Ready, Steady, LET’S COOK! College staff showcase culinary skills in ultimate cooking challenge
Principal Audrey Cumberford and Vice-Principal Jon Buglass battled it out in a Ready, Steady, Cook-inspired cooking challenge in front of a live audience at our Milton Road Campus earlier this week.
Staff and students from across the College watched on as Audrey and Jon, under the guidance of expert chefs Aisha Elshani and Bartosz Filipczak, cooked up a storm inside the Cre8 Theatre, with the audience voting for their favourite using the legendary green pepper and red tomato voting cards.
While both contestants served up their best culinary skills in front of a packed-out crowd, it was Audrey (red tomato) who came out on top with her take on a classic chicken curry, while Jon (green pepper) settled for second place with his vegetable risotto.
Principal Audrey Cumberford said: “The Let’s Cook challenge pushed me out of my comfort zone. I usually cook to de-stress! But it was an incredible experience, great fun! I want to thank Aisha for all her support in the kitchen and to the entire Professional Cookery and Broadcast Media teams for organising such a fantastic event. I picked up some top tips from Aisha along the way”.
In the afternoon contest, HR Coordinator Anastasija Pcelinceva, assisted by chef Mikolaj Maliszewski, showed her cooking skills were too hot to handle, after wowing the audience with her curried coconut sea bass with turmeric rice and vegetable dish, and securing victory over Travel and Tourism lecturer Jenny Forsyth, supported by chef Bartosz Filipczak.
HR Coordinator Anastasija Pcelinceva said: “The Let's Cook challenge was an incredible experience! I have never taken part in anything like this before as I am self-taught and enjoy cooking for friends and family. It was a pleasure competing with Jenny and Bart. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who worked on this project to make it a success, especially Miko, who has been a great sous-chef and I could not have done it without him!”.
Hosted by Curriculum Leader Gavin Hugh, the event was organised by the Professional Cookery department in collaboration with the College’s School for Media, Music and Sound Production. The College’s Broadcast Media students filmed both events, which will soon be available to watch on YouTube.