The semi-final of the 8th edition of the GranajovenChef culinary competition took place last Thursday 13th May. This year it is sponsored by Caña Nature, together with Yelow, Cervezas Alhambra and Amarga and Pica oils, and is organised by the Department of Health, Education and Youth of the Granada City Council and IDEAL.
With 7 editions behind it, this competition has already attracted more than 200 participants, aged between 18 and 35, from both Granada and the rest of Spain.
One of the objectives of GranajovenChef is to offer these young people the professional boost they need to be able to work in some of the best restaurants in Spain.
GranajovenChef 2021 finalists
A total of 6 semi-finalists took part in this penultimate round of the competition. Those who have made it through to the final are Javier Domínguez, with his recipe for “A trout in the Lecrín Valley”; Juan Luis Carrión with his “Primavera granadina”; and Paula Gutiérrez, with her preparation of “Pichón, red fruits and milk skin”.
In this round, we could also count on the preparations of Adrián Calvente and his “Quisquilla de Motril y hortalizas en su propio jugo”; Manuel Guerrero de las Heras and his recipe for “Viajando de Norte a Sur”; and finally Alba Torres, who prepared “Granada a bocados”.
These last 3 participants did not make it to the final, although the presentation of the 6 recipes was at the level of any professional dish. This led the president of the jury, the renowned chef Rafael Arroyo, to venture that “the high average level of the contestants and the three finalists suggests that the final will be of a very high standard”.
A semi-final with a Caña Nature flavour
Caña Nature, one of the sponsors of the GranajovenChef 2021 edition, was present at this semi-final in several ways.
Firstly, because Caña Nature awarded Adrián Calvente the Prize for good practices in the kitchen, for the good practices applied in the kitchen related to the 3Rs (reduce, recycle and reuse) as well as for his care for cleanliness and tidiness.
As in the previous rounds and as will be the case at the end of the competition, in the semi-final the participants were offered all the ingredients they needed to prepare their recipes, as well as the basic tools, materials they might need and suitable clothing.
The semi-finalists took advantage of these products to complete their elaborate recipes in the Pilsa Educa kitchens. They had 2 hours to cook and half an hour for preparation. All in all, 6 delicious recipes, many of them with an essentially Grenadian flavour.
Passion for cooking
Members of the GranajovenChef 2021 jury made statements in relation to the competition, among which they talked about the “kitchen for the benefit of others”. Chef Rafael Arroyo explained that “whatever we take, it used to have a life. We can’t just throw it away”.
For his part, chef Txema Urda also explained that “we can find evolutionary delays in history and this also happens in the kitchen”.
One of the objectives of the GranajovenChef competition is to promote young people who are fond of the culinary art, in order to publicise their innovations in the kitchen and facilitate their insertion in this professional sector.
The more than 200 contestants who have taken part in the different editions have in common the fact that they have grown up in the kitchen, have a high potential for creativity and, above all, a great love of cooking.
GranajovenChef has been a meeting point where tradition, innovation, responsible cooking and passion have gone hand in hand to put Granada’s cuisine on everyone’s lips.
