Kathryn King | 18th June 2010
Cooking class no place for the camera-shy
TEAM WORK: Sophie Couper (left) and Aysha-June Leith work together to make the marinated rainbow kebabs as Maggi crew for Studio 23 cameraman Rowan Oswald captures the action.
Nerves were running extra high in Wanganui Intermediate School's cooking class yesterday.
Cooking in front of a television camera for the Maggi Intermediate Schools Kitchen Showdown can have that effect.
But not an egg was dropped as The WISKS - Wanganui Intermediate Schools' Kooking Stars, made up of amateur chefs Tessa Mitchell-Anyon, Sophie Couper, Kama Broughton and team captain Aysha-June Leith chopped, mixed and measured ingredients for their shot at stardom.
After weeks of practising their assigned dishes from the jointly compiled menu, the girls had 50 minutes to put together the best vegetable stir-fry on rice, rainbow kebabs with meat marinade, broccoli and cauliflower cheese and custard tarts with fruit they could make.
The process of creating the meals, which had to include some Maggi products, was filmed for the internet, where people will be able to vote for their favourite team.
On August 6, The WISKS will travel to Wellington to compete in the regional cook-off against 19 other schools in the lower North Island.
Each team will have to prepare and cook the main meal it has submitted with its entry to the competition. At each stage of the Regional Cook-Off, teams will be given a mystery ingredient or utensil that they will have to incorporate into their dish.
The teams will be whittled down by a process of elimination until there is a winner.
One team will be chosen from the 60 competing schools in the upper northern, lower northern and southern regions, to compete in the national finals in Christchurch.
A fourth team will be chosen by popular vote as a "wild card" entry.
The winning team will receive $5000 for their school and will appear on the Erin Simpson Show, where clips of the members making their meals will also be shown.
Making the broccoli and cauliflower cheese, Tessa said it was a tasty and cheesy dish, and she should know - she can't remember how many times she has made it in preparation.
Cutting the meat, pepper and mushroom for the rainbow kebabs, Sophie said she had only made the dish about four times, but she was feeling confident and wasn't too put off by the camera.
"I know what I'm doing. Being filmed is the cool part."
As team captain, Aysha-June was charged with making the stir-fry and the meat marinade.
"I love cooking, I cook dinner every Saturday night, and breakfast. I make French toast, it's kind of a tradition in our house. And I bake at weekends too. I love baking things that I haven't done before."
Having made the stir-fry both at home and twice a week for about three weeks in home economics class, Aysha-June had perfected her timing for cooking the stir-fry.
"I've had heaps of trial and error on this one," she said.
Finishing off the menu with a sweet treat was left to Tessa, who had been churning out custard tarts for her family for weeks.
"I really wanted to do desserts. I like doing baking. I bake a lot at home."
Each school's video, recipe and profile will be online on Friday, July 1. People can vote for their favourite school online at www.erinsimpsonshow.tv
Kathryn King | 18th June 2010
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