Greater London South West Scouting

County Cooking Competition 2002

There were twenty-two teams from around GLSW at this year's County Cooking Competition. The aim was for each team to prepare and cook a three course meal for four people within two hours, and with ingredients costing less than £12.50 in total. There was also a prize for the best starter, based on the theme of Thailand, the host country of the next World Scout Jamboree.

The competition was very close, with only three points separating the top nine teams. This year's winners were the 3rd Carshalton B team (pictured) with 55 points.

[Photograph of the cooking competition winners]

William, the 3rd Carshalton Patrol Leader, reports:

The GLSW County Cooking Competition took place last Sunday 3rd February in the 4th Worcester Park hall. I arrived with my team from the 3rd Carshalton Scout Group - James M (APL), Harry M and Edward S - to prepare for the 11:00 'cook-off'! Glancing around the packed hall we could see that we were up against stiff competition.

During the previous week we had been practising and perfecting the menu and were struggling to keep to the budget of £12.50, which we did by 1p! Our appetising menu consisted of a Thai starter (compulsory) which was a crunchy salad + Thai dressing, Beef a la Crème with rice, and Apple Fritters coated in sugar and cinnamon. Being both excited and nervous, we couldn't fail to have a great time and enjoyed ourselves from start to finish. Towards the end of the two hours we realised it would be very close indeed, judging by the quality of the other team's menus. We were delighted to be declared the winners and collect the trophy, and after all our hard work my team thoroughly deserved it!

Although James and I may be too old to take part in next years cooking competition, the other, significantly younger, 3rd Carshalton team came fourth and have promising potential for the future!

William H (PL)

[Thumbnail picture of the collage of photographs taken at the cooking competition]

Some of the photographs taken at the competition have been made into a collage. The thumbnail picture of the collage shown here is a link to the full version (which is 768×1024 pixels and about 140KBytes in size). You can get a good idea of the atmosphere at the competition from the collage.

All the teams that entered the competition were presented with a special competition plate. A full table of the results is shown below. Marks were awarded for:

PLACE GROUP  Bu   Nu   Hy   Te   Ti   Me   Pr   Ta   Tx   Ed  TOTAL
1 3rd Carshalton B 10 7 5 4 5 5 4 5 5 5 55
2 1st Hook A 10 6 5 5 4 5 4 5 5 5 54
3 1st Richmond 10 6 5 5 5 5 3 5 4 5 53
4 1st Tolworth 10 6 3 5 4 5 5 5 4 5 52
4 3rd Carshalton A 10 6 3 4 5 5 4 5 5 5 52
4 8th Wimbledon 10 7 5 4 5 5 4 4 4 4 52
4 23rd Croydon A 10 6 4 4 5 5 4 5 4 5 52
4 23rd Croydon B 10 7 4 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 52
4 Berrylands 10 6 4 3 5 5 4 5 5 5 52
10 9th Carshalton 10 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 5 51
11 Chessington 10 7 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 3 50
12 1st Selsdon & Addington B 10 5 3.5 4 5 5 3 5 4.5 4.5 49.5
13 1st Selsdon & Addington A 10 6 4 4 5 5 3 4 4 3 48
13 7th Malden A 10 5 3 4 5 5 4 5 4 3 48
15 8th Sutton - Trinity B 10 6 4 5 3 5 4 4 3 3 47
16 1st Hook B 10 6 3 3 5 4 4 4 3.5 4 46.5
17 1st Belmont A 10 6 3 4 4 5 4 3 3 4 46
18 7th Malden B 10 8 2 1 3 5 3 4 4 3 43
18 8th Sutton - Trinity A 10 6 5 3 3 5 3 2.5 2.5 3 43
20 1st Belmont B 10 5 3 4 5 3 3 3 4 2 42
20 9th Wallington 10 5 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 42
22 4th Worcester Park 10 6 2 2 5 3 3 3 3 2 39