Elbows off the table - three of Australia’s top chefs are coming to dinner at TAFE NSW Nowra next Tuesday, November 20.
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Colin Fassnidge, Justin North and Warren Turnbull will step into the shoes of TAFE NSW teachers when they coach students to serve the 16th annual TAFE NSW Nowra Celebrity Chef Dinner.
The guest chefs will take over the commercial training kitchens to work with Certificate III Commercial Cookery and Diploma of Event Management students.
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The annual degustation dinner has become a permanent booking in the calendars of the region’s foodies.
Diners can look forward to a selection of adventurous dishes featuring eel mousse, wasabi panna cotta, tempura avocado and purple carrot jus, all delivered with silver service.
Not only does the dinner expose the second-year apprentices to the pace of a high-end kitchen, serving more than 1000 dishes in one night, it gives them an opportunity to gain real practical skills and experience working alongside some of the nation’s finest chefs.
Being a TAFE NSW graduate himself, Justin North is an advocate for training and mentorships.
He said he believed every established chef had a responsibility to nurture young chefs.
“These type of events, facilitated by TAFE NSW, have a very positive impact on the students. I’d like to see more of it across Australia,” Mr North said.
Commercial Cookery teacher Luke De Ville said working with fine-dining recipes and large scale planning was one of the benefits for the students working with the high-calibre chefs.
“What I really like about this experience is that it reinforces the techniques we have been teaching our students for the past two years,” he said.
Part of the dinner involves the presentation two scholarships.
One commercial cookery student will spend a week in a celebrity chef’s kitchen, the other for an event management student to gain experience at a winery.
A number of previous scholarship winners have gone on to forge highly successful careers as chefs.
Event Management Diploma graduate Emily Hunt from North Nowra, was so inspired by her TAFE NSW course she now runs her own events business, Southern Style Events.
“My time with TAFE NSW gave me the confidence and skills to run this business,” she said.
“One of the key skills my teachers taught me was how to make an event run on time. From making sure meals are coming out on time to ensuring speeches don’t run too long are foundation lessons that I have used many times.”