Sanctuary chef aiming for finals of national care catering contest

A Sanctuary Care chef is hoping to win the prestigious title - National Association of Care Catering’s Care Cook of the Year.

The contest aims to raise the profile of care catering and is one of the longest standing independent recipe competitions in the UK. Open to chefs and cooks in the care sector, entrants are challenged to create a nutritionally balanced main course and dessert for two people, suitable for a care setting.

The dishes will be judged on a range of factors, including innovation, cost, nutrition, balance and taste.

Mark Ord, Sanctuary Care’s chef development manager, based at Wantage Nursing Home, Oxfordshire has got through to South East Regional Final of the NACC’s annual competition for the fourth consecutive year. He won the regional heats in both 2009 and 2010, but hopes 2012 will be the year for victory in the national final.

He will be go head to head with eight other chefs at sponsor Unilever Food Solutions’ head office in Leatherhead, Surrey on Wednesday 14 March, where one of them will go through to the national finals in June.

Mark said: ‘Every year the standard of entries is extremely high and it’s a prestigious competition and therefore a great honour to be taking part and receiving recognition for my cooking. Let’s just hope that this could be my year to win.’

He will be cooking pork loin stuffed with apple and herbed sausage meat for his main course, accompanied by black pudding and potato croquettes, glazed baby vegetables, apple puree and a creamy cider sauce, topped with crisp pork crackling. Dessert will be fresh summer berry pudding served with homemade vanilla ice cream.

Mark’s protégé Joe Fower, who worked with Mark at Wantage and is now a chef at Sanctuary Care’s Yarnton Residential and Nursing Home in Oxfordshire is also taking part in the competition.

Carole Dormer, Sanctuary Care’s hotel and catering services manager said: ‘Mark and Joe have excelled themselves to get through to this stage and we will all be biting our nails waiting to hear the result.

‘The competition is a great opportunity to showcase the incredible talent of chefs in the care industry and I am so proud of Mark and Joe’s contribution to raising the profile of themselves and their peers.’