Gabby Sanders remembers trying to help her mum in the kitchen when she was a little girl was probably “quite annoying”.
But fast forward 20 years and that curiosity in the kitchen has paid off – next month she will be in Melbourne representing the South Island in the grand finals of the 2022 Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award.
Sanders, 23, won gold at the regional heats to qualify for the grand finals, held at Ara Institute of Canterbury, where she is studying towards a diploma in cookery level 5.
She received gold for her two-course menu of hoisin glaze pork, black vinegar dumpling and umami broth and a dessert of chai spice cake with pear, coffee, pecan and white chocolate.
“It was surreal, it didn’t actually feel real because I wasn’t expecting it to happen at all,” Sanders said.
She had competed in the heats last year, narrowly missing out on bronze so wanted to really push herself this year.
Sanders will be competing against 12 other chefs, with one other chef from the North Island and the rest from all over Australia.
“I’d be able to go out and immerse myself in the food culture in Christchurch and around New Zealand a wee bit more which would be fantastic as well.”
While Sanders has always had an interest in cooking, she never considered it to be her professional career.
After leaving Lincoln High School, Sanders worked full-time at a supermarket, still figuring out what she wanted to do.
Her co-worker Jeremy, who was going through a career change to be a chef, encouraged her to study cookery, so she decided to give it a go and enrolled at Ara.
Sanders said she is still in contact with Jeremy and he was stoked to hear about her securing a spot in the grand finals competition.
Sanders said her mother is an “amazing” cook and growing up, she was encouraged to eat like an adult and try new things.
“We’d always be pushed to try new things. As a kid some of my favourite foods were blue cheese and pâté and olives which lots of kids don’t really enjoy.
“I really like how food sort of brings people together, it’s something to enjoy with a group.”
Sanders lives with her partner in St Albans and when asked if they enjoy her cooking she laughed.
“You’d think so but we eat a lot of curries and baked beans and stuff, just general easy dinners.”
Although, she did say she’s been enjoying cooking heavy, richer meals during the colder weather, such as lamb shanks and beef stew.
She said the most challenging thing to cook is anything she’s unfamiliar with as it can take a while to get her head around it.
“I think the hardest thing to make is probably something you’re too scared to have a go at . . . [but] the only thing worse than messing something up is just not trying in the first place.”
Sanders is “hesitantly confident” for the grand finals and while she’s excited to give it a go, she’s also still processing it all.
During the regional heats, chefs were judged on presentation, taste and the use of ingredients down to how clean they are in the kitchen, general food handling and how much food they waste.
“You’re being watched the whole time, it’s a bit scary,” Sanders said.
For each competition, chefs are given a set ingredient list which they have to build their menu around.
Sanders said she likes to sit down and brainstorm what flavours would work well together then, with the help of her tutors, figure out the best way to execute each piece of the dish.
“You can always tweak it and improve it and everyone’s taste is different,” she said.
“It’s a group effort to get something down that majority of people would enjoy eating.”
Sanders works on what the dish will look like last, once she’s nailed the taste.
“The way it tastes is the most important because it could look amazing and just taste awful and there’s not much point in that.”
As for kitchen fails, nothing sprung to mind for Sanders, although she admitted she has dropped and burnt her fair share of things.
“When you mess something up it’s how you deal with it and make it work in the end, it’s always a really good learning experience because when you make a big mistake you’re always going to remember it and not do it again.”
Outside of study, Sanders works part-time at The Monday Room as a commis chef, a job she scored from completing work experience there as part of her study.
As a commis chef, Sanders assists the other chefs with food preparation, particularly working on entrées and desserts, although she said she likes to give everything a go.
When Sanders graduates she said she’s open to moving around a bit and maybe spending some time overseas but for now she is happy where she is, doing what she loves.
