Southland Boys High School year 13 pupils Caleb Ridd and Ngakau Mckercher, both 17, won gold at the National Secondary School Culinary Challenge on August 23.
The boys competed against seven other regional winners in Auckland at the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT).
They had to cook and plate up four mains and four desserts in 90 minutes and had to use cauliflower and chicken for their main ingredients. Caleb said they spent nearly seven weeks preparing for the competition but the nerves did not arrive until it was time to cook.
"I wasn’t nervous leading up to it but when the big timer was on the screen I was sh------ myself . . . respectfully," he said.
Nonetheless, it was all smooth sailing until three-quarters of the way through the competition when the gas went out at MIT and their chicken was still uncooked.
However, because of the excellent knife skills Ngakau had displayed while butchering the chicken and their overall cleanliness, the boys received a gold medal for their efforts.
"We didn’t think we were going to get gold.
"We thought we were going to get bronze or something so we were pretty stoked," Caleb said.
Their catering teacher Louise Hitchcock — who had taught them for three years said she was jumping with joy when she found out they won a gold medal.
She planned on taking the pair to Dunedin to visit Otago Polytechnic Te Pukenga to have a look at the Bachelor of culinary arts degree and have a tour of Larnach Castle and their catering facilities today.
