The West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen will welcome six of the most respected chefs from the Celtic Territories for the second annual Celtic Cook Off event to be held on Wednesday 12th September during the Taste of West Cork Food festival which runs from September 10-16th.
Representatives from the six Celtic territories this year include Jack Stein (Cornwall) son of restaurateur, chef and TV presenter Rick Stein, Ian Bennett, The Welcome to Town (Wales), Gary O’Hanlon, Viewmount House, Co. Longford (Ireland), Stephane Delourme, The Seafood Restaurant, Cornwall where he is head chef over fellow competitor Jack Stein and representing Brittany, Tony Singh, who owned Oloroso Bar and restaurant for over 10 years (Scotland), and Butch Buttery, formerly of Tanroagan (Isle of Man).
The ‘Ready Steady Cook’ style cook off style event will see the master chefs split in to two groups where they will each have just thirty minutes to impress the judges using West Cork artisan produce and one ingredient from their home turf. They will also be assisted by three young aspiring chefs from West Cork to help them with preparation and serving.
This year’s event will be judged by last year’s Celtic Cook Off champion Roy Brett of award winning Ondine restaurant in Edinburgh, UK Masterchef winner Tim Anderson, Martin Shanahan of RTE and Fishy Fishy Kinsale, John Field of Field’s SuperValu Skibbereen and Joe McNamee, food writer and journalist. The event will be compered by John McKenna of The Bridgestone Guides.
Speaking of the event, Neil Grant, General Manager, West Cork Hotel said “We are thrilled to host The Celtic Cook Off again this year. We decided to host it for the first time last year and due to its huge success and popularity we had to run with it again for this year’s festival. It is not very often that you get the opportunity to witness some of the best chefs in Europe battle it out in front of a live audience using top local ingredients which are on our doorstep. The fact that things might also go wrong makes us feel good about our own culinary attempts and makes for a fun night out but there is not much that these chefs cannot handle so competition is bound to be fierce!”
He continued, “the purpose of The Celtic Cook Off is also to open new doors to local producers and extend the export potential of their products. They also have the chance to promote their fare to top international chefs as on the morning of the cook off the six competitors will meet with some of the local producers in the region.”
Tickets for the event are available from The West Cork Hotel and cost €15 (prebooked) or €20 on the night subject to availability. Ticket price includes a glass of Prosecco to toast the winner and complimentary sampling of local artisan produce.
