Twenty-four year old Martin Hargreaves, senior chef de partie at Stanley House Hotel’s fine dining restaurant Cassis, was crowned Lancashire Young Chef of the Year in at the LETS Awards (Lancashire Excellence in Tourism Skills) in November 2009 before going on to compete in the finals of North West Chef of the Year 2010.
Martin, from Hoghton near Preston, trained at Blackburn College and has worked at Stanley House since it opened nearly six years ago. He started as a trainee in the Cassis kitchens and then moved to the pastry kitchen as a commis chef for two years. He was promoted to senior chef de partie last year. This is his blog:
"Winning the LETS Awards Lancashire Young chef of the Year was an amazing feeling and one of the highlights of my career so far. It definitely made me feel that all the hard work was well worth it, but it wasn’t over yet, as the regional final was still to come. I wanted to take my research and the sourcing of my produce to the next level for the regional final, to improve on what I had done in the Lancashire heats and better myself as a chef.
To do this I went to meet my main suppliers in person to find out where the produce I use in my menu comes from. The produce was all first class but not only that, the whole journey was a mind blowing experience. Not just meeting the suppliers, but putting together the menu and sourcing the produce.
The supplier that made the biggest impression was Little Town Dairy near Longridge which provided me with the fromage frais for my dessert. Little Town has been farmed by the same family for three generations, and it was amazing to witness first hand the process and the hard work it takes to produce the delicious fromage frais. It’s a beautiful area and I found out some really interesting facts on the day. I was fascinated to discover that the herd are Freedom Food accredited by the RSPCA and their diet includes treacle and carrots to give the milk a sweetness, adding to the taste of the of the fromage frais. I was given a personal tour around the farm, which lies on the edge of the Forest of Bowland, by quality assurance manager, Alison Moulding. She talked me through the entire process from the feeding and milking of the cows to the final product, while showing me around the farm.
Unfortunately, in spite of my hard work, I wasn’t the winner on the day but I was beaten by a worthy champion with three amazing dishes. This whole experience has made me even more determined to succeed in this competition and to achieve my goal and become a winner again next year (fingers crossed!)."
Martin Hargreaves
Martin will be taking part in the Lancashire HotShots event at Stanley House on Tuesday 20th July.
Good luck ! HotShot events are wonderful...if you haven't tried it yet..then Martin is next !
Posted by: Anna | 15 July 2010 at 01:49 PM