Last issue we reported how chefs David Martin and Harry Shen from St Vincent’s Care – runners-up at last year’s IHHC Culinary Competition – were set to compete on the world stage at the International Salon Culinaire in London.

We are thrilled to share the news that David and Harry brought home two silver medals and one high commendation, beating stiff competition including chefs from the Hilton Hotel, Harrods, the UK House of Commons, the RAF and France’s Auberge du Lac hotel.

“The International Salon Culinaire is one of the world’s most highly regarded cooking competitions, so we arrived in London full of hope and inspiration, but also a little nervous,” David tells us.

“We came ready to rock and roll and when we arrived at the competition itself the atmosphere was electric and the chefs were obviously world class. We were the only chefs from an aged care organisation to compete on that level, and when we told the judges, who were world renowned and Michelin starred, they were quite taken aback: ‘you guys are aged care chefs and you came all the way from Australia to compete?’

David and Harry were determined to use the opportunity to showcase what Australian chefs can do with native ingredients as well as classic cuisine. “We had been working with native suppliers here in Australia to bring across a modern Australian themed menu – we took native herbs, spices and fruits across the ditch with us to really demonstrate the best of our nation’s ingredients, from caviar to native herbs like saltbush, as well as finger limes, sea bananas and Davidson plums.”

The initial category in which the duo competed was the Tilda National Team Chef of the year – “and we were up against chefs from high end restaurants like the Ritz, the Carlton and the Dorchester, as well as from the UK House of Commons. We had 45 minutes to make a dish with 50 per cent rice and 25 per cent of a food byproduct which would otherwise have ended up in the bin, so we made a Malibu coconut rice pudding with popped Australian wild rice, which was served in a hand-carved coconut shell with a coconut spoon which we also carved.

“We also smoked the dish with coconut husk smoke – essentially we used the entire coconut, from the meat to the cream, liquid, shell and even husk, throughout the dish. We topped it off with a mascarpone Davidson plum compete and a crème brulee topping, and there was some native citrus in there as well.”

The judges were blown away by the pair’s ingredients and creativity and awarded them their first silver medal for 2nd in Class against eight international teams.

The next challenge was the Waitrose National Team of the Year in which David and Harry received a Highly Commended Award for their seafood paella with fish cheek, cooked in fish stock. “This was a sustainability challenge, so we featured the cheek which is the softest part of the fish with some mussels and prawns, then used the leftover prawn heads to make a prawn oil, prawn stock and prawn powder,” Harry explains.

David adds: “This was a really high pressure event – next to us we had the British Culinary Olympic team on one side and the chefs from the Dorchester on the other! To compete against these world class chefs and come out with the result we did was very satisfying.”

The highlight of day two of the competition was the Mystery Grand Prix Basket event. “You don’t know what ingredients you’ll be cooking with until the day before,” David explains. He and Harry produced a Duo of Seafood main consisting of hake with scallops in squid ink sauce.

“We had to fillet the fish ourselves, then we coated it in turmeric and cracked black pepper to impart a little sharpness,” Harry says. “We dehydrated the fish skin in the oven and then dried it to make it crispy, and I used the squid ink to make a veloute sauce.”

Dessert was a poached pear with dark chocolate ganache and sea salt crumb, with a hidden texture of popping candy. The dishes won David and Harry their second silver medal for 2nd in Class against 16 teams in the one hour competition.

Looking back on the experience, David describes some of the challenges of international competition: “We were confident in that we know how to cook, but we had to bring all our equipment and ingredients and we also had to source ingredients while we were there, all while we were trying to recover from jetlag! We had only about three or four days from arriving to competing and we had to go out to the markets and look for ingredients.

“When the competition started we would leave at 5.30am for a 7.30am prep to kick off at 8am in the first category. The first two events on the first day were only an hour apart so it was two bouts of high intensity workouts. By the second day we were pretty exhausted, but the outcome made it all worthwhile. We were very proud to represent St Vincent’s Care and St Vincent’s Health Services on the world stage.”

David and Harry also took advantage of the trip to visit some aged care homes in the UK – “they gave us a lot of good insights into how aged care chefs there operate,” David says. “Their infrastructure is on a different level and their actual homes can be quite luxurious, but while the actual model of care is quite similar to ours, the food delivery is a little different and there’s no doubt their ingredients are better, being sourced from inland Europe. We were trying oysters from France and Normandy and dairy products from the Netherlands and it really opens your eyes as a chef.

“And of course travelling to London to compete wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our sponsors, so I’d like to give a massive shoutout to our gold sponsors Unox and Top Cut Foods, our silver sponsors Jaymak, Birch & Waite, MDC, Fresh Generation, Norfolk, Chef Works, Bidfood Australia and Vicna, and our bronze sponsors Sea Kings, Food Solutions, True Brands and Smooth Dining. Hopefully next year St Vincent’s Care will be able to send an entire team to compete.”

In the meantime, there’s been no resting on their laurels for David and Harry – at the recent ACF Challenge at the Foodservice Australia show they competed against international teams from Chile, NZ and Fiji to come 2nd overall and win a Gold medal for Best Dessert.

“The competition was massive and again we were the first aged care team to come in and win a Gold medal – we came second to the NZ team by just one point! When the judges read our resume, they said ‘we want to commend you for your vision, keep doing what you’re doing’.”

Harry also made it into the 32 finalists out of 230 candidates to compete in this year’s Chef of the Year competition - the only aged care chef to do so.

Clearly we will be hearing more from these two talented chefs in the future so we’ll strive to keep readers abreast of their upcoming achievements.

Photography: Nick Beard, London Corporate Photographer