Skibo Castle chef Eddie Brown wins the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship
The 30-year-old impressed a panel of judges made up of some of the country’s best chefs including Stephen McLaughlin, (head chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie); Russell Plowman (senior sous chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie; Gary Maclean (National Chef of Scotland and MasterChef: The Professionals winner); and Tom Kerridge.
The finalists had to prove their worth in a skills test, where cooked a dish of their own creation using their choice of Scottish furred game, alongside two garnishes and sauce poivrade.
Brown created a dish using rabbit, fig and brioche. His prize will include 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunities', including a stage in an international kitchen and at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles and Core by Clare Smyth in London.
The final took place on November 17th at Perth College UHI, with the winner announced afterwards at Gleneagles.
Sponsored by HIT Scotland and The Gleneagles Hotel, and supported by Restaurant Andrew Fairlie and Perth College UHI, the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is now in its third year. The scholarship launched in 2019, with the late Andrew Fairlie spearheading the initiative in partnership with HIT Scotland – an industry charity he was closely associated with.
Stephen McLaughlin, lead judge and head chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, said: “What a fabulously hard-fought finals day we have just had. All our finalists have shown exactly why they were selected for the final. Huge congratulations to them all.
“They were all tough competitors and genuinely any of them could’ve been awarded this year’s Andrew Fairlie Scholarship, but unfortunately for them there can be only one winner…
“This year’s winner, Eddie, has shown great skill and a real understanding of the tasks that we had set out for them. He has displayed a rich understanding of their craft as a chef and also used their knowledge of Scottish and French culinary heritage to help set them apart as this year’s recipient of the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship”.
