What could be better for a chef than winning a gold medal for their signature dishes?
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Winning two.
Back in 2022 the Ensign reported on young Benalla chef Windi May winning two medals in the Les Toques Blanches Awards for excellence.
And four years later she’s at it again, this time winning two gold medals at regional and state level through her college.
Windi studies at the Holmsglen Institute, Werribee campus.
She was invited by her lecturers to enter a regional competition on June 17.
“Our teacher asked if we would be interested to joining a competition,” Windi said.
“We had to make a dish using a whole chicken.
“Including the bone.We needed to use both the dark and the white meat, and they see how much waste we have after.”
Windi decided to make a dish inspired by south Asian cuisine.
She called it a grilled chicken maryland served with fragrant coconut rice and Asian coconut sauce, with a fresh kaffir lime herb salad and traditional crispy peanuts.
“The sauce might look like a curry to people, but it has a bit of a twist,” she said.
Windi’s dish used tamarind and fish sauce, which she said she had never used in a curry,
“I didn’t even use salt,” she said.
“I brought my own equipment to make it. They have equipment, but I trust mine.
“I did a few practises, then on the big day I just winged it.
“We had a presentation at 6pm, so I had to be ready.”
Windi was nervous when she placed second in the first round.
However, she then placed first for the best flavour dish.
Pleased with the result, Windi thought that was the only competition and was ready to get back to studying.
“Then I got an email,” she said.
“It said on July 2 we have another practice.
“I asked my teacher, ‘what for?’
“The teacher said, ‘I didn’t tell you guys, but there’s another competition’.”
It turns out that the best placed students in the regional competition were going to take part in a state competition on July 4.
“The first one was all students from our school,” she said.
“The second was 51 students from different states around Australia. I was so nervous.”
So, with butterflies in her stomach, Windi turned up at the school’s Moorabbin campus, where her teacher told her to get prepped.
Some students had come the day before to prepare, but that wasn’t an option for Windi, who had to do it all on the day.
“We had a briefing and were given a raffle number to decide when we cook,” she said.
“I had a 1pm start.”
Windi had to make the exact same dish as in the previous competition, but with a twist.
The chicken they had to use was half the size.
“At school we used one kilo. In the competition, we used 500 grams.
“It's such a tiny bird, and we had to work it out to make two main course out of that. It was really challenging.
“I also needed to make a dessert.
“I made something based off Indonesian cuisine, like a steam cake.
“It took a bit of time to perfect it, as during my practice my teacher told me it was a bit dry.
“So, with little time, I had to make sure it was moist and soft.
“I made everything from scratch, in just two hours.”
She said the challenge was making sure it was crispy.
“It turned out well,” she said.
“One thing I'm proud of as well during the competition is that it didn't go the way I wanted.
“But I stayed positive because I want this to be perfect.
“I think I forgot a few things, but I didn’t tell them.
“But it worked so well. It smelled so good, and tasted good too.”
And the judges agreed, with Windi winning yet another gold.
“I was never expecting to win, and there were so many students.
“This competition taught me so much.
“It's not just about being awarded a medal, it's about learning, growing, building confidence, making connection, networking and meeting other students from different schools and university, learning from each other's experience and different cooking styles.”