Springboard FutureChef

 

This week kicked off with turning 40 and more importantly the Springboard 2022 FutureChef final at Westminster Kingsway college. Now normally this is an event I read about in caterer and follow online with Instagram and twitter, but this year I was made a Springboard ambassador and I got to judge the first heats off the South East section. I was offered the chance to mentor the winner of that heat through to the regional finals and then if successful through to the national final. As you have probably worked out already my mentor was successful in winning the regional finals which meant she was one of 12 national finalists out of the 13’000 that started this year’s competition, no mean feat. To say I was proud would be an understatement. Once she had got through the regional finals, we had about a month to prepare for the national final and had half term to deal with in that time also. To see such dedication and hard work from a year 10 high school student was incredibly refreshing and she is a credit to her school, also her teacher was brilliant in setting up practice time, helping organise all that needed doing to be in London for the gala dinner and the final the following day.

 

Final day arrived and 12 excited but nervous young people lined up for photos and introductions then it was into the kitchen to set up, after 15 minutes all mentor chefs left the kitchen and if any of them were like me, they then spent almost 3 hours just walking around trying to keep themselves occupied.

 

The 12-finalist had 45 minutes at the start to cut a whole chicken for sauté, no easy task as it’s not the sort of cut that is used a lot in professional kitchens these days but shows skill and confidence with a knife. They then had 2 hours to cook and serve 4 plates of chicken with their chosen garnish and 4 plated panacotta desserts again with their chosen garnishes. The standard of food produced by the 12 young chefs was remarkable, lots of different styles and ideas. Unfortunately, my young chef didn’t win but she gave it her all under some tough circumstances and I couldn’t be prouder of what she cooked and the manner she conducted herself in despite the obvious disappointment in not winning. I’m not sure she will go on to cook professionally but if she does the chef who gets her in their kitchen will have gained a true talent who’s drive will take them far in whatever they chose to do with their future.

 

I had so much fun and found the whole process thoroughly enjoyable, I hope to be involved with next year’s competition again and who knows maybe I will have a student in next year’s finals also as you learn a lot of from doing things again and I feel this year’s competition as given me more knowledge on the cooking competition circuit than I had before.

 

For more information on FutureChef please use link below 

https://futurechef.uk.net

 

Picking myself up

I’ve had a few conversations with those closest to me about whether to share this, however during my Burnt Chef Project ambassador interview I discussed the below with Ken the chef who was interviewing me and I finally felt comfortable enough to talk about it with someone I’ve never met before then I’m comfortable enough to share it here.

 

So, to start I’m going to say I’m new to the concept of looking after your own mental health and for far too long I believed that mental health issues were something other people had and “not me”.  No, I was a chef and we are unbreakable, the harder you push us the harder we push back. This macho outlook on mental health goes hand in hand with the phase I hate the most now, the simple but ridiculous “Man Up”.  I honestly cannot stand that saying and cringe when I hear someone use it even in jest. That said, I bought into the whole lifestyle that people think chefs lead, working long hours and wearing the bags under my eyes as a badge of pride and job well done along with the inevitable burns and cuts that come from not looking after yourself properly and working when dog tired. 

 

My own struggle with my mental health started whilst in a job I really wasn’t happy in, and I honestly think the start of the decline was not knowing what I was going to do. I didn’t feel I had been in the role long enough to resign and look for something else as that would have been an admission that something was wrong, that I wasn’t good enough rather than it just wasn’t the right fit for me. The feeling started to slowly get stronger, and I found myself staying up later and later at night as I knew as soon as I went to sleep it would mean going into work when I woke. I like a beer as much as the next person but found that I wanted to drink more regularly, never getting to the point of getting hammered or being dependant on it but feeling like I couldn’t relax without having a pint. As time went on, I found that I was losing the spark that made me feel like me, I couldn’t find enjoyment in much and it didn’t take much to set a decent day on a downwood spiral. I was anxious all the time and every time my phone pinged it sent a sinking feeling to the bottom of my stomach as I was always thinking “what now”. At the lowest point I found myself thinking “if I crash the car on the way in then I can have the day off, maybe tomorrow too” it was around this point that I confided in my wife about how I was feeling and she didn’t judge me or tell me to “Man Up” she encouraged me to start looking for something else and helped me see that it wasn’t just about me it was about the environment I was working in and the people I was working with also. Just having that conversation with my wife and then subsequently with a good friend meant that I started to feel less anxious, and I was able to start thinking about what comes next rather than just about the next service, the next function, the next problem. I found my next move and everything changed suddenly I felt myself again, that spark I felt I had lost was back, my love for cooking and food was back as what I also hadn’t realised was that during this time my eating habits had got to be pretty awful, take aways, crisps, biscuits etc had become something I found happiness in or what at the time I thought was happiness anyway, I also lost my drive to-do anything outside of work that didn’t involve sitting on the sofa watching tv or sitting at my local. All combined I gained a lot of weight and when you start to really not like the way you look as well as struggling with how you feel it was inevitable that I would turn to the wasted calories that come in a pack of cookies or a sharing bag of crisps and then the circle just continues. I’m happy to say that over the past 7 months when I finally decided to do something and join slimming world, I’ve lost nearly 5st and feel better physically than I have in over a decade. 

