The European Young Chef Award competition is organized and promoted by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT), in collaboration with culinary art institutes in the Regions of Gastronomy. It is a competition from all over Europe, judged by chefs and international experts, with the aim of promoting innovations in traditional cuisine, promoting sustainability in food culture and creating future ambassadors for local food products.

For 2021, it took place in the city of Braga, in the Minho region of Portugal, November 23 - 25.

Chef Andreas Dermatis participated there, representing the South Aegean Region. The chef presented the Rhodian recipe "Lakani" in its traditional and innovative version in the market of the city of Braga.

Andreas Dermatis's mentor in this effort, with whom he collaborates at the "Lindos Blu" hotel in Rhodes, is the executive chef Dimitris Kontaratos, a chef with rich culinary experience in important gastronomic stations, including the NOMA of Copenhagen, who is also a food technologist with vast experience in food hygiene and safety.

"Lakani" is a recipe of southern Rhodes that they make on the day of Agios Apostolos, and got its name from the ceramic roaster that cooks the food. Goat, vegetables, tomatoes, trachanas and chickpeas are cooked in a wood-fired oven for 24 hours in a dish sealed with dough braided and garnished with star anise, which is removed and eaten with the food sauce served with yoghurt and feta cheese.

In the presentation of the modern version of the recipe, chef Andreas Dermatis cooked the ingredients in the lakani but did not seal it with dough. The trachanas and the vegetables with the chickpeas became puree, and a "veil" of goat yogurt, brine and a little wood-fired ash - an important detail reminiscent of a traditional dish - covered the meat. He worked with special techniques the cherry tomatoes, a few more chickpeas and the feta cheese that turned into cream, while the final touches are mint powder and oil.

The presentation of the dish was accompanied by stories that explained the symbolic character of its ingredients: The meat, wrapped in goat suet and covered with the "veil", symbolizes the mountain, where the Asklipio is located, the village of chef Andreas Dermatis in southern Rhodes and the line of dehydrated mint powder, the route to there. Finally, he made a small tree from trachana as a decoration, referring to the trunks that his grandmother put in the wood oven.

The brief presentation of the creation, by chef Andreas Dermatis, is:

" Lakani" 

Goat rib eye, matured and cooked with koji for its tenderness, wrapped in goat suet. On the top is a veil of goat yogurt with feta brine and wood-fired ash. Cooked lakani in textures: puree, fried chickpeas, cracked chickpeas, puree from cracked chickpeas and chickpea pickles. Feta cream, mint oil and powder, lakani sauce, sour trachana and paprika branch, lactic fermented tomatoes. The olive oils used in the recipe are the gastronomic olive oils of Sakellaropoulos organic farms, flavored gourmet Enigma and Oleoastron Gourmet evoo.

Chef Andreas Dermatis, after the tasting and evaluation of the chefs-judges, was awarded the 2nd place of the European Young Chef Award 2021, simultaneously impressing the judges.

As chef Andreas Dermatis stated, «Local gastronomy is a treasure, and it only acquires value when we spread it generously from generation to generation».

Chef Andreas Dermatis creation "Lakani" being distinguished, with the participation of Oleoastron Gourmet evoo as well as flavored gourmet Enigma, is a great honor for Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms .