The Skills for Chefs Conference is designed for professionals in the culinary industry and is a fabulous event that has now been going for 22 years which for any event is an amazing achievement and to help, inspire & support the next generation of chefs is a very important part of being a chef.

The Aims of this event are :

• To showcase the talents of leading chefs
• To share skills and knowledge
• To spotlight topical issues affecting chefs
• To network with colleagues and suppliers
• 2 culinary presentations

I arrived down on the 10th so that I could enjoy the Interview with my lovely mate Daniel Clifford followed by Dinner. The interview was held by a Joe Hurd the TV chef & presenter. It was a great warts & all interview that gave us a real insight into Daniels earlier life at Midsummer house which was all revealed in his new cooking book out of the tree.

Other Chefs at the event were, Clare Smyth MBE , Paul Foster , James Golding , Liam & Ryan Simpson-Trotman and Jeroen-van-Oijen.

Then on the Thursday 11th there was a Gala Dinner and”An Audience with Henrique Sá Pessoa”

So onto the cooking demonstration that I created especially for the event in which I had two different Presentations one at 11.15am for 1 hr then another at 1.30pm for 1hr.

The dish that I created was lamb loin that was brined in a soya sauce brine with dehydrated red pepper, creamed polenta, red pepper vinaigrette.

The Lamb loin was brined in a soy sauce diluted with a little water and then simmer the water with thyme rosemary garlic, black pepper and honey. This is then mixed together and a little fish sauce added. The lamb loin is then brined for 3-4 hrs and then air dried.

This is water bathed in a sheeps cheese emulsion which is a sheeps curd, diluted with a little milk, olive oil and garlic. The lamb is cooked in a sous vide bag with a little of this emulsion, at 68c for approx 20 mins. We rest it, then sear it slowly in a med hot pan, we roll it in more of the emulsion & a dried red pepper crumb.

This is served with a creamed polenta finished with olive oil, deep fried polenta beignets, some crisp lamb belly, burnt aubergine puree, red pepper puree and dehydrated red pepper.