Pub chefs win cash share

Female pub chefs have scooped a share of the £11,600 pot of prize money for the 2006 Lea & Perrins WorcesterChef Recipe Competition.

Sam Wydemus, chef/patron at the Coastguard, St Margaret's Bay, Kent, received her first runner-up prize of £500 for her light bite dish of smoked haddock and Gadd's real ale rarebit.

And demi chef at the Tolgate Inn in Bradford-upon-Avon, Wiltshire, Alison Earle's creation of char-grilled tuna on a bed of stir-fried lime and chilli Lea & Perrins noodles helped her lift the second runner-up prize of £300 in the main course competition.

The overall winners - Simon Hulstone, head chef at the Elephant Restaurant in Torquay, Devon, and Tony Leck, chef proprietor at the Pavilion café brasserie in Guernsey - each received £5,000.

Simon's pure-bred South Devon rib-eye steak with chunky chips and Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce relish was the best main course and Tony's scallop & crab bites was the judges' unanimous decision as best light bite.

The winning recipes were chosen at a judging session at Westminster Kingsway College, where the five shortlisted chefs in each category took part in a two-hour cook-off.

Judges included chef proprietor

at the Hand & Flowers Tom

Kerridge, principal chef at Directors Table Anton Edelmann, executive chef at Mandarin Oriental David Nichols, chef director at Lexington Catering Rob Kirby, and food development director at Harbour & Jones Mark Parfait.