The Lamb Challenge, sponsored by Bidfood, asked chefs to create and cook a main course lamb dish using any cut of lamb with suitable accompaniments.

Entrants were required to submit a recipe, a brief description and a photo of the dish, plus a short video showing their creation and detailing their reasons for entering the competition.

Tim Adams, sales and marketing director at Bidfood, said: “Whilst the pandemic may have stifled product innovation a bit over the past 18 months, it’s great to see it hasn’t stifled the creative flair of chefs and culinary teams using ingredients in imaginative ways.

“For Bidfood, it’s been great to be involved this year and great to see the amount of entries put into the lamb competition from all over the world.”

At the virtual awards ceremony on 18 June, Steve Munkley unveiled which dishes achieved merit, bronze and silver awards. The two gold winners were Leigh Doyle, Compass Group Ireland (Best in Class) and Lee Ladislav Poustevnik, Private Chef. Doyle was awarded Best in Class for his ceidi lamb, heritage carrots, elderflower & wild garlic (pictured).

Project director Andrew Pantelli, added: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of chefs at all levels who have engaged with these competitions. The Bidfood Lamb Challenge marks the end of our series of virtual challenges, and it’s been great to end on a high with a huge number of entries and a really high standard of dishes presented to the judges.”