Second Successful Celtic Cook Off in West Cork

Last night, the hugely anticipated Celtic Cook Off 2012 took place live from The West Cork Hotel in front of a full to capacity crowd and international audiences who watched the action via live streaming over the internet. The Celtic Chef’s who did battle this year were; Jack Stein from Cornwall and Ian Bennett from Wales and Stephane Delourme from Brittany who all took part in the first half of the competition, and Tony Singh from Scotland, Butch Buttery from The Isle of Man and Gary O'Hanlon from Ireland who all took part in the second half of the competition. John McKenna yet again oversaw battle and talked to the chefs about cooking methods, ingredients and techniques. He also interacted with the audience reading tweets from those who could not make it but watched it live via the internet at their homes in Ireland, the UK and even Stateside! He also talked to the well-known faces at the judges’ tables, including Roy Brett, last year’s Celtic Cook Off winner from Scotland, who earlier yesterday had yet again bowled over by the kids cookery competition that he judged and special guest Tim Anderson, the winner of MasterChef 2011, who had been impressed during his involvement in food presentations and events of A Taste of West Cork Festival.

The competition saw each Celtic chef only had 30 minutes to create their masterpieces, using West Cork Produce from a list of approved West Cork Producers and a ‘Wild Card’ ingredient from their own region. A selection of seafood and meat dishes were created and presented to the judges, but there could only be one winner and this year that was our very own Gary O’Hanlon of Ireland, who created a dish of Lamb. Congratulations Gary on a well deserved win, and congratulations and special thanks to all the chefs who took part, be it as a competitor or a judge, we look forward to welcoming you back to West Cork again - maybe for a third Celtic Cook Off?

For places to stay in West Cork or skibbereen accommodation the West Cork Hotel is the ideal choice.