Students serve up recipe for success

THE country’s top young caterers offered a taste of the future in the finals of a national competition yesterday.

Chef Jenny Reid from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and server Tammy Meaney from Limerick, were the winners of the CERT Young Ireland Dine and Wine Awards for 2003.

As part of the competition, Jenny and Tammy both of whom study at Limerick Institute of Technology had to prepare, cook and serve a four-course meal from a mystery basket of ingredients in two-and-a-half hours.

Their menu included a salad of baked goats' cheese and parma ham, fresh spring lamb with a herb crust and red wine sauce, and ginger creme brulee with a passion fruit sorbet.

The judges were John Howard, formerly of Le Coq Hardi restaurant in Dublin, Mercy Fenton from Jacob's restaurant in Cork, Jim McCarthy of the Chart House in Dingle, and Fred Cordonnier from Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin.

The winners will travel to the prestigious Johnson and Wales Culinary College in Rhode Island for their training by Michelin-starred chef Derry Clarke of Dublin's L'Ecrivain restaurant.

"This competition is important, particularly in light of recent findings concerning low levels of satisfaction amongst some tourists regarding their dining experience in Ireland," said CERT chairman Eamonn McKeon.

"It helps us to help industry improve standards by ensuring that the highest skills in culinary arts and service are available to them."

This was the third year of the CERT competition, which attracted entrants from third-level colleges across the country. The other finalists were Josephine McLeod and Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork IT), Ben Hogan and Eoin Tyrell (IT Tallaght), and Mark Greer and Christopher Doherty (Tourism College, Killybegs).