Female Chef of the Year revealed!

Maryam Darwesh, demi chef de partie at The Westin Dubai’s Blue Orange restaurant, has beaten off stiff competition to take home the title of Female Chef of the Year 2009.

The competition — the only annual contest between female chefs in the Middle East — was launched by Nestlé Professional to “support women on the move”, according to Nestlé Professional assistant brand manager Mary-Ann Gardner.

“We strive to provide support for all chefs in the Middle East — and last year, we realised there was a lack of female chefs being highlighted in the industry,” she explained.

“Taking a closer look, these chefs told us that it was due to a lack of experience in being in the spotlight; they preferred to remain behind the scenes.”

But today, with the competition its second year, Gardner says the event is “bigger and better in every way”.

“This year we increased the number of participants to 22 and had a very good representation of all the top hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” she noted.

Open to female chefs of chef de partie level or lower, the event was held at the International Centre for Culinary Arts in Satwa, Dubai, where contestants had to prepare, cook and present two recipes — a main course and dessert.

Explaining the format of this year’s event, Nestlé Professional advisory chef Zain Sidhu explained: “The ladies registered for the competition and immediately went into a briefing, where I gave them details on all the Nestlé Professional products and some chef tips. The judges also gave them some encouragement to ensure they also had some fun!

“The ladies then had one hour to write a recipe consisting of a main course and a dessert using ingredients from the mystery box,” he continued.

“This included Nestlé Professional products like Maggi chicken stock, Maggi coconut milk powder and Chef demi-glace as well as Nestlé’s crème brulée, crème caramel and chocolate mousse for the dessert.

“Fresh ingredients included, lamb loin, fresh whole sherri fish and a duck breast, as well as a nice selection of fresh vegetables and fruit.

“After writing the recipe they had two hours to prep, cook and present their final dishes,” he explained.

The final dishes were judged in three categories: main course, dessert and hygiene.

Gold-medal winner Darwesh was the highest-scoring chef on a combined score across all three categories, but silver and bronze medals were also handed out, along with a hygiene award.

Judges Pamela Gould, chef de cuisine at Le Méridien Mina Seyahi’s Barasti Bar, and Gabriele Kurz, chef at Madinat Jumeirah’s Magnolia restaurant, said they had been impressed by the standard of this year’s participants.

“It’s the second year of the competition now and we’ve seen several participants from last year come a long way, so we were impressed,” said Barasti’s Gould.

Nestlé’s Sidhu, the third judge at the event, added: “At a junior chef level there are very few competition opportunities; although this is changing, there is still a lot of work to be done to improve the standard.

“At this year’s Female Chef of the Year, we were delighted to see a major improvement in the standard brought to the competition,” he added.

“It was above my expectations and the girls were really competing well. I could see that all of them had practiced before the competition and their passion was evident in their creations.”

Commenting on Darwesh’s win, Barasti’s Gould said her dishes were “simple, eye-catching and tasty”.

“You could have actually put them on a menu; they were extremely good,” she noted.

Nestlé’s Sidhu added: “She was very cool and did not panic; her planning and timing were excellent.

“She scored very high points in taste, which was an area lacking in several comeptitors’ dishes.

“Her fish was cooked to perfection and complemented with a delicious avocado salsa. For dessert she tickled tastebuds with a pineapple tart, which was both tangy and sweet.”

Darwesh herself said the competition this year had been “extremely tough, as there were many good competitors”, but added that she had learnt a lot from taking part the previous year.

“Last time one of my main mistakes was having too large portions on my plates,” she explained. “I made sure I learnt from that and other mistakes, so I won’t make them again.”

According to Darwesh, in addition to being a valuable learning experience, the event also opens competitors up to many new ideas.

“I am of course familiar with Nestlé products, but this gives you the chance to use them in a way you might not have tried before,” she explained.

“In addition to that, with all the competitors doing different things and using different styles they have learnt in their various hotel kitchens, you see a lot of new things. It’s a valuable experience.”

Darwesh added that she hoped to go on to study hospitality, specialising in cheffing, as well as gaining international experience by working around the world, becoming a renowned chef.

And she’s on the right track, according to Nestlé’s Sidhu.

“This competition really puts the ladies under the spotlight, giving them recognition for their professionalism in the culinary industry,” he explained.

“Success here can elevate their confidence and will give them a big boost to further develop themselves for other competitions like Salon Culinaire, Junior Chef of the Year and Menus of the Masters.”

Barasti’s Gould agreed that such competitions were key to supporting the region’s female chefs.

“As this competition shows, there are a number of promising female chefs coming through and its important to have events like this where they can showcase their skills and learn as they do so.

“It would be great to see more female chefs appearing in the Salon Culinaire in future,” she added.

Nestlé’s Sidhu said he hoped to take the Female Chef of the Year competition “to an even higher level”, encouraging more female chefs to participate.

“To establish the event as a must-attend in the annual culinary calendar would be extremely satisfying for me,” he said.

Meanwhile Gardner said that the target for next year was to have “more participants and tougher competition”, in order to prepare the participants for bigger events.

“To do this, we need to judge their dishes as strictly as all other competitions — they must be prepared to compete with the best,” she explained.

“This year for the first time ever we also introduced a feedback session where each lady was addressed by the judges, who then gave them feedback on their specific dishes and where they could improve for next year,” she added.

“We felt this added great value for the participants, not only for Female Chef of the Year 2010 but also in their careers.”

Gardner added that there were some “very interesting new developments already in store for Female Chef of the Year 2010 — but we will be keeping you in suspense, so watch this space!”

FEMALE CHEF OF THE YEAR 2009 WINNERS:

1) Maryam Darwesh (The Westin Dubai)
2) Nurkyz Bekturova (Grand Hyatt Dubai)
3) Magdalene Mbuuko (Raffles Dubai)
 

Competition judges:

• Chef Pamela Gould ( Chef de Cuisine – Barasti Bar)
• Gabriele Kurz (Chef de Cuisine – Magnolia)
• Chef Zain Sidhu (Advisory Chef – Nestle Professional)


 

To see our picture gallery of the competition itself, click here.