The Egg Award 2013 - The Organisers - Just Love Food

About Just Love Food




@Justlovefood blog was founded by partners Chef / Fashion Designer Claudia Escobar and Environmentalist / Fisherman Cliff Norman, from Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland.  They recently opened their first 'Country Style Kitchen' cooking wild produce with love and it was a great pop-up experience.

Ralph had a word with Claudia about their current plans - 

Claudia: "Our aim was to cook Scottish produce in a country camping style with the best we could get our hands on,so we dished out wild birds,line caught fish by us,foraged plants and molluscs and were honored to work with local butchers and bread makers in Leith."

They also run a recipe blog, with unique recipes developed by them.  They're now  focusing on private catering, the pop- up kitchen, food festivals and fairs.  As if that wasn't enough they also go foraging, fishing and work on menu design. They're also on the hunt for cool premises to set up a social enterprise kitchen open to the whole community to participate and make great food!

 "We are very focused about community projects where we can add value,give and share what we know with others."

At present I am doing private cooking in the Highlands at The Eco Yoga Centre, hands on baking and writing recipes for my recipe blog at Justlovefood Leith on Wordpress.

The Egg Award 2013 - The Judges - Alec Tomasso

About Alec


The Egg Award is pleased to welcome Masterchef 2012 contestant Alec Tomasso to the judging panel.  He narrowly missed out on making it through to the next round and since then has gone from strength to strength with his own food blog, The Weeping Chef, working in 1 and 2 Michelin starred kitchens and cooking up a storm as chef in The Cheese Kitchen Bistro, Bedford.



Although he still continues with his career as an engineer his love of food never lessens and it's still his aim to open his own restaurant.  Of his time on Masterchef he said - 

"I loved every moment of it, I knew my wife and friends love my cooking, but I’m the least artistic person in the world and my presentation is at it’s best old fashioned and childish… pile it high on the plate and get stuck in I say!!  

Even when I had the privilege to eat in Michelin starred restaurant Le Gavroche, I got caught, by Michel Roux Jr no less, wiping my plate with bread!  It’s all about enjoyment of the tastes and smells for me, and not so much the look."

The Egg Award 2013 - The Judges - Ernst van Zyl

About Ernst



Another great acquisition for the judging panel for the inaugural Egg Award is celebrated chef Ernst van Zyl who is currently Head Chef at the 2 AA Rosette Etrop Grange Hotel in Manchester, and has recently made some big waves in cooking circles producing some much lauded dishes which are as stunning in their presentation as they deliver on flavour.  

Ernst (or Ernie Chef as he is lovingly referred to) has secured a placement at Noma in Copenhagen for five weeks. Noma is classed as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world and annually they are always featured in the top ten.

Ernst was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, and moved to the U.K at the age of 21. He had already gained catering training and had worked as a Chef for a few years before arriving in the UK, bringing with him the experience of working in large hotel kitchens. After arriving in the UK, Ernst worked at the Hilton, Manchester Airport, and then moved down to London to work at the Hilton Kensington which offered further experience in a large and recognised hotel.

A small spell at the London Park Lane Hotel, offered valuable experience with high level service producing high end quality food to discerning customers. A tough but rewarding position, and one which provided such valuable experience to anyone wishing to develop further as a Chef and understand how to deal with mass catering while still producing quality food.

The Egg Award 2013 - The Judges - Rachel McCormack

About Rachel

The Egg Award is delighted to have on board celebrated foodie Rachel McCormack who is originally from Scotland but spent most of her twenties living in Spain, mainly in Barcelona. While she was there she caught the Catalan obsession with food and learned how to cook from eating in restaurants, talking to women in the markets, watching her friends fight over which was the correct recipe from a certain village and also watching their Mothers in their kitchens.







With that in mind she teaches the Catalan style of cooking In classes at Bea’s of Bloomsbury where Rachel tries to re-create the kind of meal that she has at her friends’ houses in Barcelona and other parts of Catalonia. It’s an informal gathering where you eat good ham, cheese and olives while everyone helps to prepare food and has a big discussion about the provenance of the food that is being made as well how to solve all the world’s problems. In the class solving the world’s problems is optional.

The Kitchen Cabinet on Radio 4

Rachel says "it’s great fun being a panelist on Radio 4′s The Kitchen Cabinet."  Jay Rayner is the host of this new food panel show.  Every week we visit a different foodie location in the UK and answer cooking questions from a live audience. You can listen to it on Tuesdays at 3pm or download the podcasts here.

