Supported by Experts by Experience and service users, to provide insight from the perspective of the people we care for, and professional chefs from one of the city’s best Indian restaurants, feedback was incredibly positive and demonstrated the appetite for more events in future.
11 chefs attended from our Midland regional sites, along with two Experts by Experience and two service users from Cygnet Bierley and Cygnet Views, who spoke powerfully about what food means to them each day and the difference our chefs make to their experience at Cygnet, through the food they are given.
Danny Silcock, Brakes’ Development Chef provided guidance on how to improve kitchen management skills, including budgeting, menu management, ingredient swap-outs, and getting the best results from different ingredients.
One of Brakes’ in-house specialist chefs delivered a cooking session on techniques and methods of presentation, waste management and subtle changes to improve food quality.
Two chefs from renowned Birmingham restaurant Asha’s provided a cooking demonstration with advice on creating authentic Indian cuisine using simple and cost effective ingredients. Everyone enjoyed cooking and sampling the delicious chicken Rogan Josh and lentil curries.
In the afternoon there was more time to explore how to create “fakeaways”, recognising recipe preferences and acting on feedback from the Young People’s Council and Experts by Experience.
Chefs, supported by Experts by Experience and service users were challenged to create healthy and authentic versions of recipes within a specific takeaway style (McDonalds, KFC, Nando’s, Wagamamas, Turkish and Chinese).
Our chefs were given an insight into Nutritics, our recipe building management system that supports with nutritional guidance, portion control, allergens and product costs.
They met with our wider Brakes account management team to broaden their understanding on logistics that go on behind the scenes.
The day was concluded with awards and prizes for those who had taken part.
Gordon Bailey, our Procurement Director, said: “Our Cygnet chefs absolutely smashed it at our Chef Development Day. The ‘fakeaways’ tasted amazing. Big thanks to Asha’s Birmingham for showing the way. Thanks to Purchasing Manager, Marc Tough, Strategic Buyer, Jack Mills, Brakes’ Account Manager Juliette Hatt, Brakes’ Development Chef, Dan Silcock, Expert by Experience Lead, Raf Hamaizia, EbyE, Lois Rayner and Michael Vose, Procurement & Purchasing Specialist from My Purchasing Partner. I really appreciate the support and engagement.
“And finally, l’d like to express my gratitude to the chefs for attending, and the hospital and home managers for keeping kitchens running whilst the chefs were with us.”
Beth Appleton, activities coordinator at Cygnet Views said: “Myself, our two lovely chefs and a service user had the pleasure of attending a Cygnet Chef Development Day. We had a brilliant time.
“We spent the morning learning how to make curry from the chefs at a popular Birmingham restaurant, and the afternoon getting hands on and making a range of “fakeaways”.
“Our chefs will definitely be taking a lot of the ideas back to the Views and our service user had a wonderful time and loved being able to work alongside the chefs to create some lovely food – she was overjoyed to take the chef hat home and did wear it all the way back to Matlock!
“A massive thank you to the team who made this day happen and all the Experts by Experience who helped run the show. Will definitely be looking forward to the next one!”
