Heston Blumenthal has named a cook from a top Scots resort as his best young chef of the year in the Academy of Culinary Arts (ACA) annual awards of excellence in London.
The celebrity chef praised 22-year-old Dimitar Angelkovski, first commis chef at Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire, for his imaginative ways with razor clams, venison and lemon meringue.
He saw off rivals from Gordon Ramsay’s Claridge’s, The Ritz, Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons and even Buckingham Palace.
But Mr Angelkovski is not letting success go to his head.
“It’s on with the work,” said the Swedish-born Macedonian chef yesterday as he reported for duty at the kitchen he has worked in since arriving in Scotland as a student intern in 2007.
Mr Angelkovski’s first job was to pick, wash and dry four large crates of salad leaves. Since then he has become a full-time commis chef on the larder and sauce section at Turnberry under head chef Justin Galea.
But for the ACA competition, where Blumenthal was the head judge, his culinary skills were really put to the test.
Contestants had four hours to prepare a razor clam starter using mystery ingredients, followed by venison Wellington with fondant potatoes, glazed carrots, stuffed cabbage and celeriac puree; and a modern interpretation of lemon meringue.
Mr Angelkovski’s hot salad nicoise of razor clams, followed by a medium-rare venison in perfectly baked pastry, and a lemon brulee, lemon sorbet and Scottish shortbread dessert, won him the top prize of a week in Mexico, a week in Champagne, and a day in Blumenthal’s three-Michelin star kitchen at The Fat Duck in Bray.
So what now for the young culinary star? Does he now intend to open his own restaurant? Not at all. After thinking for half a second, he replied: “I just want to be moved to the fish section.”
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