Carrick was the winner of the inaugural International Students Cooking Cup held in South Melbourne yesterday.

Carrick was given the top accolade for the high standard of the dishes created by the team of five students. Carrick won the competition ahead of four other prominent hospitality schools in Melbourne. Hales Institute finishing second, Victoria University third, Meridian Institute, fourth and William Angliss, fifth.

The Cooking Cup began with the opening of the ubiquitous mystery box of ingredients and the schools competing created a three course meal for the panel of judges, master chef style.

Prominent industry veteran of 50 years Bernd Uber was chief judge at the Cooking Cup. The Honourable Jennifer Lindell MP, Member for Carrum attended amongst other industry guests from the Australian Culinary Federation and Les Toques Blanches, an executive chef association based in Melbourne.

Carrick’s dessert tipped the odds in favour of the Carrick team, the judges complimenting the high standard of the dishes and in particular the dessert, which was “near perfection” Uber said.

The Carrick team consisted of five team members, Jeffrey, Vibha Somesh, Soravit Riremkul, Younkyoung Goh and Daniel Southwell (Team Captain) from Indonesia, India, Thailand, Korea and England respectively. The students were coached by hospitality staff, Graeme Chalmers, Murray Twaits and Richard Scarf.

Daniel said “The team put in amazing effort in a nerve wracking environment and they were very excited about the win. It was fantastic to see all the hard work that we have put in at the Carrick kitchens result in victory.”

The Cooking Cup was the first of its kind in Melbourne and showcased the international cooking talent that resides in Melbourne.

Cookery is currently in the top ten occupations listed as suffering from a skills shortage on the Clarius Skills Index . International students are integral to the industry as the local supply of chefs simply cannot meet the demand.

The competition proved the value of Carrick’s international students to the industry and reinforced Carrick as being at the top of its field.

Carrick offers quality vocational education and training programs to ensure students are fully equipped to enter their chosen career. Carrick works closely with industry to create training and education programs which cater to all sectors. Carrick’s programs include English language, vocational and higher education courses.

For media enquiries and photos please contact Marketing Officer, Lucy Macdonald at lmacdonald@carrickeducation.edu.au or 03 9650 6877.

The Winning Menu

Entrée Chicken mousse with braised fennel on watercress sauce.

Main Rolled lamb rump with black cabbage and feta on dauphine potato and thyme jus.

Dessert Four Seasons dessert of miniature portions including, caramelised poached pear with raspberry, ice-cream, wine jelly, vanilla sauce anglaise with threads of saffron accompanied by tuille Autumn leaves.

Carrick Team Captain Daniel Southwell with the winning cup