Andrew Fairlie Scholarship
Winners 2023

Congratulations to our Andrew Fairlie Scholars for 2023!

Darren Seggie, 35, Lecturer of Culinary Arts at City of Glasgow College and Rachel Bremner, 34, Commis Pastry Chef at The Balmoral were the talented chefs who most impressed the expert industry judges.

Positioned as the ultimate scholarship any aspiring chef could receive, the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is awarded annually to a chef working in Scotland, carrying on the legacy of Andrew Fairlie’s commitment to nurturing culinary talent in Scotland.

The finalists had to prove their worth in a skills test and were challenged to create a dish with potato as its star ingredient while incorporating Scottish dairy. They had the further challenge of delivering an impressive surprise dish using hand-dived scallops.

Darren Seggie impressed the judges with his creative potato-based dessert comprising Butter Gold Potato pudding and espuma, Sourdough crumble and ice cream and Caramel sauce. While Rachel Bremner blew everyone away with her dish - Potato and Egg Yolk Ravioli, Crispy Potato Skins and Potato Espuma.

The final skills test took place at Perth College UHI with the winner announced afterwards during a ceremony at Gleneagles.

The judging panel included some of the country’s finest chefs, all of whom knew Andrew Fairlie well. It was headed up by Stephen McLaughlin, Head Chef at 2 Michelin-starred Restaurant Andrew Fairlie; alongside fellow 2 Michelin-starred chef Sat Bains; 1 Michelin star Head Chef at Cail Bruich and winner of Great British Menu, Lorna McNee; and Masterchef The Professionals winner and National Chef of Scotland, Gary Maclean.

The winners will be taken on an incredible 2-day educational trip to France with Grande Cuisine, and gain hands-on experience at the 2-Michelin star Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, the 3-star Core by Clare Smyth in London, an international stage, as well as receiving a bespoke chef’s jacket from Goodfellows. These highly informative experiences will be taken over two years, allowing both talented scholars to develop their learnings over an extended period.

The scholarships are offered in partnership with HIT Scotland, an industry charity with which Andrew Fairlie was closely connected. Now in its fourth year, the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is supported by HIT Scotland, Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, Perth College UHI and The Gleneagles Hotel.

Stephen McLaughlin, lead judge and head chef at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie, said: “Our five finalists have competed fiercely and fairly today and they have all given it everything to win this year’s Andrew Fairlie Scholarship. Everyone competed with great character and commitment and showed a real respect for one another this afternoon.

“The chefs should all be extremely proud of themselves for getting to the final but must also take great pride in how they handled the pressures of the day and in the fabulous dishes that they all produced. This was a tough one to find just one winner today as everyone cooked so well and all had showed great application in getting this far.

“We had no choice but to award two deserving winners... This year’s winners not only submitted immaculate application packs but followed this through and showcased themselves clearly as the best on the day with clean, precise and creative cookery”.

David Cochrane, HIT Scotland Chief Executive, added: “It was a true delight to see our group of finalists demonstrate a passion for cooking that Andrew Fairlie would be proud of. A huge congratulations goes to Darren and to Rachel, who have demonstrated exceptional skill, creativity, and dedication to their craft. They have bright culinary futures ahead!

Ype van der Schaaf, Sector Manager of Hospitality and Food Studies at Perth College UHI said: “Offering our kitchens and facilities to support HIT Scotland and being part of the Andrew Fairlie Scholarship is very important to us, as he was our well-respected alumnus.

“Hosting for the third time this year, we have really enjoyed watching the finalists create their fantastic dishes, they’re at the top of their game and their efforts demonstrate to our students the very top of industry standards. Huge congratulations to the two winners!”

The Final

Our 5 finalists were Spud Henderson, 34, Sous Chef at Craig Millar @ 16 West End; Daniel Robb, 27, Chef de Partie at Gleneagles; Rachel Bremner, 34, Commis Pastry Chef at The Balmoral; Rita Varga, 31, Chef de Partie and kitchen departmental trainer at Voco Grand Central Hotel; and Darren Seggie, 35, Lecturer of Culinary Arts at City of Glasgow College.

This year the finalists had to cook the dish they had created for their application. This was a dish where potatoes were the star, using their choice of two potatoes (Rooster or Butter Gold), incorporating Scottish dairy, with a luxurious feel but not too overindulgent. The chefs were also told a couple of weeks out that there would an additional challenge involving scallops, but they didn’t find out exactly what that was until the day! They were given a recipe to follow, and had to prepare 2 plates of this dish to present to the judges, along with 2 plates of their potato dish. The judges then had the hard task of deciding who was best! They looked at their professional techniques and skills, presentation and artistry, and the quality of flavour. It was a remarkably calm atmosphere in the kitchen as the 5 chefs worked out how to prepare both dishes and serve them within the time.

They were helped on the day by some of the Professional Cookery students from Perth College UHI, and it was fantastic to have them involved, and inspire them to apply some day! It was also great to have some of the students helping us Front of House.

Thanks to Goodfellows for providing the chef jackets for the Finalists, they all looked fantastic!

The judges were really pleased with the performance of the Finalists, both profesionally and personally, and saw a mix of creative ideas for the potato dish, both sweet and savoury. It was a tough decision to pick a winner, with much discussion about the dishes. They just couldn’t separate two of the Finalists, so decided this year to name both Rachel Bremner and Darren Seggie as our 2023 Andrew Fairlie Scholars.

Rachel said: “I was pleased with my potato dish, I’d practiced it and felt good about it, but I thought my scallop dish had let me down. I’m a relatively new chef and have spent the last year working in pastry, so I had to do some research about scallops before the Final! I was shocked to hear that I had been picked as a winner, but delighted, and I’m really excited for everything that I’m going to learn over the next couple of years.”

Darren said: “I’m really proud of myself. I’m happy with how I worked today, I tried to keep calm and professional, and I don’t think I could have done any more. I feel a bit emotional to be named a winner, I’m really honoured, and I’m so looking forward to the prizes and learning from all these fabulous chefs.”