Subtitles: WDR mediagroup digital GmbH on behalf of WDR
A spectacular surfing beach at Watergate Bay
in the north of Cornwall.
Jade has been working at the restaurant called "Fifteen"
for almost a year now.
Today her task is not an easy one.
She has to prepare Italian gnocchis for the very first time.
Assisting her are professional cooks, or "Black Hats",
as they are known in the trade.
I know when I grew up, I'm only 21, but even then I was growing up
with things like pies and chips.
Things like that all the time, that's constantly what I was eating.
When I started here I learnt so much more about food.
Fifteen is a restaurant that helps young people turn their lives around
by working as an apprentice chef as part of a team.
Under the guidance of the Training and Development Chef Karl Jones,
Jade kneads dough to create the perfect gnocchi.
And perfection needs practise, practise and even more practise.
Of course, if one is surrounded by great food all the time,
there will be some side effects.
I'm a lot more snobby about food than I was before.
I definitely go for a higher level, a higher quality of food
than maybe I did before.
My shopping got a bit more expensive I would say,
now that I work here.
Today head chef Andy Appleton has a big challenge for Jade.
He wants her to assist him at the Great Cornish Food Festival,
where Jade will have to cook on stage in front of many people.
Have all the ingredients ready. Have all out, ready to go.
I'm excited about being at the Great Cornish Food Festival
because I saw it last year and I saw Fifteen's Demo
last year before I joined Fifteen.
So that's exciting that I'm going to be doing that with them this year.
I'm also very nervous because there is going to be quite a lot of people
and I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to be doing.
It's a very new experience for me.
But now Jade must finish the gnocchis
before the restaurant's busy hour at lunchtime.
Stress levels often boil over and things can go wrong.
And when things go wrong, the young cooks often make mistakes.
Jade has problems with the preparation of her gnocchi sauce.
It is not up to standard.
Help is on hand and the sauce is put right, thanks to a colleague.
We are like a family. They are really supportive.
There are some really stressful times, there is usually
someone there to help you out with that, you know.
And that someone is Matt Thomas.
Or "Mister Welfare" as the apprentices know him.
Jade and the other apprentices may take a break
whenever they feel stressed.
And it's all about staying relaxed under extreme pressure.
Matt is always on hand to deal with any problems
that the young apprentices have.
Can you remember this, when we did this in the group work?
Yes, I can remember it.
Tell me about it.
So you said stress levels are good up to a point
and then, if you get too stressed, you can't work well.
That's right. So you have to be aware where your peak is.
Once you go over that, like you say, it becomes too much.
Matt can really calm someone down. He's lighthearted, and he's fun.
But he also has a lot of really good tips for keeping you calm
and not being stressed
and sort of putting your perspective back into focus.
Which I think sometimes, we all need.
Sometimes you think the world is getting on top of us
or we are doing everything wrong and Matt is there to go:
It's not that it's this. And sort of make you feel better.
Jade was a theology student at university,
but she struggled with her studies and dropped out.
She simply didn't know what to do.
I did a year at university
and sort of found it all quite difficult actually.
I went from being quite good at college
to finding university really intense and really academic.
And I just didn't understand it as much as maybe I understood college.
So wanted to be a bit more practical with the way I was learning.
I was really bad at cooking so I thought, become a chef.
For Jade the journey from apprentice to professional chef
begins here at the Catering College.
Just do that.
Smashing it. Just come across.
Today, Jade is learning how to prepare an ostrich egg.
It's been cooking for 45 minutes.
Alright, so just nice and gently. Start nice and slowly.
Keep going through. Nice clean cut off the top.
And Jade managed to keep the yolk runny.
Try to put three in. Then we'll get a photograph.
That was my first ostrich egg.
Because I haven't even seen an ostrich egg before.
It was really exciting.
Quite hard to cut, took a lot of strength.
But then it opened up and you saw the yolk and everything.
It was very exciting.
Don't take to much egg, girls.
Hang on.
Good.
If you can't see the camera the camera can't see you.
Happy days.
Jade is convinced that the career decision to become a chef
is the right one.
Although cooking is a profession dominated by men,
more and more women are becoming top chefs.
Is this your ostrich's one?
I think that women are just as good as men at cooking.
And you need a lot of structure and discipline
and organisation to be a chef.
And I think that if you have got that in you already
it doesn't matter whether you are a man or a woman.
After a busy lunch period, the atmosphere at Fifteen
is always quite relaxed.
Kitchens are often a place of tension,
so a sense of humour is a prized ingredient.
And Jade once managed to make everybody laugh.
I accidentally slipped on a banana peel once.
As if that doesn't happen in real life. I did it.
I managed to do that.
And yeah, flat on my face.
A brilliant moment.
I don't think I'll ever live it down.
That was my finest moment at Fifteen Cornwall, I think, so far.
Fifteen has seen over 100 apprentices
walk into their busy kitchen.
The profit made from the restaurant fuels the training scheme.
It is important that the restaurant maintains its high standard
and keeps its reputation.
Tomorrow is Andy's demo and Jade has only little time
to prepare herself for the big day.
On Friday at the Great Cornish Food Festival,
there are a lot of mistakes I could make.
I could get something wrong in a recipe
or I could injure myself or something like that.
Anything could go wrong really.
As many as 40.000 people have flocked to the city of Truro
to attend this festival dedicated to food and drink
produced and grown in Cornwall.
Before she needs to go on stage,
Jade is collecting Cornish salt for Andy's and hers demo.
This is Jade as well, Ladies and Gentlemen, if I can introduce Andy.
Andy is one of many top chefs preparing specialties
at the Great Cornish Festival.
More than 40 chefs and food experts have been on stage
this weekend.
Jade's main job is chopping and preparation.
Andy and Jade from Fifteen are one of the star attractions.
Jade dare not make a mistake,
especially with all these onlookers following their demo.
I was really nervous before the demo with Andy today
but we did fish stew and I think it went really well.
I would like to hopefully own my own place, own my own restaurant.
And continue to be cheffing or be working somewhere amazing.
Something to do with fish perhaps.
Jade has every reason to be optimistic about her future
because she has all the right ingredients.
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