AN apprentice at a prestigious hotel in the Ribble Valley has been crowned the north west Young Chef of the Year.

Danny Young, 20, who has been at the Michelin star luxury hotel Northcote for four years, won the cook-off at Manchester College after beating competition from five other young chefs from across the region.

Danny, from Grove Street, Oswaldtwistle, prepared and practiced his menus under the watchful eye of head chef Lisa Allen.

In May he was crowned the Lancashire Young Chef of the Year and will now go on to represent the North West in a semi-final of the Young National Chef of the Year.

To win the competition on Wednesday, Danny who works at the Langho hotel owned by celebrity chef Nigel Haworth, cooked Formby Asparagus, Poached Bowland Forest Free Range Egg and Hollandaise for the starter.

For the main course he cooked wheat-fed Goosnargh Guinea Fowl Leg Kiev, scorched baby gem, summer pods and parsley shoots.

For dessert he served Hesketh Bank strawberries, Simpson’s organic cream and Northcote's garden mint.

Danny said: “I feel overwhelmed. I was nervous coming into the competition but I was looking forward to it.

“My heat was on April 1 so I have been waiting for a long time.

“I prepared for the final by looking at my dishes, according to the seasons, and practiced them.

“I asked Lisa Allen and the rest of the team to taste them.

“My long term goal is to keep progressing at Northcote and eventually I want to go travelling.

“This competition is great for my CV and I want to thank Lisa and all the team at here in Langho.

“I hope to do Northcote proud in the National Young Chef of the Year competition, but I will need to put in hard work and effort.”

Chris Holland, head chef at Alderley Edge Hotel and a member of the judging panel, said: “Danny had great focus and stuck to the task at hand.

“He took a lot on in the short time frame. He had good time management and really challenged himself.

“Ingredients were simple enough and there was not too much on each plate.”