A YORK school chef will be battling it out next month to become School Chef of the Year 2020.

Becky Crossley from York High School in Acomb won the regional final in the new LACA Yorkshire and Humber School Chef of the Year 2020 competition, and is now through to the national final on March 5.

As previously reported, Becky was joined in the regional final earlier this year by, among others, James Brown from Queen Ethelburga’s College at Thorpe Underwood, but Becky’s menu came out on top.

Judges thought James ‘gave a good performance and executed his dishes extremely well’, but at the end of the day it was Becky who took top slot.

James served up pie ‘n’ peas - a local rabbit pie with French peas and Yorkshire trifle; Yorkshire rhubarb, ginger and orange crumble trifle.

Becky served Eboracum burger with York tower potatoes, Yorkshire coleslaw and salad - a Yorkshire twist on a classic burger served with lightly spiced potatoes, coleslaw and salad followed by strawberry Minster mousse, a light strawberry mousse with a layer of fresh strawberries and jelly topped with a crunchy crumble topping.

And she will be recreating these signature dishes in front of the judges on March 5.

The finalists are school chefs from 12 different areas of Britain and against the clock and under the scrutiny of the panel of judges, they will have to prepare, cook and present four portions of a main course and a dessert suitable for serving to 11 year olds in school.

They will have 90 minutes and a maximum spend of £1.30 is allowed for the cost of a single meal (i.e. one main course and dessert).

Chairman of the LACA School Chef of the Year 2020 judging panel is Mark Rigby, executive chef of Premier Foods.

Joining Mark on the panel will be an independent catering industry professional guest chef, an education catering expert (Sharon Armstrong, LACA), the reigning LACA School Chef of the Year 2019, Steven Cross from Hampshire and the 2019 McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year finalists, pupils from Kingstone and Thruxton Primary School, Hereford.

The LACA School Chef of the Year Competition has been the flagship event for school chefs to showcase their professional skills for twenty five years.

It is organised by LACA – The School Food People and is sponsored by McDougalls, owned by Premier Foods.

York High School is part of South Bank Multi Academy Trust (MAT) which turns four this year and includes primaries: Knavesmire School, Scarcroft School, Woodthorpe School and Carr Junior School in Acomb as well as Millthorpe secondary school in South Bank.