Murphy, aged 21, along with eight other young chefs went head to head in the cook off at Westminster Kingsway College (WKC) in London on January 21 to demonstrate their skills in creating, preparing and serving a typically Spanish influenced starter, main course and dessert using Spanish produce. His winning menu consisted of salmon, pickled lemon zest, cauliflower, cauliflower purée, chorizo, crab and rice croquette and softly cooked egg yolk, followed by leg and breast of duck, potato cannelloni, stuffed morcilla cherries and seasonal vegetables. Dessert was a tonka bean and almond soufflé with spiced raspberries, raspberry purée and almond praline. William Chilia from The Orrery Restaurant and Billy Stock from the Salt Yard Restaurant came second and third respectively. Foods from Spain launched the competition in 2008 to inspire young chefs to experiment with the seasonal food Spain has to offer and create memorable dishes to reflect the country's cuisine style. Judges included Foods from Spain director María José Sevilla, chef and author Peter Gordon, president of the Guild of Food Writers Jane Suthering, and WKC chef lecturer José Souto. The skills, techniques and the ingredients the chefs used impressed the panel, particularly Sevilla who was amazed at their knowledge. The competition is to learn about Spanish food and take that knowledge on in their future life, she said, and the standard this year was fantastic. "Every year it amazes me – the knowledge about flavours and ingredients and what they come up with." Gordon added: "This was the year of sous vide and there was a lot of that going on in the kitchen – some more successful than others. But the food was amazing. Producing food of this standard at this young age is fantastic. I couldn't have done that." This year the competition was sponsored by Endor Gourmet Foods, which provided all the premium quality Spanish ingredients ranging from seasonal fresh produce to authentic Iberico ham and LA organic olive oil. The finalists were: Joseph Allen, Westminster Kingsway College Esme Broadbent, City College Norwich Samantha Bream, College Llandrillo William Chilila, The Orrery Restaurant Anna Gurowska, University of West London Bartosz Kesik, Opera Tavern Restaurant Daniel Lee, Westminster Kingsway College Ben Murphy, Koffmann's at The Berkeley in Knightsbridge Billy Stock, Salt Yard Restaurant