UCOL cooks bring home the bacon

Media Release

Friday 23 August 2013

UCOL cooks bring home the bacon

UCOL Cookery student Kirsten Moffitt’s future career in the kitchen seems set. The 16 year old scored a gold medal and first place in the Trainee Soup class at the New Zealand Culinary Fare in Auckland over the weekend.

It was Kirsten’s first live cookery competition and she took the top title with her Pumpkin and Truffle Oil soup with smoked bacon foam.

Kirsten is a Youth Guarantee student who completed a Certificate in Professional Cookery Level 3 in Semester One and is mid-way through a Certificate in Baking and Pastry.

Lauren Birch cooked against industry chefs and won the Wine and Food Match Open Class with a silver medal. The Certificate in Professional Cookery Level 4 student, recreated a similar Beef Open dish to the one that won her gold at the Wellington Culinary Fare in May and teamed it with a Shiraz. Her Cervena Venison Open Class dish scored her a bronze and a commendable second place.

Certificate in Professional Cookery Level 4 student Cat Drinnan lived up to her name and caught a Fish and Seafood Open class Silver for her paua, hapuka and prawn dish.

UCOL Chef Tutor and team manager Mark Smith says he is very proud of how well the students performed in such a high pressure environment. “Despite the judging being very tough this year, everyone brought home a medal,” he says. “Their success exceeded our expectations.”

Not to be outdone by his students, Palmerston North Chef tutor Warren McKenzie won the Open Beef class with silver and defended his Open Duck class title with a silver medal.

UCOL Wairarapa cookery students Thomas Pepper and Cheryl-Kay Phillips scored well in their respective classes.

Thomas gained a silver medal in the Trainee Pasta category with his Beetroot and Feta stuffed Ravioli. Cheryl-Kay collected silver for her seared beef fillet with pumpkin puree and glazed baby vegetables in the Open Beef class.

ENDS

Notes for Reporters:

Youth Guarantee Scholars receive a year of study fees paid, course related costs where applicable, and mentoring and support to increase the chances of successful programme completion. Youth Guarantee students can be enrolled in a full year or two six month conjoint options which provide a pathway. There are 16 level one to three programmes with allocated spaces for Youth Guarantee scholars, and UCOL provides Youth Guarantee students the opportunity to study programmes that include vocational pathway unit standards to obtain NCEA level 2.

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