WHS students pack out the podium at cooking competition
Britney Walsh, Caitlyn Butlin, Zoe Henry Watson and Kelahn Te Awhe (back) with their medals.
The road to Hell’s Kitchen begins at home and is paved with toffee-broccoli cupcakes and omelettes full of beetroot, radish and raspberries, say four local student chefs who are seeing success in competitions nationwide.
Most recently, Whanganui High School year 11 and 12 students took all three medal positions in both of the categories they entered at the NZ Chefs Horowhenua Taste Trail cooking competition in Levin on November 24.
The wins are the latest in a string of successes that have seen members of the foursome take medals at local, regional and national levels in their age group.
In the Woodhaven Gardens Inspired Omelette category- Secondary School competitors were required to cook and present two individually plated omelettes featuring three Woodhaven Gardens products and two products from any other Horowhenua Taste Trail producer.
In this event Kelahn Te Awhe won a gold medal; Zoe Henry Watson won silver, while Britney Walsh won a bronze medal.
In the ‘From the Garden’ inspired Cupcakes category, secondary school competitors were required to display four iced cupcakes using the theme ‘From the Garden’.
In this event Caitlyn Butlin won gold; Britney won silver and Kelahn won bronze.
Grant Kitchen and Sonia Martin were the chief judges from a panel of eight.
Competition is open to secondary school students years 9 – 10 or years 11 – 13 studying Hospitality and / or studying NZQA Unit Standards at Levels 1, 2, or 3. Together the team won almost $2000 in prize money, $1000 of which goes to the school and will be used to purchase new equipment for the cooking rooms. This was sponsored by Woodhaven Gardens.
“The omelette category was a real challenge because of the demanding ingredient specifications,” says the foursome’s teacher, Linda Hardcastle, “It’s difficult enough putting together a delicious omelette with that many ingredients.”
The cupcake brief was also unusual and inspired some unique moments of creativity including Kelahn’s toffee-broccoli cupcake – with broccoli floret sprouting from the icing; and a unique “Tea in the Rose Garden” recipe concept by Caitlyn, which employed rose jam, rose petals and Earl Grey tea.
The competition ran as one of the events on the Horowhenua Taste Trail schedule in Levin, which saw massive numbers throughout and a large audience for the students’ work. The event takes participants on a tour through the Horowhenua’s specialist food producers and gives visitors the opportunity to visit pack houses, farms and sheds in the region to witness how their food is being produced and taste the products.
All four are passionate students in the kitchen and spend “most of their free time playing in the school cooking labs”, including after school when they love to experiment with new recipes and techniques. They are no strangers to competitions. This year the students have in total, gained 10 golds, 11 silver and 11 bronze medals at NZ Chefs competitions around the country.
River City Press 6/12/18