Picnic at the Races Cooking Competition

'Picnic at the Races' that was the theme given to our Year 7 Food Technology students who wanted to enter the Ascot Racecourse Bake-Off this year.  Students in Mrs Rossiter's class started the heats back in November when they brought items they had baked at home to be judged between themselves each week.

From an initial nine interested students, a final three were select to represent Charters at the Bake-Off held at the racecourse last week.  Ben, Sienna and Cathy created a magnificent menu of finger foods fit for any important dignitary on race day!

Their brief, apart from the theme, was to create classic picnic items with a twist and use locally sourced produce to create their culinary masterpieces. They created mood boards from their initial ideas, and after weeks of trying out various elements, the menu they settled on for the competition was: 

• Chicken Katsu Scotch Eggs
• Sage Infused Shortbread Cookies with a selection of flavoured buttercream fillings: Rhubarb & Lemon Fizz, Elderflower & Sloe and Cranberry & Orange

After all their hard work prepping, the students then had a fantastic day at the Racecourse where they got to showcase their delicious creations.  The judges commented on their skill at making the difficult Katsu Scott Eggs dish which entailed using delicate quails' eggs.  

Although our students did not win on this occasion, they had a fantastic experience and said that they learnt a lot from the event.  The winning item was to be sold at a forthcoming race day so they realised that their dish may have been not commercially viable enough, to be successful.  They said they would have a better understanding of what would be easier to make en mass and sold for next time.

A huge well done to the three of them and thank you to Mrs Rossiter for escorting them to the competition.