Fishmore Hall Chef awarded at Ludlow Food Festival

Chef de Partie Louise Owen has won the Skillbuilder’s award at the Ludlow Food Festival this year. Louise, 21 who works alongside head chef David Jaram at Fishmore Hall in Ludlow wowed the judges with her creative cookery style.

She produced a vanilla Panna cotta with poached blackberries and hazelnuts dessert using local ingredients and on a budget of just £5. As her reward Louise will be treated to a week’s work experience with Claude Bossi at the Michelin-starred Hibiscus restaurant in London.

Along with the other contestants, Louise was given the challenge of creating two different dishes consisting of either a starter or a dessert. All contestants had to provide their own cooking utensils; serving plates and any other equipment they required as well as a brief description of the dish they were creating and a list of all their ingredients and how much they cost.

Laura Penman, Fishmore Hall owner said: “Louise has been working with us for nearly a year and I cannot believe what progress she has made. She consistently shows strong willingness to learn new skills and works hard on every occasion. She has built a great relationship with our Head Chef and has shown her creativity by offering new ideas for desserts for our menu. She has great talent and is thrilled that she has won and will get the opportunity to work with and learn from Michelin chef Claude Bossi.”

The contest took place on Friday 11th September at Ludlow Castle and in order to qualify all contestants had to be already working as a chef within 40 miles of Ludlow and be between the age of 16 and 25 years of age.

Louise will return to the Ludlow Food Festival next year where she will take part in a cookery demonstration as part her prize.

For further information on Fishmore Hall, visit fishmorehall.co.uk.