Cooking tasty burger creations

Two Hawke's Bay high school students cooked their way into the record books at EIT yesterday, as part of an annual battle of the burgers competition.

The annual Hawke's Bay Regional Secondary school Burger Competition at EIT attracted high school students in both junior and senior divisions to flip their own creative take of a beef or lamb burger.

Sophisticated ingredients and flavour combinations set winners - Woodford House student Izzy Mickleson, 16, and Sacred Heart College's Sinead Hegarty, 14, - apart from the rest, said New Zealand Lamb and Beef nutritionist and marketing co-ordinator Fiona Greig.

"Just everything came together nicely - they were very methodical," she said. "The competition improves year on year so the standards just keep increasing."

Year 11 student Izzy cooked a pure angus beef burger with blue cheese dressing and beetroot chutney, kumara rosti and rocket salad. "They are things I love but also I had an idea that I wanted to encourage people to try new flavours," she said. "Lots of people will hear blue cheese and say 'oh no, I'm fine thanks,' but with the blue cheese and kumara it's just divine, and I wanted people to try that."

Sinead's creation was a lamb burger with mint dressing, onion jam and a spinach and seed salad on a Turkish bap. "I chose those flavours just to be different, and also I wanted to make the portion size appropriate with some nutritional value," the Year 10 student said.

Both girls won a $150 Stevens voucher, a New Zealand Beef and Lamb cookbook and will compete at the national competition in Auckland this September.