin, perch fish, fresh chanterelle mushrooms and chocolate. The common table was amazing with all fresh produce from Finland,” she says.
Her winning menu consisted of:
Starter – Pan fried perch with a gremolata dressing, on a marinated cucumber and tomato salad with a crayfish and dill tortellini and a Pernod cream sauce.
Main course – Oven roasted sirloin, potato and thyme rosti, chanterelle savoury custard topped with sautéed chanterelles, baby broccoli and glazed shallots and a port jus.
Dessert – Chocolate tart with a vanilla, crème fraiche and cloudberry frozen mousse, fresh berry salad and a Cointreau syrup.
Jodi-Ann Pearton, also a keen competitions chef who has won numerous local and international competitions, was actively involved in Chan’s training.
She says, “Training Stacey was an interesting experience for me. I have trained a few young chefs but none who really wanted to win like Stacey did. Stacey started with me knowing basic skills but it has taken a year of intense training and sharing of every bit of my competition experience and knowledge with her to place her in a position to win this competition.
“I spent many evenings and off days working with her in preparation for this and would expect nothing less than first from any employee of The Food Design Agency. We strive for excellence and persevere to be the best that each and every one of us is capable of being.”