Welcome to The Egg Award 2013

The idea for The Egg Award 2013 was hatched (I know, I know but there'll be a lot more) after Croft Organic approached Edinburgh chefs and food bloggers Just Love Food to help them promote their fresh, country, certified organic eggs.  After much consultation it was decided to initiate a competition that would spread the word to the public and trade about local produce.





The Egg Award 2013 then, is borne out of community love for local egg farmers and producers to promote the difference in flavour between a freshly laid organic egg and a commercially produced product.  So no matter whether it's a large farm or a local neighbour whose hens lays fresh eggs every day, as long as their fresh organic eggs and not supermarket bought it's time to get cooking!




The Egg Award 2013 will be for everyone from professional chefs to home cooks and school children to create and cook an egg recipe using locally sourced fresh, organic eggs, whether hen, duck or any other!  The award will be promoted using social media in order to raise awareness with as many people as possible.  Needless to say, the nature of Twitter and Facebook means that the competition has global potential 




Professional chefs entering will be encouraged to serve their egg recipe using their locally sourced eggs in their cafe/pub/restaurant and promote it as they see fit.  The Egg Award will promote them on twitter using the hashtag #BestEggyChefRecipe

All approved recipes whether professional or home cooked will be featured on The Egg Award 2013 blog.


Conditions for entering a recipe:

Your egg recipe will have to use locally sourced eggs.  When submitting please add 1: Where the eggs come from. 2: Who is producing them and their ethos. 3: A photo of the farm, the birds or the eggs.

You'll need to add 1: A list of ingredients. 2: The method. 3: A photo of the finished dish.

Initially recipes will be judged on the ethos of the egg sourced, creative use of the egg and on reaching the final cook off, flavour.

The final date for entries will be the 31st July 2013.

The winner will be announced 10th August 2013

The prize for the best recipe will be a unique hand carved, driftwood egg, a set of Blackrock Ceramic Knives, a fine art print donated by Armadillo Central  and of course the ensuing promotion and press coverage.  Please note there is no cash prize involved, purely the fame and satisfaction of knowing you've helped your local community producers.

You can send your entry to the organisers by email to..... 

TheEggAward@mail.com

justlovefood@hotmail.co.uk

You can also post your entry on Twitter using the hashtag #EGGrecipe2013

All entries will be published on this blog and promoted on Twitter.

The prize list (which is being added to all the time) is as follows:



Prizes.....


Blackrock Knives

The winner of The Egg Award 2013 will be presented with a unique trophy of a hand carved driftwood egg which is in the process of being created right now.  In the meantime those lovely people at Blackrock Ceramic Knives have donated a set of their knives!



You can find out more about Blackrock Knives by clicking on this link.....



Sousvidetools.com

The lovely people at sousvidetools.com have donated a PolyScience® Smoking Gun

They're the UK's leading supplier of sous vide and vacuum packing equipment. Based in the North West of England they are a family run business that distributes all over the UK, Ireland and Europe to aspirational chefs and foodies who enjoy cooking, who strive for consistency and accuracy whilst always looking to further refine their cooking skills. At sousvidetools.com their portfolio of products offers everything you would need for sous vide cooking commercially or domestically, from sous vide water baths, thermal circulators, vacuum sealers, vacuum packing machines and vacuum pouches.


You can learn more about sousvidetools.com by clicking on this link




Armadillo Central



Another addition to our list of prizes is this fine art print 'Two Steps Forward One Step Back' by Juliet Kepes (1919-1999) - painter, illustrator, sculptor and children’s book author, born in London in 1919.  The print has been donated by Armadillo Central who publish original writing alongside fine art and photography.


You can find out more about Armadillo Central by clicking on this link.....







Judges and competition organisers can be followed on Twitter and are.....



@justlovefood 

Food blogger/chef and The Egg Award 2013 Organiser.

@fruitbatwalton 

Music/food blogger, Twitter celebrity, Jack Russell and The Egg Award Promotions Team.

@R_McCormack 

BBC Radio 4 panelist on The Kitchen Cabinet
and The Egg Award 2013 Judge.

@alectomasso 

BBC 1 Masterchef contestant, head chef of The Cheese Kitchen and The Egg Award 2013 Judge.

@erniechef 

Head Chef at 2AA Rosette Etrop Grange Hotel, Manchester and The Egg Award 2013 Judge.

@FoodByJMarsh

Trained with Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir, worked with Simon Rimmer and now head chef of his own pop-up restaurant in Manchester and The Egg Award 2013 Judge.


@markgreenaway

Chef patron of Restaurant Mark Greenaway in Edinburgh and Scottish Great British Menu contestant for Red Nose Day.