Chesterfield College cookery student named South African Young Chef of the Year

William Joynes will now travel to South Africa to learn from some of country’s top celebrity chefs.

In the first round of the competition, organisers asked young UK chefs to submit a main course showcasing South African stone fruit.

Before lockdown, William and his fellow students, George Allen and Jake Parkin worked in the Chesterfield College kitchens to develop mouth-watering dishes to enter the competition.

All three of them impressed judges with their entries and were shortlisted as finalists back in February.

Then due to the coronavirus lockdown finalists were asked to create a video to demonstrate how they would cook a dessert with a list of ingredients.

William worked with a former Chesterfield College media student to produce a video making a South African milk tart with a cinnamon crumb and a caramel apple sorbet.

His choice of dish, his creative combination of ingredients and his skill in the kitchen made him stand out and he was named as the winner of the competition.

William will now travel to Franschhoek in South Africa, as soon as travel restrictions are lifted, to join celebrity chefs, Reuben Riffel and John Norris-Rogers, head chef at La Petite Colombe.

He will be fully involved in the running of two award-winning restaurants, gain a deeper understanding of how each operation works, and develop his knowledge of South African fine dining.

William said: “To develop the dishes, I used the knowledge I had built up from working in the fine dining restaurant, Rafters in Sheffield, as well as the skills we learnt at college.

“It was just amazing when I found out I’d won. When my tutor called to tell me I was absolutely ecstatic. It was good to get that feedback from professional chef judges.

"I am really looking forward to the trip to South Africa.

"It is a fantastic opportunity to learn about South African cuisine and get unique industry experience that will help me as I start to build my career.”

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