Tristan’s winning recipe

A CHEF will be cooking up a storm in the kitchen in a bid to win £6,000 and become the Knorr National Chef of the Year 2006. Tristan Welch, of Ashwell Road, Bygrave, has fought off stiff competition to secure a place in the semi-final of the contest. Seni

A CHEF will be cooking up a storm in the kitchen in a bid to win £6,000 and become the Knorr National Chef of the Year 2006.

Tristan Welch, of Ashwell Road, Bygrave, has fought off stiff competition to secure a place in the semi-final of the contest.

Senior sous chef at Michelin-starred Petrus - a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in Knightsbridge - Tristan began his career working for celebrity chef Gary Rhodes.

He said: "From the early age of 13 I was very focused about what I wanted to do.

I always wanted to cook. It's something that's really been in me, bursting to get out. I had no choice really and now I'm married to the kitchen."

The competition, run by the Craft Guild of Chefs, is the most highly respected culinary challenge in the industry today, with past winners including Mark Sargeant and Gordon Ramsay.

Tristan will now join 39 other semi-finalists in one of four exciting live cook-offs at the Olympia exhibition centre, London, on September 18 and 19.

The winner of each of the four semi-finals, along with the six top-scoring runners up, will go through to the live grand final on September 20.

The finalists must then create an inventive three-course menu using a mystery box of ingredients.

Tristan said: "The pressure's on. I'm not underestimating the other chefs at all but I love the competition. I don't do it for the fun of it. I do it to win it."

The winner will be announced at a gala awards dinner at the Dorchester Hotel, London, on September 20.