 

As I approach m 40^th in a few weeks I find that I’m in a better place mentally now than at any other point of my career, and I’m on my way to being in the best physical shape also. 

 

I think having been through this I would recognise the triggers for me now and if I found myself heading down that rabbit hole, I know what to do and who to reach out to. 

 

This was the major reason for wanting to become a Burnt Chef ambassador, If I can reach just one person who is in the sort of situation I was in and I can help them get the support they need to improve their situation then I will feel like I’ve made a difference. As well as becoming a Burnt Chef ambassador I am also a springboard ambassador and am mentoring a young student through the FutureChef competition with the final in 2 weeks’ time, so it’s been an exciting year so far and I’m hoping that it continues that way but my Burnt Chef training and my own experiences with mental health means I feel like I am so much better placed to recognise and do something about it quickly before it gets too bad. 

 

So this is the longest blog post for a while but I wanted to be as honest and open as possible, if any of you lovely lot reading this need to chat, please reach out, I can’t stress it enough start your conversation and you will see there are lots of people out there ready to listen without judgement or agenda.

 

Lots of love people, link to The Burnt Chef Project below

 

Alex 

 

REMEMBER LIVE TO EAT DON’T EAT TO LIVE 

 

https://www.theburntchefproject.com

Is the food blog dead?

Are food blogs dead? This is the question I find myself pondering this evening. I was sorting files out on the MacBook and find my blog post folder then realise I haven’t posted since 2016. When I was posting regularly back then I was following and reading a lot of other blogs from chefs I admired but now it seems the blog has been replaced by the podcast. I’m not complaining I love a podcast and will take this chance to shout out “The Nightcap” by Paul Foster, “always in season” by James Golding and “the David Chang show” by David Chang as my favourite food related pods and of course “that Peter Crouch Podcast” as the greatest pod going (Hopefully they will be “back stronger” very soon.

 

Since my last post a lot has changed! I was made redundant at Thorpe Park, so I joined Baxterstorey looking after British Airways waterside. Lizzie and I also welcomed Daisy into our world during 2019. This was followed by moving back to Heathrow airside but this time working in the British Airways lounges which I started just before Covid hit. Spending 12 weeks at home with my family during a particularly warm spring was brilliant but also tough, having spent 20 odd years in professional kitchens that much downtime in one go and also being ordered to stay home apart from your daily walk I found difficult at times. The biggest plus to those 12 weeks was seeing Daisy hit all those little milestones I missed with Elouise as I was always at work. Once allowed out the house and back to work I moved from terminal 3 to terminal 5 and worked across the lounges until we reponed The Concorde Room which I am now head chef of. 

 

Below are just a few of the dishes we have had on since reopening and intend to keep my little blog going and update with new dishes more often. I hope that 2022 is a much better year for us all I really do.

 

 

Seabass, Spring vegetables & Sauce Vierge

Capreolus Cured Mutton, Feta, Artichoke & Mint Emulsion

Capreolus Air Dried Pork Loin, Fennel & Radish, Parsley Emulsion

Bacon Chop, Braised Red Cabbage & Raisins, Parsley Sauce

John Ross Smoked Salmon, Pickled Beetroot Puree, Sour Cream, Radish & Keta 

dephending on how this is received and more to the point if anyone even reads it i will decide whether to post any more or not, lots planned this year so hopefully it would be interestign and i can't do a Vlog or Podcast as i can't stand hearing my own voice when recorded. 

Thanks to those that do read this, Peace 🙏

REMEMBER LIVE TO EAT, DON’T EAT TO LIVE!