Bord Bia awarded He Bin, a Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology student, with the overall prize at the Bord Bia Irish Pork Competition Final 2007 which took place in Tralee Institute of Technology. The pork cooking competition concluded the fourth annual training course and competition entitled ‘Pork Experience – from Farm to Fork’.
He Bin, a Chinese student currently living in Galway, wowed the judging panel with a mouth-watering dish entitled “Trilogy of Irish Pork Belly”. The artistic culinary display included braised marinated Irish pork belly on a pillow of spring onion champ; leek, mushroom and wholegrain mustard pork pie crowned with turnip and black pepper sorbet and finally a pork and savoy cabbage roulade accompanied by a parsnip puree. He Bin was awarded €1,000 cash prize and a bursary to the value of €2,000 towards further studies.
Catering students from six of the Institute of Technology Colleges nationwide participated in the final, in which they cooked their chosen pork dish. The event, sponsored by Bord Bia, the IFA, the IAPP* and the Panel of Chefs**, is run to further educate catering students on the benefits of using more pork in the foodservice sector.
Speaking at the prize giving ceremony Gerard Brickley, Manager of Meat Division, Bord Bia commented: “The Irish Pork Competition is a great initiative, it introduces trainee chefs in third level colleges to the quality and varied selection of Irish pork cuts available to the catering industry. Irish pork is a highly nutritious product which offers excellent value. The pork dishes prepared by each of the finalists were of an extremely high standard and a great credit to all the students and their respective lecturers. I am confident that this experience will encourage these chefs of the future to introduce more pork dishes onto their menus”.
The judging panel was comprised of food critics Lucinda O’Sullivan and Biddy White Lennon, Anthony Carroll, IFA and JJ Healy, representing the Panel of Chefs.