Lucy Deane, a chef from the UK coastal town of Minehead in Somerset, has shaken off her competitors to represent the South West region in a televised national culinary competition.

Now set to appear on the upcoming ITV series, Britain’s Best Dish, the chef will be going head to head against other culinary experts in the annual competition to produce the best starter, main course and dessert to win judges’ votes.

The chefs will pull together their signature dishes, with the outright winner standing to receive £10,000 in prize money.

The Minehead competitor, aged 29 and living on her parents’ farm, will be producing her Exmoor Queen of Puddings, a creation that uses duck eggs from her family’s farm, flour from the equally local Dunster mill, in addition to whortleberries, also a local product hailing from Exmoor. Other elements of the dish include a breadcrumb base, a layer of jam and a meringue top.

Deane, whose culinary expertise is essentially self-taught, is respecting the competition’s guidelines to use locally-sourced ingredients, but is also happy to be supporting local producers.

Meanwhile GMTV’s breakfast time entertainment is geared up to be boosted by a televised gourmet cooking competition to set sail aboard the Venture, a P&O cruise ship. Four finalists have been chosen by the show’s viewers and will compete in various on-board and onshore culinary tasks set by Rosemary Shrager of Soapstar Superchef whilst en route to Vigo, Lisbon, La Rochelle and Brest.

Posted by Hayley on the 6th August 2010