TWO Coventry chefs whipped up a storm in their performance at the Europe Copper Skillet Final last month.
Thomas Parker, 22 and Ryan Dare, 33, represented the UK at the competition in Denmark, just missing out on the top honours.
The duo were invited to participate in the European final, held during the Europe Knowledge Festival after they were crowned Junior Chef and Senior Chef of the Year at the International Association of Conference Centres’ (IACC) Copper Skillet competition.
During the final, Thomas and Ryan were tasked with creating two conference-based dishes from a mystery box of ingredients.
They each had 15 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes of cooking time, all while being interviewed in front of a live studio audience.
They both had to cook on two camping stoves with limited utensils to hand and no access to running water, with only a full two-litre bottle provided.
Thomas said: “Participating in this competition has probably been the most challenging thing I’ve done in my career so far but it was a wonderful experience that allowed me to witness and taste truly extraordinary food.
“Competing against such strong talent from across Europe was incredible and really pushed me to do my very best and make the UK proud, and while I didn’t take our first place this year, I can’t wait to put myself to the test in 2024 and hopefully come back victorious.”
