Golden Apron: hunt on for best young chef

The chef/owner of one of Yorkshire's six Michelin-starred restaurants is searching for the county's best young chef, with teenage entrants being asked to create a dish to represent My Yorkshire.
Finalists Jemima Harpin and Kurtus Auty in the kitchens of the Pipe and Glass Inn during the finals of the last Golden Apron competition.
picture: Tony Bartholomew.Finalists Jemima Harpin and Kurtus Auty in the kitchens of the Pipe and Glass Inn during the finals of the last Golden Apron competition.
picture: Tony Bartholomew.
Finalists Jemima Harpin and Kurtus Auty in the kitchens of the Pipe and Glass Inn during the finals of the last Golden Apron competition. picture: Tony Bartholomew.

James Mackenzie, chef/owner of the Pipe and Glass at South Dalton, has teamed up again with the Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School and farming company JSR, both based at Southburn, near Driffield, to invite teenage chefs to compete for the coveted title of the Golden Apron 2017.

The three finalists will cook alongside James Mackenzie at the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass, and the winner will be given a work placement with Cranswick plc, working on the ASDA account with their new product development team.

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The Golden Apron is open to young chefs living in Yorkshire and aged between 14 and 19, who are being asked to create a My Yorkshire dish.

The dish can be savoury or sweet and should use ingredients of the young chef’s own choosing; it must cost no more than £10 for two servings, and take under two hours to cook.

The best eight entries will then be invited to a day at the Yorkshire Wolds Cookery School on Sunday March 5, and asked to cook for a panel of judges from the school, the sponsors, and James Mackenzie. They will cook their own creation in the morning, and a dish set by James in the afternoon.

Three young cooks will then get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be mentored for a day and cook alongside James and his team for a gala dinner at the final at the Pipe and Glass on Monday March 20. Each finalist will prepare three starter-sized main course dishes for 70 guests.

One contestant will then be named as The Golden Apron.

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The competition’s last winner, in 2015, was Kurtus Auty, from Selby, then an 18-year-old catering student, who is now working in London at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze. Kurtus says: “It’s been a great year and a great experience, thanks to the Golden Apron