Rosie began her culinary career in Devon at Ashburton Cookery School in 2020, shortly after the first lockdown. She then worked at the Michelin-starred Adams in Birmingham before moving to the Lake District to join L’Enclume, where she spent nearly three years. Today, Rosie and her partner Hamish, also a chef, run their own company, offering private fine dining experiences and catering for larger events.

Becoming a chef

Rosie met her soon-to-be husband at culinary school in 2020. From there, he pushed and encouraged her to work in fine dining kitchens. She never wanted to be a chef, she just knew she liked food and enjoyed cooking, but since having Hamish by her side, she’s pushed herself to work at a high level.

Future plans

They’ve been running the dining business for just six months, enjoying every moment and embracing new opportunities. Their dream is to have their own restaurant one day, but they are just waiting for the right moment.

Rosie feels very proud when she puts on her whites and apron, going into someone’s home and creating an experience that everyone remembers. Being a part of someone’s special evening and seeing them really enjoy themselves makes cooking so rewarding.

The best culinary advice she has received in her career is: “Keep clean, keep organised and manage your time effectively. Running out of time brings stress which usually gets the better of you, resulting in bad choices and bad prep. Do things methodically and quickly and then you’ve got time.”

One of the finalists

Rosie had barely slept the night before the announcement of finalists, thinking she would be waiting all day for a jacket to come but worried nothing would arrive. However, her and Hamish were just starting prep for the event they had that evening when suddenly there was a knock at the door. She was thrilled, scared for the competition, but very proud to have made it to the final.

This year’s brief

Rosie absolutely loves chicken and thinks it’s a brilliant ingredient that gets overlooked. She likes the challenge of making a mousse of some kind with it but it’s an easy thing to get wrong if you’re not careful. She loves puddings and this was the first dish she had ideas for. It was tricky choosing a Boiron to use as they are all so delicious.

Rosie is creating a starter of roasted monkfish, mussels, salted fennel, fennel jam, marinated tomatoes and mussel sauce. She wanted a light dish that’s fresh and zingy, so she selected ingredients she could elevate to bring the dish together.

For the main course she will be serving glazed chicken crown, thyme and chicken mousse stuffed thigh, beetroot purée, potato dumpling, pickled chicory and chicken sauce. Rosie loves the sweetness of glazed chicken, so thought something bitter would complement it and chicory was an easy choice. From there, she found choosing the potato tricky. She needed something slightly crispy but didn’t want to use anything super heavy and dense. She made potato dumplings, gave them a quick fry, and ended up with pillowy centres and a light crispy outside and they are so tasty.

Dessert will be a chocolate sweet pastry tart, fig mousse, cherry jam, fresh cherries and fig leaf oil. Rosie loves sweet things, so this brief excited her and she fondly remembers enjoying fig rolls with a cup of tea at home. She thinks something bittersweet, like dark chocolate in the pastry, works well with the fruitiness of the fig. Rosie also blended the fig leaves from the tree at home with oil, creating a rich aromatic oil which is great for a garnish.

Winning would be an immense source of pride for Rosie and a major milestone in her career. She thinks making it to the final anyway is fantastic and something to be very proud of but making it to first place would be so thrilling and just a brilliant achievement.

Culinary role models

Rosie admires her old executive head chef and head chef, Paul and Al. She learned so much at L’Enclume and always looks back with fond memories. They truly had a huge impact on her and shaped the chef she is today.

Staying motivated

The great thing about running private tasting menus is that Rosie and Hamish change the menu all the time. They work very closely with farm suppliers who keep them up to date on what vegetables will be ready to harvest that week. Customers sometimes ask for specific ingredients, which makes a great challenge creating something new and interesting for them to try. It’s made Rosie experiment with different styles a whole lot more.

Memories of home

Rosie would have to say she loves making a chicken and leek pie. It brings back so many good memories of being at home and is always such a tasty dish all year round.