Being able to cook a good meal is an important life skill and in every Section we develop this so when members become adults they can cook tasty and healthy food on a budget. In the past, some Scouts have enjoyed this so much that it has inspired them to later make it their profession and become a chef. For others, it has introduced them to foods and cuisines they have never tried before.
To test the skills and teamwork of the Scouts, we held our first Troop Cooking Competition. In teams, they first had to agree what recipes they will prepare for a three-course meal, write a shopping list and write an equipment list.
One area they were being judged on was the level of imagination and difficulty of their dishes. They had to think carefully about the trade-off between delivering a good quality dish, their budget and how ambitious the recipe was.
Once they had completed their planning, they went off to the shops for all their ingredients. For some, this meant they had to change their plans quickly and choose some alternatives because they couldn’t afford everything on their list. For instance, one decided to change to a vegetarian alternative for their meat dish. For others with spare budget, they could decide how they could embellish their dishes with things like herb garnishes.
Equipped with everything they needed, teams then had to consider how to have all the dishes ready to be served at the same time. Some prepped things such as chopping vegetables and refrigerating for later, others got meat marinating. It led to a realisation for some Scouts about how much work and planning it can take for meals such as an extravagant Christmas dinner.
Whilst working hard, judges were keeping a watchful eye on hygiene, cleanliness and teamwork. This meant they had to divide up responsibilities and ensure that someone was always cleaning while others were prepping and cooking.
After a final rush to ready their tables for serving, it was time for them to dine and invite the judges to taste. The end results were astonishing to everyone; the Scouts by their own achievement, the judges with the quality of what they produced and even parents with the revelation of the skill level of their own children.
Dishes included some memorable tasty innovations like spring onion and corn fritters, paprika chicken kebabs barbecued over open fire, spaghetti with bacon, peas and lemon dressing, stewed apple ice cream with biscuit base and many more.
After totalling up all the scores, the judges were unanimous. The winning team was awarded the ‘Golden Spoon’ trophy for a meal that happened to be entirely vegetarian. It was technically difficult with things like meringues made from scratch, had a diverse range of ingredients and colours, had great presentation and the result was something that everyone agreed they would be happy to be served in a restaurant.
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