Students win army challenge
Posted: 02 May 2012
Student chefs in the field kitchen
Catering students at West Nottinghamshire College created a winning two-course meal for army officers using just basic food rations.
Students on the Level 3 Advanced Diploma Kitchen and Larder course and the Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery impressed army personnel on Tuesday (24 April) at the Chilwell Barracks, near Nottingham, with their culinary skills and took home the trophy at the last ever army catering challenge.
Students from various colleges in the county were challenged to cook a two-course meal for 20 officers using just two ten-man army ration packs along with bread, cheese, potatoes and carrots.
Teams of students were given an hour and a half to produce the dishes, all cooked outside in special field kitchen tents and were also given a food-related quiz at the end of the challenge.
The ten students from West Notts College took away the winning trophy with their creation of chicken biriyani, soya mince biriyani with braised rice, tuna fishcake, poached egg and a tomato sauce.
They also created two desserts in the challenge which included a fruit cocktail crumble and chocolate bread and butter pudding.
Chef tutor Mark Jones said: “Our students took on the challenge with professionalism and creativity. They worked together productively as a team to come up with a range of tasty and healthy dishes, exceeding the brief.
“This is the third year our students have competed in the army catering challenge and I was incredibly proud of our first place, for the second time in three years of competing, and the students really enjoyed taking part.”