If you Can’t Stand the Heat – Opt for Ice-Cream! - Local Chefs Gather for Gelato Evening

As temperatures continue to drop in Fife, some of the best professional and student chefs gathered for an industry event focused on ice-cream last night (Wednesday 20 January 2016).

Chefs from Rufflets Country House Hotel and St Andrews Links Trust, alongside around 20 student chefs from SRUC Elmwood Campus and Dundee and Angus College, attended the event at Jannettas Gelateria, St Andrews.

The group enjoyed a talk and demonstration from co-owner Owen Hazel, who gave a passionate insight into the history of the business, which has been operating from its original St Andrews site since 1908, while the chefs and student chefs asked questions about the artisan methods used in Jannettas’ ice-cream making, seasonality and the importance of using local ingredients.

Meanwhile, Dundee and Angus College student Amy Carscaden (17), from Kinross, decorated her award-winning Baked Alaska. She won a hotly contested baking challenge during a Dundee Science Festival event in November, judged and presented by Chris Law, Dundee West SNP MP, who trained as a Chef at the College.

Owen Hazel, who organised the event in conjunction with a well-known figure from the food scene on both sides of the Tay, Fife’s Viv Collie, said, “We were delighted to welcome this skilled group of both professional and student chefs who spend their days working away in Fife and across the water in Dundee but who were extremely keen to mingle with others, soak up new skills and knowledge and discover what’s going on within a local business.

“We are particularly excited to be collaborating with Dundee and Angus College as it’s my view that student chefs in particular need to see how food and drink businesses operate in the real world, as well as mastering techniques in the College kitchen. We very much look forward to seeing how these chefs’ careers develop in the months and years ahead.”

Albert Close, Chef Lecturer, Hospitality, Retail & Tourism, Dundee and Angus College added, “We were delighted to be invited along to this prestigious industry event which gave the students a fantastic insight into a real business environment, and to learn more about what’s involved in traditional ice-cream making. Ice-cream forms the basis of so many recipes and for the students to learn how the real thing is made within Jannettas, an institution when it comes to ice-cream making, is a brilliant opportunity. Dundee and Angus College see the partnerships we are building with industry professionals as crucial for arming the next generation of chefs with the employability skills they need. The event also gave them the chance to mingle and network with some professional chefs who, like our students, are never too old or too accomplished to learn!”