apetito chef reaches final of Craft Guild of Chef’s competition

Jethro Lawrence, development chef at one of the UK’s leading meal providers for care homes, apetito, has made it to the final of the prestigious National Chef of the Year competition run by the Craft Guild of Chefs.

This competition has previously been won by some of the finest names in the culinary world, including Gordon Ramsay, so reaching the final is an incredible achievement.

Lawrence, a former Head Chef at the 2 AA Rosette Woolley Grange Hotel and a BBC MasterChef: The Professionals quarter-finalist, joined apetito as a development chef three years ago and works with its team of in-house chefs and dietitians to develop high-quality, delicious and nutritious meals.

For the semi-finals, the chefs were tasked with cooking an amuse-bouche or pre-dessert with the theme ‘A taste of summer’ using seasonal ingredients. The chefs were asked to bring this to life with a story of a personal food hero such as a chef, family member, mentor or industry personality.

“The brief was immediately inspiring,” explains Jethro, who continues: “For my semi-final dish, I made an amuse-bouche. The base of the dish was brioche, toasted with roasted crayfish oil, with crayfish, cucumber compressed in a yuzu and nasturtium oil and a thin slice of cured pork’s cheek. Finally, the dish was topped with rainbow trout roe and edible flowers.

“Getting the ingredients was a real family effort. My kids and I actually went fishing to get the Signal Crayfish about half a mile from my house in Somerset, which is definitely the star of my dish. They’re an under-used ingredient and extremely sustainable, something which is very importantly to both me as a chef, and apetito.

“The idea for this dish comes from a few heroes of mine. Firstly, my children, who often head down to the river with me to catch fish and learn more about the food they eat and where it comes from.

“Secondly is food hero of mine, as well as a former mentor, Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan, who created a Berkswell cheese bread pudding that helped inspire my dish and is genuinely one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten.”

Commenting on the final, Judge and Chef Patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Matt Abé, says: “The forty semi-finalists didn’t make this an easy decision for us and there was a lot of deliberation to select just ten chefs, but I am confident we have an incredible level of talent cooking for us in the final.  The second stage was really impressive with some great storytelling around the food.”

General Manager of Care Homes at apetito, Richard Woodward adds:

“We’re all so proud of Jethro for having made it to the final of such a prestigious competition. Jethro is a wonderfully talented chef and since joining apetito, he’s brought passion, knowledge and innovation to our Product Development team.

 “Last year he did so well to get to the final of this competition, but this year, everyone at apetito is cheering him on to win and bring back the trophy.”

The National Chef of the Year final will take place on 8^th October.

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