Gosset Matchmakers 2025 Winners: The Dysart Petersham’s Darryl and Ché

Congratulations, Darryl and Ché, for winning the 10^th anniversary Gosset Matchmakers competition held at Cord by Le Cordon Bleu. 

Darryl is a senior chef de partie with Roux Scholar Head Chef, Kenneth Culhane, and Ché is a junior sommelier with MD, Barny Taylor, at The Dysart Petersham. 

Chef judge, Michael Nizzero, described their dish:

 “the standout dish of the day’, perfectly complementing Gosset’s Grande Réserve.”  

The competition is about the special satisfaction to be gained from the thoughtful and insightful pairing of wine and food, enhancing the special character of each and creating an experience greater than the sum of even these special parts. 

This is of central importance to us at The Dysart Petersham. For us it is all about creating single team, an experience for our customers, about people coming together to eat an interesting, pleasing, relaxed, healthy and balanced meal, appealing to all the senses.  

Our customers often ask us about the inspirations for a dish, where the ingredients come from, the flavour combinations and what it is that leads us to choose the wine and other pairings. It is always a pleasure to see the interest and the enjoyment of what we have put together, on the plate, in the glass – all part of an experience here and all underpinned by a commitment to sustainability.

Facing stiff competition, Darryl and Ché said:

“We did think about playing it safe, of course, but where is the challenge and fun in that, so we experimented with lots of flavours with this Gosset Champagne; we wanted to draw on our experience, to be creative and to learn, all at the same time.”

“So, we decided to go for it, diving in with some unexpected flavours and ingredients in the dish, chosen to highlight the character we appreciated in this wine: the combination of the bright, floral and toasted yeast and savoury flavours” 

“Aiming to please the palate, the eye and the nose, all the senses, we brought together:

• fish not meat, monkfish having the right ‘meatiness’ to work with the champagne, dry-cured for nearly an hour in seaweed, salt and sugar, then well rinsed off
• flavours of Japan with a hint of Mexican influence, to bring out the floral notes 
• seaweed and spices from regular diners at The Dysart Petersham, toasted nori complementing the toasted yeast note 
• spice oil, combined with cumin, adding a complex and aromatic element to the dish, further layering the flavours and adding dimension for the sense of smell 
• Kafir Lime & Ginger Champagne dressing, with high acidity, refreshing aromatics,  the effervescent champagne brightening the entire dish
• a crunchy element in the dish with a Tuile of buckwheat flour, topped with toasted ground almonds to enhance the savoury profile of the yeast and add another layer of texture
• herbs we are growing in the garden at The Dysart Petersham this year’.

The dish: 

Steamed Monkfish Rolled in Celtic Mustard and Nori 

Served with Kafir Lime & Ginger Champagne Dressing, Spice Oil, Black Mooli, and Buckwheat & Almond Tuile.

Darryl and Che were undoubtedly adventurous in their use of  a wide range of spices, herbs and flavours and showed how it is possible to do so to subtle effect, creating rich, deep, complex layers and after testing them all from the key perspective of what would go well with the champagne: cumin, ginger, 2 varieties of chilli, allspice, cloves, fennel seeds, mace, star anise, cinnamon, annatto seeds, ground almonds.

On the day of the final, they also had to use their skills to create, without any notice, a dish from surprise ingredients, including Creedy Carver duck, to complement a surprise Champagne, Champagne Gosset 12 Ans de Cave a Minima Rosé. They created another winning dish around its individual character.

Darryl and Ché started by experimenting with flavour combinations and chose ones to complement the spice notes in the wine.

They roasted and glazed the duck and served it with a spice-poached plum and leek fondue; on the side, a salad of crispy leg meat  and offal, turnip, cabbage, candied walnuts and herbs, with a dressing made with sumac and Dijon mustard. 

The judges praised them for the sustainability underlying their approach to both dishes:

• using monkfish caught sustainably from Cornwall
• choosing to use all the parts of the duck in a salad, wasting nothing
• choosing humble ingredients and elevating them to the ‘special’
• drawing on the kitchen garden, with wild sorrel leaves and flowers, lemon verbena, chervil, lemon thyme.

“Luckily, we are used to experimenting together with wine and dish pairing, in a working environment where there is a strong team ethos led by Barny and Ken, where kitchen and front of house always work together, tasting wines and brainstorming combinations of ingredients to create new dishes as the seasons change and for our regular wine dinners where we create dishes and menus around specific wine producers, some of whom have been very surprised and pleased by the ideas. The sustainability of what we do and create is always in our minds and the ethos of all of us in the kitchen is to waste nothing.  ”   

This was a great experience for them.

The prizes: a magnum of Gosset Blanc de Blancs each and a visit in the new year to Champagne Gosset. 

All of us at The Dysart Petersham are proud of them.  Well done!