Who is the best young chef in Thailand?

MAE RIM, Thailand - Sept. 23, 2014 - PRLog -- The inaugural Young Chefs Thailand Competition was the brainchild of David Buck, Head of Boys’ Boarding at Prem school (http://ptis.ac.th/).  David is a gourmet chef himself, and for three years has been leading Young Chefs from Prem through the intricacies of international cooking.  The competition offered young people all over Thailand an opportunity to demonstrate their skills – and their nerves – by presenting three dishes prepared under competition conditions to a discerning judging panel.

Judges for this year’s competition were Filippo Morelli (Executive Chef at Le Meridien Hotel Chiang Mai), Pim Kemasingki (CityLife and Spoon and Fork magazines Director and Managing Editor), Noppaklao Kengkoompol (award-winning Executive Chef of Rimping Supermarket Chiang Mai) and Vinder Balbir (Restaurateur, Cooking School owner and star of the National TV cooking show Bangkok Spice).

Jhinipha impressed the judging panel with her menu – a starter of grilled pork with herb and pomelo salad, a main course featuring grilled fish in a peanut butter curry sauce, and a dessert of a Black Forest crepe. Advancing through the various stages of the competition required a well-planned menu – and competitors had to pay particular attention to presentation and innovation when creating a menu that offers maximum flavour, texture, balance and style.

In second place was Josephine Minoch, also of Regina Coeli College in Chiang Mai, and in third place was Chanpichai Wangchayangkoon from Chiang Mai Vocational College.

All twenty-four competitors - boys and girls aged from 12 – 18 and including a four-chef team who flew in from the Philippines for the event - delighted the audience and judges with their remarkably professional, tantalising and creative dishes. The students – some of whom are boarders at Prem - came from Bhutan, Canada, Chiang Rai, Rayong, Bangkok, Lampang, Chiang Mai and The Philippines.  Each chef was allowed a maximum budget of THB 1000 to create three dishes (appetiser, main and dessert) and one hour to create each dish.

After three courses and seventy-two exotic and tasty dishes, the top-scoring three chefs then faced a “cook-off” using their selections from an identical assortment of meat and vegetables – all supplied by Rimping Supermarket Chiang Mai.  They were allowed thirty minutes to create a new main course … and the winner was a unanimous choice: Jhinipha Pick, who was presented with a perpetual trophy (hers to hold for one year), an individual trophy, a weekend for her family at Le Meridien Chiang Mai, internships with the Executive Chefs at Le Meridien and the Four Seasons Hotel Chiang Mai and a 50% educational scholarship to the Prem Tinsulanonda International School.

A weary competition director David Buck said at the end of the long day’s cooking competition, “Although it has been a lot of hard work, the community involvement with scores of volunteers toiling backstage, the feeling of excitement on the day and the sense of great achievement of all competitors – not just the top three – made it all worth while.  We look forward to seeing some of these Young Chefs in the future as more and more children discover the joys of being creative in the kitchens of the world.”

As aprons were folded, favourite sharp kitchen knives returned to their wrappers, and chef’s hats rolled and popped into pockets, the young chefs and their parents and supporters turned their backs on the gas burners and the scorched saucepans and headed home – ready to try out new recipes, new ideas, new combinations of taste and texture – and to return next year to challenge once again for the title and honour of being Young Chef Thailand 2015.