Which chefs made it to the national final 2025?
After the exciting regional finals in London and Birmingham, the Roux family is delighted to announce the names of the six chefs who will compete for the title of Roux Scholar 2025 at the Alain Roux Culinary School on 14th April.
The Roux Scholarship regional finals took place at University College Birmingham and University of West London on 6th March and the 18 regional finalists also cooked their recipes that incorporated two gurnard fish, mussels, dulse seaweed and parsnips.
The mystery box dessert challenge included a choice of 20 ingredients including: cinnamon quills, raspberries, curd cheese and fine ground almonds.
Photos: Jodi Hinds (London) and Chloe Stuart-Bennett (Birmingham). Lead image, Nikoletta Theofylaktidou’s regional final dish.
National Finalists 2024
Katherine Altham: “It was very interesting and obviously very busy. To be honest, I didn’t think it went that well, so the result was better than I expected. I was thinking I’d be able to have a little holiday after the regional finals but that’s not to be. On to the next stage!”
Liam Anderson: “I’m happy with the dish I put up. Before the final there’ll be time to get back to work at Midsummer House and think about what is next. I’ll need to get a little bit of rest and sleep; my days have been full of gurnards, parsnips and media interviews, but I’m grateful for it all.”
Craig Johnston: “It went well, it was very, very chaotic and fast-paced. The time flew by but in the last half an hour it all came together. Now to scramble more practice time before the national final!”
Nikoletta Theofylaktidou: “It was very stressful to begin with but, in the end, it was successful. I am really chuffed. I have had excellent support from my work team and head chef. Now it’s time for practice, practice and I need to get some classical techniques spot on before the national final next month.”
Erin Jackson Yates: “It went well, I felt more confident in the kitchen than I did afterwards, but it all panned out okay in the end. The timing – right at the end, knowing when to finish the dish off and plate it – was the hardest thing for me.”
Oliver Robinson: “I thought the kitchen facilities here in Birmingham were incredible, so well equipped. All the chefs around me were so supportive and it didn’t feel like a competition as such, it just felt like cooking. I was shocked to get through. I didn’t think I’d done well enough to get in, especially when they said there was only one finalist coming from Birmingham!”
The Challenge
The 18 chefs, and two reserves, were selected from their written recipes that had to use two whole red gurnards each weighing between 700g – 900g; 600g live St. Austell deep sea mussels; some fresh (or dried) red dulse seaweed, together with two simple or composed arnishes/accompaniments, one of which had to include parsnips. One of these could be served separately, if preferred. A sauce had to accompany the dish.
The Mystery Box Dessert challenge
For this year’s mystery box dessert challenge finalists were tasked with making a dessert with as many or as few ingredients from the 20 items as they liked. They were guided towards demonstrating their skills by making a tart. We appreciate the excellent ingredients supplied by some of our sponsors, including Elle & Vire Professionnel butter and cream, St Ewe eggs, The Macallan Whisky and Showerings Cider, along with a selection of goods from Wellocks. The selection comprised of:
2 cinnamon quills; 4 oranges; 2 lemons; 250g fresh raspberries; 1 vanilla pod; 200g Agen pitted soft dried prunes.
500g Elle & Vire Professional Gourmet unsalted butter roll 82% fat; 1ltr Elle & Vire Professional Excellence whipping cream 35% fat; 100g sour cream; 150g Greek yoghurt; 200g curd cheese; 1ltr whole milk; 12 standard St Ewe Rich Yolk free range eggs.
500g plain flour; 100g cornflour; 300g icing sugar; 200g fine ground almond.
100ml The Macallan Double Cask 12 Year Old Whisky; 500ml Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil; 375ml Showerings Triple Vintage cider, 6.8% volume.
Judging at the University College Birmingham, Michel Roux Jr: “Gurnard is not an easy fish to showcase and to cook with, so today we have six very well-cooked dishes and all of them very individual. The dessert seemed to be a bit of stumbling block for most of our chefs, but saying that, it’s been a very good competition, and all the judges are leaving with very full tummies.”
Judging at the University College Birmingham, Sat Bains said: “I thought today was fantastic. We had some really good cooking and the timings were brilliant. Probably the best-timed competition I’ve seen in the last four or five years. I think the fish was a difficult fish to work with, but we saw some good variations in cooking. For me, it’s a very strong year.”
Judging at the University of West London, Alain Roux said: “It was a beautiful day to watch the chefs work and they went about it confidently and professionally. It was clear they’d practised their dish several times. Without being over-confident they worked cleanly and in an organised way. In London, we had five worthy finalists.”
Judging at the University of West London, Angela Hartnett OBE said: “I thought the standard was great. Looking around the kitchen and how they all worked I thought we saw some future gems of the hospitality business. Like always, the dessert is the decider. In so many ways they’ve done great dishes, which they’ve had time to prepare and practise, but then the dessert lets them down.”
