<p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">Our </span><a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; target="_blank">Hospitality and Catering</a><span style="font-size:inherit;"> students have been at it again, preparing delicious meals with the help of professional chef masterclasses and learning new skills that they wouldn’t normally learn until later in their career.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">The executive head chef from Coast &amp; Country Catering, Chris Chatfield, came in to deliver a masterclass to our hospitality students over two days. On the first day, he gave them a chocolate masterclass which included making a pre-dessert of Pina Colada, followed by an out-of-the-ordinary ‘apple’ crumble, and on the second day, the learners created an outstanding dinner menu using a range of techniques and foods to be presented as the Grove’s dinner menu to the public.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">The pre-dessert Pina Colada consisted of a chocolate and coconut shell with a pineapple salsa and a coconut foam. The ‘apple’ crumble was also no ordinary apple crumble, but was rather a white chocolate mousse, set in a green coloured chocolate to look like an apple, with an apple and blackberry centre and set on a bed of crumble. These dishes taught the learners how to uniquely present their dishes to look even more high-quality and professional due to the time and effort gone into them.&nbsp;</span></p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;Pina Colada pre-dessert final dish&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6a5ef594-b210-4624-8d02-fad1e3703c7f" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">On the second day, the learners readied for the Tuesday night dinner service at the Grove, and, with the help of Chris, the students created some exceptional final dishes including starters like Crab Mille Feuille and Haricot Blanc Velouté, and mains including Mizo Glazed Venison Loin, Hen of the Woods, and Stone Bass.&nbsp;</span></p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;Mizo Glazed Venison Loin&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d26fa2c7-c4d2-4dcf-9f10-7d79b93f1be6" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p>&nbsp;</p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;Final Stone Bass dish plated up&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1d53481e-2897-4059-a1ea-c05792bb7179" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p>&nbsp;</p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;Crab Mille Feuille final dish plated up&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2ea0d341-8c13-4bdb-b542-c4e256e6e4b6" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p>&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">During this takeover, the students developed their skills and learnt new techniques, not only in cooking but also with presentation and serving. The technical skills included high-end plating skills, cooking and picking crabs, breaking down venison saddles to produce sous vide loin, salt baking vegetables, smoking vegetables, curing, pickling and making a classic au jus.&nbsp;</span></p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;Apple crumble in the shape and style of a green apple&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="450e603a-739f-4f37-bded-de3ad9e5b314" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">Chris also offered an insight into Michelin level cooking, as well as outlining the expectations and behaviours that are expected within the industry at that level so the learners could develop an understanding of a real-world professional kitchen.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">Overall, the masterclass was a success, allowing students to flex their culinary skills and learn new ways of cooking and presenting in order to create quality dishes in all aspects. The learners learnt so much from Chris and produced a fantastic final menu that they should be proud of.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">We’d like to say a big thank you to Chris for helping our learners better their abilities and improve their confidence in the kitchen so they can become our future professionals in the culinary industry.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; target="_blank">If you’re interested in applying to one of Hospitality and Catering courses in September, click here.</a><span style="font-size:inherit;">&nbsp;</span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">Our </span><a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; target="_blank">Hospitality and Catering</a><span style="font-size:inherit;"> learners are excelling with their talents, creating many dishes per week for our staff and students, and developing their skills more and more each time. To upscale their abilities even further, chefs from the Railway at Thatchers came in and hosted a seafood masterclass, providing them with professional, hands-on experience that they can use throughout their course.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">During this masterclass, James, the head chef, and Callum, the sous chef, taught the students how to prepare fish from whole but also how to steam mussels and create delicious dishes that they likely had not previously attempted.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">To prepare the fish, the learners had to remove the skeleton very carefully which takes skill and precision. The two types of fish the learners used were seabass and plaice in order to master both flat and round fish. Once the fish were ready, the learners moved on to prepping the remaining ingredients to make their final dishes: plaice en papilotte with fennel and orange, and a seabass dish with romesco sauce and crispy garlic.&nbsp;</span></p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;A student preparing a fish&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3d909d0c-66fe-4a5e-b51d-81259372e8c9" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">These dishes turned out incredible, especially for their first try, and was an excellent portrayal of the students’ hard work and determination. Not only did they learn more about how to prepare and cook seafood, they also impressed the Head Chef at the Railway not only with their cooking, but also their enthusiasm.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;Learners final seabass dish with romesco sauce and crispy garlic&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="09b9d7d0-ddb0-406f-bfb6-7b2572f527cd" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">The chefs then delivered a session on how to produce steamed mussels (in cider of course!), prepare prawns, and create an Asian broth from a stock. This broth was then served with the fresh oysters to make another delicious seafood dish. The learners were then able to try traditional oysters with lemon and tabasco as well.&nbsp;</span></p><drupal-entity alt="&quot;Final mussel dish prepared in the masterclass&quot;" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c6ce8d29-16ed-4e60-a3a7-283f5457ef67" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{&quot;image_style&quot;:&quot;max_500x500&quot;,&quot;image_link&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;image_loading&quot;:{&quot;attribute&quot;:&quot;lazy&quot;}}">&nbsp;</drupal-entity><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">James, the Head Chef at the Railway, oversees all of the food, from the daily changing menus, to the special event menus and corporate buffets. James said, “the students all seemed very interested in the masterclass and gave it their all. All the final dishes were great, and it was good fun seeing some of them try oysters for the first time!”