Joe Queen of Scotland Triumphs in Celtic Cook Off 2013

Last Wednesday 11th September, Joe Queen from Scotland was crowed the Celtic Cook Off Champion for 2013 in front of an audience of nearly 200 food enthusiasts that attended the Cook Off here at the West Cork Hotel.

The top chefs from the Celtic regions that did battle in this year’s competition were able to select ingredients from a special Producer’s Market held in our hotel in West Cork during the morning, as well as visiting local farms, producers and suppliers.
Cooking in two sets of three chefs, the competing chefs from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Isle of Man and Cornwall had just 30 minutes to produces three identical plates of their chosen dish for the three judging tables.

A tough panel this year, the judges were assisted on the night (in each half) by a member of the audience that was chosen by a random tick number on the night and included: Veronica Steel of Milleens Cheese; Carmel Somers of The Good Things Cafe and Cookery School; baker and blogger Bill King from Wales; Virginia Sumsion, Events and Marketing Manager for Loch Fyne Oysters in Scotland; Aoife Cox, Editor of The Daily Spud and food writer; and Joe McNamee, lead food writer for the Irish Examiner.

The first three competitors were Stewart Eddy – Cornwall, Michael Murphy – Isle of Man, and Olivier Quenet – Brittany. See their dishes below

The second three competitors were Joe Queen – Scotland, Gareth Johns – Wales, and Kate Lawlor – Cork. See their dishes below

The six judges retired to compare their notes on each dish, and when they returned, it was head judge Joe NcNamee that announced that Joe Queen of Scotland was this year’s winner!

Complimenting the whole Celtic Cook Off experience, winner Joe Queen said “It’s a day in the diary that I will never forget. Thank you very much for all your help and organisation and looking after us, it was a typical Irish hospitality - first class!”

With three Celtic Cook Off’s successfully completed the winner stats stand at Scotland 2, and Ireland 1, meaning the competition really is on for all the competiting nations in 2014…