TWO talented chefs from Skibbereen Community School have returned victorious from the recent inaugural MTU Taste of Home Cooking competition for post primary students, as student Mia Illsley won gold in the junior category of the competition, while her schoolmate Poppy Kilpatrick took gold in the senior category.
Mia’s winning dish was of fresh cod fillet and West Cork mussels in a cannellini bean and tomato sauce, served with freshly-made Gloun herb butter and homemade flat bread.
She was commended for her commitment to local suppliers in a dish which was deemed to have ‘sensational flavor … deserving for any restaurant menu’.
Meanwhile, Poppy’s miso and mirin haddock with pickled beetroot and celeriac ribbon was topped with blood orange ‘caviar and seaweed’.
Two weeks before the competition, she pickled locally-sourced vegetables, while marinating her haddock with April Dannan’s apple cider vinegar, miso and mirin, and some Lough Hyne honey.
Ms Kilpatrick, said the judge, demonstrated ‘great knowledge, creativity, and culinary skills’, while the management, staff, and students in Skibbereen Community School said how extremely proud they were of both students, and offered their congratulations. noting it was an exceptionally proud day for students’ parents.
The 16 finalists of the competition were challenged to create a dish that incorporated all local Irish ingredients.
The contestants’ dishes had to be completed within one hour and 30 minutes, during the competition, which was organised by the tourism and hospitality department at Munster Technological University, in collaboration with Blas na hÉireann.
