FEATURE: NESTLÉ GOLDEN CHEF’S HAT AWARDS

The winning menu

A last-minute change may have ensured Archer Houghton’s win at this year’s Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Awards.

WORDS Laura Box

PHOTOGRAPHY Nestlé

WHEN ARCHER HOUGHTON walked onto the stage at Nestlé’s Golden Chef’s Hat Awards, his expression read somewhere between giddiness and disbelief. The 21-year-old Victorian had just found out he was the winner of the 2024 competition, which saw him emerge victorious against 10 other chefs.

It marked the end of months of preparation, which culminated in a trip to Melbourne where the finalists took part in culinary challenges and experiences. On the first day the chefs arrived in the city, they met Delaware North’s Executive Chef Dylan Sanding for lunch and took a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Afterwards, they took part in a masterclass with Sam Burke from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and attended a Rare Medium Live cocktail party. “Everyone was nervous and anxious, but it was good that we were all together to break the nerves,” says Houghton.

That night, with the competitors sufficiently acquainted (and “all the nerves still very high,” says Houghton), the chefs settled into bed early, brimming with anticipation for the first morning of the competition the next day.

Five of the finalists competed in front of a live audience in purpose-built kitchens at Fine Food Australia on Monday, with the other six cooking on Tuesday. The chefs were tasked with preparing an original three-course menu consisting of a vegetarian entrée, a main course featuring beef, and a hot or cold dessert. Produce was provided from a set pantry, which featured Australian native ingredients and a range of Nestlé Professional products.

“The challenges for everyone were different because we all went through different things,” says Houghton. “The finalists on Monday had no idea what the kitchen looked like — the set up and how the equipment worked, while day two had the stress of [working out] what went wrong [the day before] and trying to figure out how to fix it.”

Houghton competed on Monday but wasn’t fussed about cooking on day one. “We had the benefit of just getting it out of the way and not stressing,” he says. Both days of the competition included an hour to set up, three and a half hours of cooking, and another hour to pack down. Paired with high levels of anxiety and adrenaline, the days were no doubt challenging for competitors. For Houghton, his anxiety was put in a pressure cooker by a last-minute decision to alter the way he prepared his dessert.

“The Saturday night before I started the comp, I changed the timing of my dessert,” he says. An element of the dish was not freezing and defrosting fast enough, meaning he had to push everything forward to begin the dessert earlier, ensuring it had enough time to set. “In my head, I was always 25 or 30 minutes behind.”

Less than 48 hours before the competition began, Houghton completed a practice run in which he was able to get everything finished on time, a feat he achieved again on the day of the competition. “The adrenaline and having the live audience just made me put my head down and get it done,” he says.

He demonstrated such skill, knowledge, and maturity throughout the competition, and this experience will no doubt take his career to new heights.

– Elke Travers

Houghton got it done alright, with a menu that Nestlé Executive Chef and Golden Chef judge Elke Travers described as: “demonstrating great technique across all courses”. The chef received a silver medal for his entrée of mushroom and tofu custard with pickled vegetables and beetroot gazpacho. “I wanted to do something light and delicate,” he says. An ivy-like beetroot tuile adorned the dish, “just to add texture”.

“The menu inspiration came from work,” says Houghton, who is currently an apprentice chef at Mercer’s Restaurant in Eltham, Victoria. “We do a mushroom and tofu custard [at Mercer’s], but I wanted to make it more earthy, so [I added] beetroot and mushrooms. I had no idea what to do for the main, so I got help from my boss.”

For main, Houghton delivered seared rostbiff (a whole rump with the rump cap taken off) served on wilted greens with cottage pie, roasted carrot, and black pepper sauce. Dessert was a strawberry and pink peppercorn mousse with macadamia and coconut crumble, fresh berry salad, and basil foam.

The change in timing may have been the element that made all the difference for Houghton, who received gold medals for his main course as well as his dessert. “He showcased fresh flavours and surprising textural contrasts,” said Travers. “He demonstrated such skill, knowledge and maturity throughout the competition, and this experience will no doubt take his career to new heights.”

Houghton took home a grand prize valued at $10,000, including a 14-day all-expenses-paid trip to the Worldchefs Congress & Expo in Singapore. During his trip, Houghton toured a range of venues and met prominent chefs.

The prize is just one of the many key takeaways from participating in the competition. Houghton says he’s developed essential time-management skills “because every comp takes so much out of you”. He also believes the competition has given him a toolkit to deal with high-pressure, stressful environments as well as the opportunity to network with qualified chefs. The competition gives young chefs strategies to deal with demanding situations, and provides them with a range of industry connections, helping accelerate their careers.

Looking to the future, Houghton is keen to explore his field internationally. “Because I’m so young, I just want to learn as much as I can, so I’m going to most likely travel overseas and figure out exactly where my passion lies,” he says. “I love Japanese cooking, but I also love European techniques… so just marrying those two together.”

For now, it’s back to reality, or as Houghton puts it: “back to the normal chef life, which is nice”. The young chef plans to return to Mercer’s to complete his apprenticeship and continue working with the team he describes as “family”.

Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of the Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Awards. Nestlé founded the competition in 1965 with the goal of kickstarting the careers of young chefs in the industry. It gives budding chefs the opportunity to learn from industry leaders, benchmark themselves against their peers, and be challenged in a pressurised environment.

Aspiring competitors between 16 and 24 can apply for next year’s Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award at goldenchefs.com.au