Trio takes home medals from national cook-off

Three Charles Darwin University cookery students have won silver and bronze at the Australian Culinary Federation Fonterra Foodservice National Apprentice Competition.

Their challenge was to prepare a piece of lamb in whichever fashion they chose – as long as their dishes came in at less than $10 a serve.

The medal-winning Certificate III in Commercial Cookery students included William Wilkes, who won silver in the first-year apprentice category, Maria Hoad won bronze for second-year apprentice and international culinary student Wing Yan Kam who went home with bronze in the culinary student category.

To earn silver, William cooked lamb rump done into a roulade, a tasty mix of vegetables, pumpkin puree and a red wine and cranberry jus.

“The lecturers here (at CDU) really helped the three of us to prepare thoroughly for the competition,” William said.

“We had a couple of run-throughs with our lecturer Antonio, which was very good and helpful, but there were still some nerves when we got to Sydney.”

Commercial cookery lecturer Antonio Tjung said the Palmerston campus teaching team strongly encouraged students to take part in regional and national competitions.

“We often assist them to train and prepare for competitions because we believe competitions give students a great opportunity for personal and professional development and to network with others,” he said.