On Monday (9th) January, British Manufacturer Clifton Food Range, teamed up with The Chefs’ Forum and Chris Wicks (Head Chef at Old Down Manor, Bristol) to teach catering students from Weston College everything they need to know about sous vide in a sous vide master class.
The Chefs’ Forum was set up in early 2010 and has since created The Chefs’ Forum Academy at Weston College in September 2016. This is a great opportunity for students who want to work in the hospitality sector, giving them the chance to work with highly regarded chefs and top suppliers.
Clifton Food Range is part of trading company Nickel Electro Ltd, a manufacturing company of sous vide water bath in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset. For 75 years, Nickel Electro has prided themselves in manufacturing high end British products, controlling the whole production process from design through to manufacture.
The sous vide baths have become very popular since their launch into the catering industry in 2005 and have appeared on many TV programmes as well as Hollywood Blockbuster ‘Burnt’ which was released in late 2015. Viewers are able to differentiate Clifton baths from other brands due to the ‘orange handles’ which are on every single bath.
Clifton Food Range supported the master class with equipment, allowing the students to practice their sous vide skills before using them in a busy working kitchen. The sous vide master class is part of a three week sous vide course.
Sous vide was a concept of cooking which was invented in the early 1970’s and the French term is a literal translation meaning ‘under vacuum’. Food items are placed in a vacuum bag where they are vacuum sealed before being placed into the water bath which is temperature controlled and will stay at one consistent temperature.
The aim of the master class with longstanding Clifton customer Chris Wicks was to educate the students from a chef’s point of view and give them the best insight they can before the students branch off and become qualified chefs.
These master class workshops are a great way to bring together local companies and chefs to inspire the young enthusiastic students and to pass on the extensive knowledge to help them achieve their goals in industry.