Catering students at Telford College unleashed their foodie finesse in a culinary competition in the college’s Orange Tree restaurant.

The challenge saw ten students creating their own burger combinations, choosing to use either chicken or beef, and presenting to a panel of hungry judges in a blind taste test.

The panel was made up of the college’s staff outside of the catering department, featuring director of vocational Andrew Turner, vice principal of curriculum Robert Lees and business programme manager David Moreton.

After judging each creation on presentation and flavour, student Ciara McElroy came out as the group’s victor, whose tasty buffalo chicken burger wowed the judges.

Formerly a student of Haberdashers’ Abraham Darby, Ciara said: “I was inspired after trying the sauce at home, I combined my buffalo sauce with chicken strips, a hash brown and bacon.

“It felt really good to win, I was really determined to win this challenge and I’m extremely happy with how my burger came out.”

Ciara’s first place prize was a burger-themed cookery book from Shropshire & Herefordshire-based burger specialists The Beefy Boys, provided by Andy Minchin, chef lecturer and restaurant co-ordinator at Telford College.

“We created this competition to make our practical work more exciting by adding a competitive edge,” said Andy. “It really helped boost skills such as creative thinking, English and maths when creating recipes and ordering their ingredients, as well as the technical and timing skills learnt in our practical sessions.

“Whether designing a menu, planning an event, or managing a hotel experience, hospitality and catering allows students to be creative, continuously innovating and improving services. All our students have displayed that today and the standard was so high, there was so much deliberation between first and second place!”

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