Culinary student makes the grand finals at Nestlé Professional’s Toque d’Or competition

Capital City College (CCC) culinary student Serin Hassan has made the final twelve in this year’s Toque d’Or competition, which challenged 24 back-of-house and 24 front-of-house competitors in sustainability-inspired challenges.

Assessed by a team of expert judges, including chef Tom Booton, the finalists from different colleges will advance to the grand finals this May, where their skills will be put to the test across four days of challenges.

Now in its 37^th year, Nestlé Professional’s Toque d’Or competition assessed back of house competitors with creating plant-based dishes for a main, and a sweet brownie dessert.

Serin tells us more about her experience

“It was really exciting. I’d never done a competition before, so this was brand new to me. The first day we were at the Nestlé headquarters, where we were interviewed by the judges on what inspired us, and questions about sustainability.

“The next day we had an early start, and once we were briefed, we had to make four of one dishes for savoury and another for sweet. The savoury dish had to be completely veggie, so that was a fun challenge.

“It was exciting because it felt real; we were cooking outside of the working kitchens at college. Here I had my own cooking station, which was great. We had two hours to cook and do a normal lunch service, so my lessons at CCC really helped prepare me for this.

“My savoury dish was a burnt leek and onion purée with a mussel butter sauce, with tomatoes, broad beans and chives, along with caramelised salsify with seared salmon and crispy mussels.

“It was also quite challenging because at the time I didn’t know what to expect, and didn’t know what I was walking into. On top of that, we were paired up with other competitors from the Front of House (FOH) competition, and they were the ones who were presenting our dishes, pairing them with wines, so it was quite nerve-wracking at times to be paired up with a stranger and trust them with your dish.

“For dessert, we had to create a new brownie dessert, using Nestlé Branded Dessert Ingredients.  My dessert was a caramel swirl brownie with a Munchie, nut and white chocolate brittle with Chantilly cream.

“For me the best part of this was the competition aspect. Being in the kitchen, you can really push yourself and see what you could create in the time. I really enjoyed meeting new people, networking and making connections, working with chefs. And I got to meet chef Tom Booton, Head Chef at the Dorchester Hotel, and it was amazing. He was really easy to talk to, open to our ideas, it was really inspiring.”

Next month, Serin will join eleven other aspiring chefs for four more days of culinary challenges. Good luck Serin!

If you want to follow in Serin’s footsteps and train to become a chef, have a look at some of our hospitality and culinary courses.

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