&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">At Thatchers, they take on many apprentices in order to build the next generation of staff in a hands-on but supportive environment, and the Railway do just that. “It’s great having apprentices working with us who are keen to cook great food and I’m happy to have the opportunity to give a little back to the future of our industry.”&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">Not only did the students learn invaluable skills from this professional masterclass, but they also enjoyed the day and left with more confidence in preparing and cooking seafood. They also built upon their taste pallets by trying a variety of dishes that they may not normally get the opportunity to try.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">Jenna Ratcliffe, Head of Service Sectors at Weston College, says, “our Careers Excellence Hub (CEH) partnership with Thatchers highlights our commitment to meaningful employer connections. We are grateful that these relationships are directly benefitting our students’ readiness for a career and are positively impacting their experience here at Weston College.”&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><span style="font-size:inherit;">We’d like to give a big thank you to James and Callum from the Railway at Thatchers for running this fantastic masterclass for our students, it was an extremely successful day!&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom:8px;margin-left:0;margin-top:0px;"><a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; rel="noreferrer noopener" title="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi…; target="_blank">If you’re interested in applying to a Hospitality and Catering course in September, click here.</a><span style="font-size:inherit;">&nbsp;</span></p>

<p>My name is Richard Perks, and I am a professional chef living in Canada with my family!</p><p>I started my career at Weston College, completing the NVQ1-2 Professional Catering course from 2001-2003, which helped me lay the foundation of cooking basics. I had an interest in catering from a young age as my father and grandmother are both very good cooks, and I enjoyed cooking with them as a child. I made the decision to study at Weston College as I wanted to develop this passion into a career, and I knew Weston would give me the best opportunity to turn my dream into a reality. Furthermore, I knew Weston would have the best catering department in the local area, including top-of-the-range facilities and incredible teachers.</p><p>Through the course at Weston College, I was lucky enough to travel to Italy for work experience. My time in Italy went so well that I was asked to stay and continue the work I was doing for Massimo Spigaroli, who was known as the ‘Italian Salami King’. Through my work for Massimo, I attended an Italian university and studied traditional Italian cuisine. Just before graduating from this university, I was sent to a Michelin starred restaurant for work experience. After graduation I went on to work for Corrado Azensa (the pastry chef featured in season 4, episode 2 of ‘Chef’s Table Pastry’ on Netflix).</p><p>After living in Sicily and working for Corrado for a year and a half, I moved to Hong Kong for 6 months to work at an Italian restaurant. I enjoyed Hong Kong; it was certainly different than living in Sicily. After a short stint in Hong Kong, I moved back to Italy for a few more years under Massimo in Parma.</p><p>I then returned to the UK and lived and worked in London for a Michelin restaurant as well as working under Head Chef Malcolm Campbell for a short period. Malcolm Campbell is now a top chef in Canada and a good family friend of ours.</p><p>I then moved to Australia, and I was Senior Sous Chef in one of a top 10 restaurant in Western Australia. I then met my wife and moved to Canada after 7 years in Perth. Since I've been in Canada, I have worked at Pinestone Golf Club as a job during the pandemic. From there I moved out to Nova Scotia to work at Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs, which are both in the top 10 public golf courses in the whole of North America.</p><p>From there, I have taken an Executive Chef role in a very good private school, just outside of Toronto. We serve a Marche-Style service to 1000 people a day. From homemade lasagne and pizza all the way to sushi bars. The change of pace is due to being a father to two very young children and looking for the right work-life balance. Since being at the school I have reached the Canadian Chefs Cup final two years running; I came 5th in my first year and last year I placed 3rd. I will be running again this year, hoping to place 1st.</p><p>My favourite part of working as a chef is the opportunity it provides to travel the world and experience so many different cultures and foods. If I had decided to enter into a different industry, I would not have had the incredible experiences I’ve had!</p><p>I have had so many highlights in my career and I could never pick just one, but a favourite from recent years has been competing in the Canada Chefs Cup. In my personal life though, raising my two children and being the best father I can be, is the most important part.</p><p>In recent times, a memorable success has been winning the International World Catering Championships, where I won Gold for Canada.</p><p>I originally came third in the Aramark's Canadian Chef's cup in April 2023, which I was very pleased with. Later in the year Adrian Salalac (the winner) contacted me to be his sous chef for team Canada. I was honoured to and we spent the last 4/5 months practicing and preparing for the finals.</p><p>We were up against 9 other teams, the champs of South America, Chile, UK, Czech Republic, China, South Korea, Germany, Belgium and Spain.</p><p>The final went over 2 days. The first day you had to prepare your written menu and collect all your ingredients you would need from the mystery store and common pantry. Then cold prep your menu within 2 hours. The following day we had 3 hours to prepare 3 courses for 4 people, the starter had to be vegan. &lt;&gt;The mystery store had local proteins and produce from Canada. Things like elk shoulder, whole duck, whole pickerel (a fish), scallops, cod, wild boar belly, honeycomb, rhubarb, birch syrup, local mushrooms, lentils and local pulses.</p><p>The teams were all very strong and approached the challenge differently. It was so much fun networking with chefs from around the world.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5R8R45JehI&amp;t=151s">Here is a recap video of the final!</a></p><p>My start at Weston College really set the precedent for the rest of my career; being able to travel abroad for work experience in my first two years of studying inspired me to continue travelling the world and resulted in my extremely successful career so far. I can’t wait to see where it takes me next!</p><p><a href="https://www.weston.ac.uk/what-can-i-study/courses-16-18-year-olds/hospi… out about our Catering &amp; Hospitality courses, here!</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/Cup_0.png" data-entity-uuid="0f7295fd-da95-40d5-aa92-e8c9713c6cfa" data-entity-type="file" width="663" height="496">