Following the success of the first culinary Master Class last year, five lucky Air Miles members experienced another rare opportunity to learn secret recipes and to cook with the professional chefs at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant Verre, at the Hilton Dubai Creek.
New Executive Head Chef Scott Price and his team demonstrated the art of fine cooking in the bustling professional kitchen, as the awed winners studied the ways of a Master Chef. The winners were selected out of hundreds of entries submitted on the website – www.airmilesme.com – wherein members were asked to explain why they deserve to be part of this unique Air Miles reward.
“We ran this event to reward our loyal members with an exciting, once in a lifetime experience to cook at Gordon Ramsay’s Verre, with our partner, Hilton Creek Dubai. Response to this year’s Master Class surpassed the tremendous response to last year’s event,” said Fiona Jackson, Marketing Director, Air Miles Middle East.
“We have received a variety of entries from our members with some wishing to cook special cuisine for their loved ones a la Verre style, while others would like to enhance their passion for cooking sumptuous meals,” she added. “Needless to say, this has clearly become one of the most popular rewards at Air Miles and we will continue to give our members more opportunities to receive the rewards of their dreams.”
Winners of this year’s Master Class reward were Nausheen Shafiq, Carl Jeffrey Platt, Salam Affouneh, Ferdinand Santos, and Graham Birrell. Chef Price, who was also one of the judges said, “I thoroughly enjoyed selecting the winning entries, as well as the anticipation of seeing their passionate words translated into magnificent cooking.”
Platt joined the contest to pay tribute to his wife for being the best cook for him and their children for 26 years. “The only way I have been able to repay that dedication is to have somebody else cook for her, such as in a good restaurant. I would love to be selected to cook with Scott Price so that I can hopefully prepare & cook my wife the perfect meal rather than having to pay somebody else to do it, as a thank you for all the fantastic meals she has prepared for the children and me,” he said.
Santos’ entry was to cook with his son who achieved his long time dream of becoming a chef. He wrote, “It has been one of my dreams to become a chef. My son followed this dream and took a culinary course in the Philippines. As his father, I believe this will be a memorable gift for my son who is currently pursuing his Culinary Training here in Dubai.”
During the Master Class, each of the winners received recipe packs and a branded Verre by Gordon Ramsay apron. A plating competition was also held wherein Hans Horling won a signed copy of Gordon Ramsay’s cookbook.
