By Belinda Nolan
KARL Edmonds’ love of food has always served him well.
Now the St Albans chef is hoping his cooking finesse will take him to even greater heights as he competes for a spot in the Culinary Olympics, which will be held in Germany later this year.
The 21-year-old was awarded first place in the Nestle Golden Chef’s Hat Award after a regional cook-off this month.
Mr Edmonds and his cooking partner Dylan Sanding cooked up a storm against eight other teams to take out the top honours.
The St Albans resident is a second-year apprentice at the Victorian Arts Centre Restaurant.
On arriving at the venue on the day of the event, the junior chef was presented with a range of ingredients, which he had to use to create a three-course meal for four people.
Mr Edmond tackled the dessert, while his teammate took on the main courses.
“I came up with a passionfruit souffle, a passionfruit parfait and a strawberry jelly with a bit of sugar spring garnish,” Mr Edmond said.
Although he admits his slightly unconventional take on traditional desserts may not be to everyone’s taste, the judges were clearly impressed, singling the duo out for praise at the awards ceremony.
“We were the first regional people to get a gold medal in the last three years so they were pretty pleased about that,” he said.
The apprentice said although being put on the spot was quite a challenge, it was one he was used to in his line of work.
“It’s quite nerve-racking in the beginning but then you start to put your head down and forget about all that and just focus on cooking,” he said. “You just have to get moving because you’re working against the clock.”
Mr Edmonds said he had been thinking about a career in cooking for the past six or seven years and often practised his skills at home.
Having qualified first in the regional competition, Mr Edmonds and his team are looking forward to competing at the national titles in September.
If they are successful, it will be on to the Olympics.
Mr Edmonds said that to win he had to learn to trust in his own abilities.
“You have to be confident,” he said. “You can’t think negative. You always have to believe in yourself or you won’t get anywhere.”
