Alastair Cook won ‘Chance to Dine supported by Waitrose’ for a third straight year, beating off competition from James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Matthew Hoggard at an event to raise funds for Chance to Shine.
For a charity dinner at Lord’s last week all four chefs cooked a course each with the expert eyes of Ainsley Harriott and Mark Nicholas watching on.
Cook, whose nickname is 'Chef', prepared a cheese and onion tart with parmesan and thyme pastry to start while Broad produced seared scallops with crisp pancetta and added his initials using pea and mint purée.
The main course was roast loin of pork with black pudding and apple sauce, put together by former Masterchef contestant Hoggard, and dessert was served by Anderson, who served up a Burnley treat of chorley cake with Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese.
During dinner the chefs had their dishes judged by food critics Giles Coren, Ed Baines and Harriott before being subjected to the diners’ votes. Cook emerged victorious for the third time in a row and Broad was runner-up.
Cook said: “I genuinely can’t believe that I’ve somehow managed to win with a cheese and onion tart. Everyone has enjoyed it (the evening). We’ve raised a lot of money for a very important cause and it’s been really good fun.”
Anderson added: “The evening was brilliant, other than the result. We are getting some people to look into that because we think it might have been a fix!”
The inspiration behind Chance to Dine was John Fingleton, a long-term supporter of Chance to Shine, who also kindly agreed to be the auctioneer for the evening and helped to raise invaluable funds for the charity.
Special thanks must go to Waitrose for their fantastic support of the event. Guests enjoyed Waitrose wine throughout the evening and also took home special goody bags. In total, Chance to Dine raised close to £80,000.