Chef David Duverger qualifies for NCOTY semi finals

We are thrilled to announce that David Duverger, Cuisine Teaching Chef at Le Cordon Bleu London, is one of just 33 chefs still in the running to take the most sought-after title in the British culinary scene, National Chef of the Year, in this years edition of the competition run by the Craft Guild of Chefs.

To make the semi-final shortlist, Chef David created a menu telling his story of the pandemic through food. Menus had to include a vegetarian starter incorporating ingredients on the KNORR^® Future 50 Foods list. These ingredients have been identified with the support of the WWF as having a positive impact on the environment, by improving the diversity of the crops we consume as well as having excellent nutritional credentials. The main course focused on supporting British suppliers on land and at sea with a dish incorporating both meat and fish, whilst desserts had to reflect the start of the pandemic, when ingredients were sparse, and households turned to baking for comfort.

Chef David’s qualifying menu was as follows –

• Starter: Leek and soya cheese cannelloni, watercress tofu mayonnaise, walnut jam, quinoa croquette, enoki pickle
• Main: Lamb loin, laver seaweed and viennoise coat, oyster and merguez emulsion, Colcannon, Carrot and smoked salsify
• Dessert: Earl grey cheesecake, figs compote, digestive sable nougatine

Since the National Chef of the Year’s launch in 1972 previous winners, including Gordon Ramsay, have seen how it helps fast-track careers to put winners and their workplaces firmly on the map. The National Chef of the Year event provides chefs with an exciting opportunity to put themselves in the spotlight and show their culinary talent to the wider hospitality industry. It’s put industry names up in lights, boosted careers and given chefs the chance to follow their dreams.

To get to the final, David is now working on a small signature dish of his choice. The semi-finalists have been asked to sum up their pandemic year of 2020-2021 in just two to three bites. Judges will be looking for a dish which reflects each chef’s personality and tells a story. Dishes may be a personal or family memory or a reflection of the wider industry that has had an impact on an individual. It could explore a style of cuisine, a nostalgic dish, a recipe that reflects heritage or the use of hero ingredients that a chef is passionate about.

David Duverger said: “To go through the next stage will be an amazing experience for me. NCOTY is such a tough competition with some amazing talent from all over the UK and so qualifying and maybe winning the title of national chef of the year 2021 will be an achievement which I would be humbled by. For me to be judged and win this honour would make me, my mentors, peers and my family very proud.”

The top ten chefs will be revealed live on the Craft Guild of Chefs Instagram channel by Chair of judges, Paul Ainsworth and organiser of the competition, David Mulcahy on Thursday, 12th August, 2021.