Gary and his team are very focused in the way they test the finalists. The brief is much more specific and takes into account some of the challenges that face chefs today, such as sustainability and dietary requirements. The starter course for the last three years has been plant-based, for example; designed to force chefs to think about creative ways to approach vegetarian cooking. ‘For lots of our chefs, coming up with a vegetarian dish needs a lot more thought,’ says Gary. ‘You have to consider where the protein is coming from and how the textures will work together.

'Do we need to eat more plant-based food?’ he asks rhetorically. ‘Yes, absolutely. So that’s why we’ve tested our chefs with that brief in the past.’

The vegetarian brief is out this year, but in its place Gary has challenged the chefs to cook a starter that showcases the flavours of bouillabaisse – the classic Provençal fish stew. The superficial inspiration comes from Gary’s recent trip to Marseille with Le Manoir pastry mastermind Benoit Blin, but there are more important lessons underneath to be learned, surrounding sustainable fish and the impending question of food availability in the UK.

‘Lots of our fish gets sent over to Europe at the moment,’ Gary explains, ‘but that could all change in a few months time, and if that’s the case, we’re going to have to learn to use it ourselves. In Marseille, bouillabaisse came about because fishermen needed to eat the fish they couldn’t sell. When the attractive stuff goes, what’s left? Often it’s the most delicious stuff that isn’t necessarily fashionable or easy to use.’

For their bouillabaisse-inspired starter, Gary has given the chefs a choice of sustainable British fish and seafood. There’s no turbot, salmon or sea bass, no lobster or langoustine – instead, the chefs will need to get to grips with fish like coley, ling, gurnard and hake, as well as local shellfish like mussels, clams and scallops.

For the main course, the chefs will be tackling another traditional British ingredient – suckling pig. Pigs have been reared and eaten in the UK for centuries, and suckling pig is as traditional a delicacy as we have in this country. The chefs will be required to prepare a dish that includes one braised cut of pork (this can be prepared prior to the competition) and one other cut that must be cooked on the day. ‘It’s a great exercise in nose-to-tail cooking,’ Gary explains. ‘To take something like suckling pig and get the best out of it – crisp crackling, perfectly-done meat – takes real skill.’

It’s a similar story for the dessert course – the chefs will be working with British pears, and Gary is encouraging them to explore different varieties, all of which have slightly different flavours, textures, acidity and sweetness. ‘Pear season is a bit late this year,’ he remarks. ‘That adds to the challenge for these guys because they probably need to wait a couple of weeks before they can really start working out what they’re going to do.’

Come the day of the final, the finalists will have two hours to prepare their dishes for the judges. Although they can prepare lots of things in advance, the chefs know they have to show their skill on the day – it’s a hectic few hours, fraught with tension. The chefs get a commis chef each to help them, who is allowed to help with prep but cannot cook anything. This in itself adds another dimension to the competition; the chefs aren’t solely judged on the quality of their food, they’re also judged on how they conduct themselves over the course of the whole day. ‘We have lots of people backstage watching how the chefs work,’ Gary explains. ‘That’s really important stuff – if a chef isn’t working in a safe way, if they’re not respectful to their commis chef, that all goes towards the final result.’

Many a great chef has fallen foul of the pressure of National Chef of the Year finals day. Preparing your dishes alongside your normal restaurant hours is a gruelling ask for everyone involved, and it’s rare that a chef comes in and wins the competition at the first time of asking. For 2013 winner Hayden Groves, his victory came on his fourth attempt at the competition, and many others have returned multiple times before making the final ten. Pressure creates diamonds, so the saying goes, and that is absolutely true of National Chef of the Year. ‘I think the pressure is really important,’ says Gary in closing. ‘Life as a chef is pressurised – the more adept you become at dealing with pressure, the better you will be as a chef. You’ve got to be comfortable with that feeling of being under pressure, be calm and collected in that situation. Lots of National Chef of the Year winners have been here multiple times before – each time they come back with a better understanding of themselves, better skills and more knowledge.’

National Chef of the Year is about the journey, in that sense, rather than the destination. ‘These chefs are going to be the best in the business going forward,’ he says in closing. ‘These are the next leaders of the industry, so we need to do our bit in mentoring them and helping them become the best they can be.’