" A Passion to Inspire " Winners 2024 – New Suffolk College
Suffolk New College wins ‘A Passion to Inspire’
Great Team – Nathan Morton, Jack Hannan and Holly Hawkins
Winning Menu
Starter
Lovage velouté, 'Waldorf', crispy hens egg (n)(v)
(Macon-Bussieres 'Le Vieux Putis' 2022)
Main
Ballotine of chicken, wild garlic, asparagus, truffle potato, morel jus
(Beaujolais Villages 'Perle de Granit" 2022)
Dessert
Rhubarb parfait, white chocolate cremeux, macaroon, blood orange (n)
(Bettys rhubarb collins )
Congratulations to Suffolk New College, Colchester Institute, Cambridge Regional College, West Suffolk College, City College Norwich, for reaching the grand final. To reach the final - 5 Heats – 32 teams - 96Students and lots of Great Lecturers - Mentors - Chefs and Employers
The competition was sponsored and supported by Russums, Ponthier, True Foods Stocks , The Wine Cellar BSE ,Hallgarten & Novum Wines. Grande Cuisine Academy, Dingley Dell , Anglia Produce, Direct Meats, Adnams, Skills for Chefs , The Craft Guild of Chefs, H and C News , Cheffi , Titchwell Manor , First Contact Chefs ,Caistor Hall, Infusions Group , Marrfish ,
Special Gifts for all the Finalists
Great Support - A Passion to Inspire Chef Jackets and aprons from Richard at Russums and from Paul at Ponthier Special cocktail shakers and recipe booklets for all the FOH finalists and for the Chefs and Spatula’s and scrapers for the Chefs With Special Goodie Bags from Ice with special presents for all Adnams – Grande Cuisine Academy and Great friends
A Massive Special thank you – to Stephen Frei and the whole team at Colchester Institute for hosting and supporting a fantastic day with such brilliant Hospitality and wonderful support from the Media Students -Photography Students, Luke Munson, Edith Snow, Jessica Greenwood, Edward Fisher with Pictures and social media – you are all superstars show casing skills in the kitchen and brilliant service.
Great Prizes for all involved
Overall Winners prizes:
Skills for Chefs 2024 and they will meet Culinary Legend Jason Atherton and other Great Chefs Lorna McNee, Tim Booton , Paul Leonard, Simon Rogan and Joe Hurd.
Grande Cuisine Academy – 4 places to the winning team will be going on a very special trip to Lyon and a Culinary adventure through the valleys
Chefii- Knife rolls – from Jazz Chefi
Mark Poynton’s Great Culinary Journey with His Great Cookbook
1.
Best team – Adnams - Lunch for 4 at The Swan Southwold and a Brewery Tour Winner City College Norwich
2.
Best Cocktail - cocktail masterclass with us at The Wine Cellar BSE – West Suffolk College
3.
Best Management of Wastage and Ingredients - Accommodation and dinner at Titchwell Manor –Cambridge Regional College
4.
Best service - A Fantastic day at Infusions ICE Experience - Colchester Institute
5.
Best wine matches -Wine Tasting Experience with Hallgarten and Novum Wines – Cambridge Regional College
6.
Best use of Chicken Thigh - College farm visit to Dingley Dell Pork Farm – West Suffolk College
Great Judges
Steve Munkley, Bradley Dorrington, Nick Mills , Eric Snaith, , Nick Claxton Webb and Ed Keith
Quotes
Steve Munkley- I had the pleasure of judging this years Passion to Inspire Competition, what can I say, the future is in safe hands with what we saw today. All the teams did an amazing job with some cracking cooking and it was especially nice to see the communication between front and back of house. Finallyfrom what I could see their guests who ate the menu's thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.
Paul Brotherton – Ponthier Puree - “ Passion to Inspire 2024 was a “fab” event and the day of the final at Colchester Institute was flawless. It was so encouraging to see the high quality food and beverages of the finalists. The competition showcases all that is good in our industry, talent, endeavour, commitment, team work, organisation, and forward thinking. It’s been a pleasure to participate and to recognise from meeting all involved that hospitality has a secured, exciting, future. “
Daniel Russell- Poole – Winning Lecturer – New Suffolk College “ 'we are immensely proud of our team from Suffolk New College, their hard work and dedication has paid off. A big thank you to our Mentors Dave, Jackie and Adam for their continued support of our learners. We are looking forward to welcoming all the colleges to Ipswich next year “
Jack Hannan “I competed last year and returned this year wanting to win, I enjoyed the competition and was over the moon when we had our names called out “
Holly Hawkins “ This was my first competition - I really enjoyed the process and I was really happy and surprised when they called out Suffolk New College as the winners “
Sponsors – The Great support of the sponsors was outstanding from the lovely whites to the products and goody bags given to all the students.
Colchester Institute – The college was absolutely fantastic the staff and students were all so welcoming and supportive. Thank you all so much for all your hard work throughout the whole experience.
Stephen Frei - “To see the students develop and hone their skills is very rewarding, each competitor embarks on their own journey, everyone likes to win but all will have learned valuable lessons to take with them for the future”
Philomena Harris - “ Thank so much for your work in the competition it was a great experience all the mentors ,judges did a great job. The comradery from all the judges and staff to all the candidates showed the true meaning of the word hospitality “
Bradley Dorrington - “It was fantastic to see the passion and dedication on show from all competitors this year at the Passion to Inspire final. Seeing the skills and commitment of the students was exemplary and I look forward to seeing where they go on their hospitality journey. Every year it is great to see the development of the learners coming through colleges and I am pleased to say that the future is bright for Hospitality!”
Eric Snaith - “A Passion to Inspire is a fantastic charity which holds an annual competition across East Anglia and I’ve been lucky to be involved in making vision a reality over the past 12 years. The students as always put a huge amount of effort into the food and service and it was great to see so many great mentors and employers attend the date. So many people give there time up to support the future of the industry, too many to mention. “
Nick Claxton Webb - "Deeply humbling to see the dedication of so many respected industry leaders coming together to nurture the ever more important and highly valuable next generation of hospitality professionals. The quality of the competition has continued to grow year on year. The professionalism, dedication and generosity of the sponsors, mentors, college staff and the students has been inspirational. It is so pleasing to be a small part of such a great competition, watching students develop from the heats to final, building and nurturing the bond between industry and education."
Fantastic Mentors That care – support and Inspire through the heats over 32 teams 2024 and then support the Finalists with their journey – James Carn, Aaron Skerritt, Dave Wall, , Tom Slegg, Sam Carter, Matt Wilby , Adam Spicer, Sebastian Mansfield, Scott Taylor, Richard Bainbridge
