Renowned chef, James Golding from The Pig Hotel, will mentor students in the kitchens of St Helens College’s operational, training restaurant, Colours for an exclusive Guest Chef Dinner to be held this week.
On Thursday, Catering and Hospitality students will work alongside James to prepare and serve a first class, five-course dinner. The menu reflects James’ ethos of promoting traditional UK food with sustainable, seasonal produce. Diners will be treated to James’ home-smoked organic salmon with pickled cucumber, lemon and cider dressing as well as braised featherblade of beef, bashed beets, horseradish carrots and red wine sauce.
In preparation for the dinner, level 3 Catering students undertook an exciting overnight trip to The Pig Hotel in Brockenhurst, New Forest. They spent time with James Golding, and were given the exclusive opportunity to sample the menus and tour the beautiful hotel. Highlights of the trip include exploring the kitchens, on-site walled gardens, home-grown produce, preserves larder and smoke house. They even met the resident pigs, quails and hens.
Successful Chef James Golding, began his career as a student at The Savoy Hotel and is now Group Chef Director of The Pig and Home Grown Hotels Ltd. His love for British seasonal produce was highlighted in his early career and James has worked hard to raise interest in where his food comes from and how it tastes.
Since its opening in the New Forest in 2011, The Pig Hotel, a country house hotel for the modern age, has gone on to launch several other sister hotels in Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Somerset, witnessing huge success building a reputation for its cuisine, innovative menus and provenance of its ingredients. All three Pig Hotels have been awarded two Rosettes from the AA and Brockenhurst has made it into this year’s Michelin guide as a recommended restaurant.
James Golding said, “I’m delighted to be working alongside students at St Helens College for what promises to be a great evening. The enthusiasm of the students is great to witness. I hope that they have gained a good understanding of my ethos and values as a chef and can take this as their inspiration to mould their own culinary style in their future careers.”
Julie Heap, Head of Department at St Helens College, added, “These guest chef dinners offer a valuable opportunity for our catering and hospitality students to work alongside top industry chefs, producing a fine dining menu which needs to be delivered to uncompromising standards. It allows them to establish strong links with industry whilst gaining an insight into what a future career will hold. We nurture core employability skills with our students and these unique events really help to enhance their CV.”
Tickets for the event sold out soon after release, as demand for these renowned dinners soar.