A Flesherton chef is taking part in an international cooking competition.
Sous Chef at The Gate restaurant in Flesherton Karly Ready says she has been preparing for the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition regional final set for Oct. 23 in Toronto.
“I am not positive about how many countries are competing, but there is over 12 and you each compete in your individual country and then whoever wins the regional competition, goes to Milan to compete for the finals,” says Ready.
She says each chef is tasked with creating a dish resembling their culinary journey. Ready’s dish includes a halibut roulade with a swiss chard stuffed pasta.
Karly Ready Dish (Photo provided by Jennifer Belanger)
“The dish kind of shows my journey throughout the last three years of cooking. I started at Langdon Hall three years ago and I worked on every station there, and it shows the different techniques and stuff that I learned throughout those years. Since I moved to The Gate as well, I have done a lot of pates and roulades and stuff, so I put that into that as well,” says Ready.
Ready will be facing off against other Canadian chefs in the regional competition in Toronto, where the results will be announced on Oct. 24.
“After that, they have to release a date for the finals in Milan, which will be in 2025,” says Ready. “It’s very open ended, and everyone is pulling things from their different backgrounds. It’s really comparing apples to oranges and everyone is doing different things so it’s hard to compare who is going to be the best.”
Ready has been working to perfect her dish with the help of The Gate’s executive chef.
Co-Owner of The Gate Jennifer Belanger says she is tremendously proud of Ready taking part in the competition.
Jennifer Belanger and Karly Ready (Photo provided by Jennifer Belanger)
“Karly is crazy ambitious so her trajectory and her involvement in launching The Gate, getting The Gate to where it is and having the bandwidth to juggle this competition is really admirable, so we are very proud,” says Belanger. “It’s a really intense competition, it’s not for the feint of heart and the dedication that is going into preparation is really impressive.”
