Open to catering colleges across the UK, this year’s qualifying teams are as below:
- Ayrshire College
- Bridgwater & Taunton College
- Cambridge Regional College
- Carlisle College
- City of Glasgow College
- Coventry College
- Farnborough College
- Havant & South Downs College
- Hopwood Hall College
- Loughborough College
- Newcastle College
- South East Regional College (SERC)
- University of Derby Team 1
- University of Derby Team 2
They will now battle for their spot in the grand final (ScotHot, 13 March) with semi-final heats taking place across the country from 28 January – 8 February.
Each team will have 90 minutes to produce the three-course, four-cover meal that they submitted under competition conditions and the watchful eye of Craft Guild chairman of judges, Chris Basten.
Each menu must include an Asian-themed seabass starter, a duck main dish and a dessert that contains at least 30% Country Range Chocolate Drops.
Basten said: “The standard of entries once again didn’t fail to disappoint this year, and it’s a shame we can’t send them all through as I’d love to try some of the dishes that didn’t make it.
“That said, the successful students deserve their places and have shown real creativity and skill in their menus. I can’t wait to see how they prepare the dishes and more importantly how they taste.”
Lead organiser Emma Holden added: “A huge thank you to all the colleges who took the time to enter this year’s Challenge, and commiserations to those who missed out.
“Hopefully the feedback received from the Craft Guild judges will spur them on to return better than ever next year.
“The standard of entries has again exceeded our expectations and bodes well for an exciting semi-final stage, so congratulations to the 16 successful teams.
“However, it’s one thing planning a menu and another thing cooking it so I’m excited to see how the students cope under competition conditions.”