Pembrokeshire College level two catering student, Sam Everton, won gold at the prestigious Advanced Professional Cookery competition last week, as part of the Skills Competition Wales in Llandrillo.

The event is structured to level three standard, but Sam’s name was put forward by college lecturer Mark James, who said: “Sam works to such a high standard that we had to put him forward. We knew he had the skills to beat the other level three competitors, despite being a level two student!”

On entering the competition, Sam was given a brief to create a menu including specific ingredients and came up with a mouth-watering feast of grilled sea bass with vegetable chowder and crispy cockles to start. For main course, Sam created a succulent dish of chicken stuffed with wild mushrooms and truffles wrapped in pancetta served with a thyme rösti, seasonal vegetables and a chicken thigh and liver faggot. Sam’s grand finale was a creamy apple bavarois served with homemade ice cream and pistachio brittle.

Sam said: “I had one-and-a-half hours to prepare and one-and-a-half hours to cook the meal, plus I had to plate up. I had a few practice runs at college, but it was still nerve-wracking when I was actually in the live competition, especially as I was competing against other students who were studying at a higher level than me. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t expect to win!”

The gold medal will be added Sam’s CV which will help his university application to study food science after he has progressed through the level three catering course at Pembrokeshire College.

Are you creative in the kitchen? Check out the college catering course at pembs.ac.uk