On Wednesday I was invited to the launch of Cully & Sully's latest project; Chef Factor. This is their amazing competition which could win you a place on the Ballymaloe Cookery School 12 week certificate course, including accommodation and a set of chef's knives.

As part of the launch, we were treated to a cooking demonstration by Ivan Whelan, Cully & Sully's chef who creates most of their dishes. He cooked a delicious meal of lamb t-bones (or loin chops) and saffron, cardamon, and pink peppercorn cous cous, served with white turnips and rainbow chard and a Bernaise sauce. While he cooked Cully tried to write down the recipe to share with us later.

While we were eating, we were shown a couple of videos, that explain how the competition works. You create your signature dish and take a picture of you and it, making sure that the words Cully & Sully are somewhere in the shot. Then you upload it to the Chef Factor website and write a paragraph about why you should win and another paragraph about your signature dish. There will then be a public vote, of which the top 2 entries will go to the final with a third person, hand picked by Cully and Scully.

The 3 finalists will then compete in a cook-off judged by, amoungst others, Darina and Rachel Allen. This video explains it a little better than I can.

I spent the rest of the evening chatting with Cully, Sully, Ivan and the other food bloggers and planning what dish I should cook for the competition.