Proud to Be a Chef - Australia’s leading foodservice mentoring program giving culinary apprentices across the nation the chance to be part of a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience – pulled out all the stops for its 2020 program.

The winners for 2020 were announced at a gala dinner and presentation night on February 26.

Amber Heaton from The Star Gold Coast was awarded the 2020 Proud to Be a Chef International Culinary Scholarship, valued at $7,500 and tailored to the winner’s personal interests and goals as a professional chef.

Best Savoury Dish at the cook-off event was awarded to Felix Carstens for Salmon with Jerusalem Artichoke Panna Cotta.

Best Sweet was awarded to Jessica Bingham for Black Forest Dessert.

Best Use of Social Media in documenting the finalists’ journey through the program was awarded to Liam Masters.

Proud to Be a Chef’s three mentors also announced two winners of the Mentor Chefs’ Amazing Attitude Awards - which went to Jordon McDougall and Joshua Freney.

The 32 finalists began their Proud to Be a Chef journey with a trip to Tasmania as Proud to Be a Chef left the mainland for the first time in the program’s history. There they undertook an interactive tour and tasting at a local salmon farm, followed by a vineyard tour at an award-winning winery.

The Tasmanian trip also included a visit to a dairy farm where the finalists’ milking skills were put to the test, a dairy masterclass hosted by Proud to Be a Chef resident mentor and former RACV City Club Executive Chef Mark Normoyle, a butter making workshop and dinner at modern Australian restaurant Charlotte Jack.

The packed program of events continued back in Melbourne where the Proud to Be a Chef team worked closely with this year’s guest mentors to come up with a series of masterclasses that provided challenge and inspiration in equal measure:

Adrian Richardson, Executive Chef and owner of La Luna Bistro and Bouvier Bar conducted a butchery masterclass, breaking down a whole side of beef and lamb and showing the finalists how to prepare and cook a suckling pig. “We have an inhouse butcher at La Luna and Bouvier Bar and make all our smallgoods in house so it’s a big focus for us, but the actual technique of butchery is something a lot of chefs are no longer familiar with, and it’s a great skill to learn,” Adrian explains. “Just about every chef can cook a steak, but if you can take a secondary cut of lamb or beef and use it to create a delicious dish, it shows you can think outside the square.”

Having been a Proud to Be a Chef mentor some 12 years ago, Adrian was excited to be back on board for the 2020 program: “It seems like it’s bigger and better than ever. I think it’s wonderful that a food company like Anchor™ Food Professionals is investing in the industry by giving the participants this fantastic opportunity to learn and develop not just cooking but life skills. I’m very proud to be involved with it. And mentoring is so important in this industry - I’m just on 50 and I still have mentors myself whom I reach out to when I have business or trade related issues.”

Atlantic Group Executive Pastry Chef Lisa Van Zanten took the finalists on a step by step build of a modern dessert. “I did a modern take on a Cherry Ripe – it’s a dish with many different elements which can be swapped out, meaning the recipe is quite flexible as you can adapt it for different applications and ingredients. One of the things I love about desserts is playing with different textures, so that when you’re eating it becomes a multi-layered experience, and that’s something I wanted to share with our finalists.”

As a first-time mentor with Proud to Be a Chef, Lisa said she was “honoured and proud” to be asked to be part of the program. “I’m still fairly young to the industry but I’ve experienced many dynamics within hospitality, from a small pastry shop in Perth where I started to high end restaurants and catering for major events where we do 25,000 meals over four days. So I was able to share something of that breadth of knowledge with our finalists. I think they are all amazing to have had the confidence to put themselves on the line and enter the program, and there’s so much they stand to get out of it.”

Resident Proud to Be a Chef mentor Mark Normoyle affirms: “Our focus is always on developing the raw talent of our passionate apprentice chefs chosen as our finalists and providing them with the best mentoring possible. Our mentors for 2020 each have their own areas of expertise and we all worked together to provide our finalists with insights and learnings that not only encourage and inspire but give them practical, hands-on advice which they can apply when they return to the workplace.”

For more information about this year’s program visit www.proudtobeachef.com

Check out the 2024 winners of Proud to be a Chef here.