Do your front-of-house staff and your kitchen brigade work effectively as a team? Is your menu planned with matching wines in mind? Has your sommelier or wine waiter tasted all the food on the menu?
If you have a chef/waiter team that can work together and could devise a menu with wines to impress our judges, then why not encourage them to enter the Academy of Food & Wine’s Gastronomy Team of the Year 2010?The competition, sponsored by Discover the Origin, seeks to find the chef/waiter team that submits the best two-course menu with matching wines. The menu must make use of Parma ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, matched with wines from Burgundy, Port and Douro Valley wines, which are part of the Discover the Origin PDO (protected designation of origin) campaign.
Last year’s Gastronomy Team of the Year winners were Alan Holmes and Nick Hewitt from Chewton Glen, New Milton, Hampshire. Head sommelier Alan, and sous chef Nick served a starter of crown of New Lane Orchard asparagus, Mudeford crab, langoustines, with Parmesan crisp and chilled asparagus soup, with Château de la Saule Montagny 1er cru 2007, Côte Chalonnaise, Burgundy. This was followed by a main course of roast chicken given a modern twist with a Parmesan bread sauce and sage stuffing and wrapped in Parma ham and served with a Quinta das Tecedeiras 2004, Douro, Portugal.
Alan and Nick have just returned from their winning trip – a 10-day tasting tour of Burgundy, Parma and the Douro Valley to learn more about how the Discover the Origin products are made.
Entries are now being invited for this year’s competition from chef/waiter teams from establishments of any size or style. The first round consists of a questionnaire, from which successful teams will be chosen to submit their menu with wines. To find the ultimate winner, the best teams from five regions will be invited to a ‘cook and serve’ final at Westminster Kingsway College, London, on 19 July 2010.
Entry forms can be downloaded at www.afws.co.uk or contact the Academy of Food & Wine on 020 8661 4646. All entries must be received by 26 March 2010.
For further press information or comment please contact Linda Pettit at Tilburstow Media Partners on 01737 823721, mobile 07973 789853 or email linda@tilburstowmedia.co.uk. Alternatively call the Academy of Food & Wine on 020 8661 4646.
Photographs of last year’s winning dishes, the Gastronomy Team of the Year logo and Nick Hewitt and Alan Holmes on their prize-winning trip round Europe are available by clicking onto http://tilburstowmedia.co.uk/gty2009pics and using the password ‘gty2009’.
Editor’s notes
About the Academy. Founded in 1988, the Academy of Food and Wine is the industry’s professional training body, dedicated to the skills of wine and food service. The Academy’s purpose is to identify, promote and maintain the highest professional standards for the education and training of food and wine waiting staff and bar assistants in the UK hotel, restaurant, catering and bar industry. Its objectives are: for every waiter/waitress, wine waiter and bar assistant in the industry to be a member of the Academy – their professional body; to gain greater recognition for these operatives throughout the industry by accreditation, badging and recognition; to help members develop, maintain and advance their knowledge, skills and ability; to provide an interface between educators, service staff and their employers; and to enhance member’s career prospects. Currently the Academy has over 1,000 members.
About Discover the Origin. ‘Discover the Origin’ is a three year campaign designed to raise awareness around five key European PDO products: Parma Ham; Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese; Burgundy wines; Port; and Douro Valley wines. The aim of the campaign is to highlight the importance of these products amongst distributors and food and drink professionals in order to drive sales. This will be achieved by educating people on the benefits their quality image offers the trade commercially.
The campaign supports the importance of provenance, good production methods and fair-trading. The trade bodies behind the campaign are: Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB); Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP); and the Parma Ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortiums.
The PDO stamp of approval is attributed to these five food and drink products to certify that they are unique to a particular region and of outstanding quality.
Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB)– www.burgundy-wines.fr
Port and Douro Wines Institute (IVDP) – www.ivdp.pt
Consortium of Parma Ham – www.prosciuttodiparma.com
Consortium of Parmigiano-Reggiano – www.parmigiano-reggiano.it
For further press information on Discover the Origin please contact:
Westbury Communications, Tel: +44 (0) 207 751 9170
Email: dtopressoffice@westburycom.co.uk