Mayo chef is a finalist in Euro-Toques Young Chef Competition
THE future of cooking in Mayo is in safe hands as Westport-based chef Roseanne Meehan has just been announced as a finalist in the Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year competition.
Roseanne, will join four other finalists to battle it out in Ireland’s most prestigious culinary competition for young talented chefs, said food has always been a big part of her family life.
The Westport native explained: “I learned how to roll and stuff a steak at seven! Tradition plays a massive role in Irish cooking - I'd say in every restaurant in Ireland. Our food is good food.”
Roseanne currently works as junior sous chef at Knockranny House Hotel, Westport. Her mentor is head chef Seamus Commons.
This is the 28th year of the competition, which has produced high calibre chefs such as Neven Maguire, Gearoid Lynch and Mark Moriarty, who won the title of San Pellegrino World Young Chef Champion earlier this year after claiming the title of Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year in 2013.
The theme of this year’s competition is 'Origins of Contemporary Irish Cooking'. Roseanne and the other young finalists will have to showcase their interpretation of this theme though their menu creations while keeping Irish provenance and their own influences at the forefront of their minds.
Euro-Toques Ireland’s challenge for these young chefs runs over three months and culminates on final day, November 29, when they will spend that morning undertaking a gruelling culinary skills test followed by prepping and serving food for the esteemed guests at an exclusive gala banquet at Dublin’s historic Shelbourne Hotel, where the winner will be announced.
This year’s ultimate prize includes an all expenses paid stage at Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant - Restaurant Gordon Ramsey. Clare Smyth, an MBE and Northern Irish chef, is chef patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and will be the special guest judge for the Euro-Toques Young Chef of the Year 2015 final. Clare is the first and only female chef to hold and retain three Michelin stars in the UK - one of only five women in the world to attain the accolade.
The final is set to take place on the morning of Sunday, November 29, in the esteemed Cooks Academy in Dublin’s City Centre.
In association with La Rousse Foods, the competition’s main aim is to search for Ireland’s young food heroes that contribute to developing Irish cooking and promoting our unique culinary craft at home and abroad.