A little while ago I was lucky enough to be invited to guest judge the Capsicum Culinary Studio Cook Off event to celebrate their 10th anniversary. There were ten participants, including a few celebrity chefs, first year students and guest participants from the media. On arriving the nervous energy was palpable – it must have been quite nerve-wracking for first year students to be teamed up with celebrity chefs and having to compete! Each team of two got the same set of ingredients to work with and they each had to produce a starter and a main dish in an hour and a half. The energy once they began was fantastic, and it was so great to watch them in action! I saw some interesting cooking methods I’ve never seen before.
These were some of the completed dishes, which were all presented so well and each had such interesting flavour combinations. It was such a fun experience and I loved that everyone was super friendly despite my relative lack of knowledge in this field , including my fellow (way more experienced!) judges Gunther Beissel, the South African Chefs Association KZN chair, and celebrity chef, Wynand Schoeman of Sjef!
If you hadn’t heard of Capsicum before, they’re the largest culinary school in South Africa and offer the most affordable accredited Professional Chef and Hospitality qualifications in SA across their six campuses. Find out more about them on their site.