Six of the Best: Yorkshire Post's Yorkshire Food & Drink Show

Cooking School

Sunday 11.30am-12.30p0pm

Sessions are being provided by cooks from The Carlton School of Food, Malton Cookery School and Jamies Ministry of Food on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. At 11.30pm, chef Rekha Sonigra, owner of

Frank Jay, owner of the Chilli-Shop, holds a vile of Death Cap, a 13 million scoville rated chilli extract enclosed within mock grenade packaging, in the Merrion Centre, Leeds, West Yorkshire. See Ross Parry Copy RPYCHILLI: Housed in a grenade, never a good sign, the little vial of Death Cap engineered chilli extract hits 13,000,000 units on the Scoville scale - making it the hottest substance on sale in the UK. That means, for all those uninitiated, that for every single drop of this hellish stuff it would take 13m drops of water to neutralise the heat. If that doesn't drive home the brutish nature of this unbelievably hot substance then maybe the fact it is six times stronger than the standard UK police pepper spray might. And, according to the man peddling this steamy stuff, it is twice the heat of chemical weapons.

Mango Restaurant in Wetherby will be showing a classic vegetarian dish and how to get the most out of spices.

Then at 12.30pm, there will be a session from Simon Chappela, head tutor at

Jamie’s Leeds - Ministry of Food. Simon will be demonstrating his sizzling beef recipe in a black bean sauce. Take our advice and don’t eat before you go.

Greek Classic

Sunday 1.30pm

George Psarias, the inimitable director of The Olive Tree restaurant, which is now based in Headingley, will be cooking up two Greek classic hummus dips, plus The Olive Tree’s famous Lamb Cleftiko dish.

George Psarias is a Greek Cypriot but moved to England aged 16. He worked in management before deciding to open a restaurant with his wife Vasoulla. The couple have two children and two grandchildren. George has appeared on Marco Pierre White’s Kitchen Wars in 2012 and is a world record holder for smashing 89 plates in 30 seconds.

Take a look at a video of last year’s show here.

NAWN. Chef Rekha Sonigsa right, and her daughter Upasana from Wetherby's vegetarian Indian Restaurant Mango, proudly show off their award after winning best curry at the Leeds Curry Awards. 110629ARpic2.

Beer & Cocktails

Saturday 2.30pm & 5.30pm

Who doesn’t like combining food and drink. After all, they’re best pals, as Leeds Brewery pub The Lamb and Flag head chef Andrew Cherry will be demonstrating at 2.30pm, with a scrumptious sounding gratinated goats cheese and Midnight Bell caramelized onion tart in a crystal malt shortcrust pastry, with beetroot and tomato salad also glazed ribs with gathering storm BBQ sauce. Now that is a mouthful. At 5.30pm, cocktail specialists Adam Ketteringham and John Quinlan will be asking the audience to help them make the perfect cocktail.

Italian Connection

8 April 2016 ....... Vasoulla and George Psarias at The Olive Tree in Headingley.
Ch4 programme called "Too Many Cooks" which will broadcast next Friday involves three couples cooking and competing for a prize at the Leeds Restaurant. Picture Tony Johnson — 8 April 2016 ....... Vasoulla and George Psarias at The Olive Tree in Headingley. Ch4 programme called "Too Many Cooks" which will broadcast next Friday involves three couples cooking and competing for a prize at the Leeds Restaurant. Picture Tony Johnson

Saturday 4.30pm

Headingley-based Salvo’s present ‘Cucina Povera’ - the ‘poor cuisine’ of the South of Italy, which utilizes cheap ingredients but delivers great tasting food.

Gip and Salvo Dammone, father and son team, will demonstrate how easy it is to produce a great plate for less than a pound per person with a few ingredients found in most kitchens.

They will be demonstrating a delicious meal with a few store cupboard staples, such as an onion, a spud or two and a pack of pasta.

What’s not to love?

Chilli Eating Contest

Date:19th November 2015. Picture James Hardisty.
YEP Photo Essay.......Salvo's Restaurant & Salumeria, Otley Rd, Leeds. Pictured Young chef Salvo Dammone, preparing some Belly Pork, watched by his father Gip Dammone. — Date:19th November 2015. Picture James Hardisty. YEP Photo Essay.......Salvo's Restaurant & Salumeria, Otley Rd, Leeds. Pictured Young chef Salvo Dammone, preparing some Belly Pork, watched by his father Gip Dammone.

sunday 2.30pm

They say some like it hot but not many can hold a flame to Frank Jay, director of the Chilli Shop in the Merrion Centre. Frank will be holding a chilli eating competition on stage at this year’s event - this is a fiercely contested challenge to end the festival in a hot demonstration. Eight contestants (or victims as he call them - plus some on standby), will take part in the public showdown, on Sunday at 2.30pm. If you would like to take part, contact the Chilli-Shop in the Leeds Merrion Centre or via website chilli-shop.co.uk. The competition involves eating increasingly hot chillies until one person is left standing.

Cookery Demonstration

Saturday 1.30pm

The Yorkshire Post Food and Drink Show 2016 is the flagship event of the Leeds Food and Drink Festival and is now in its sixth year. It’s a foodies’ delight and the show is completely free to the public. On Saturday, chef Kevin Hughes, tutor at Leeds City College will have two students joining him on stage during his demonstrations, Ellie Cooper and Alex Devaney.

Ellie is in the Academy of Excellence VRQ Level 2 diploma in professional cookery and has recently won silver for the hot starter class at the NECTA awards. Alex is first year Academy of Excellence VRQ Level 1 diploma, with a passion for front of house.