First-year apprentice baker Declan Cheong of Hungie Fangs Artisan Bakery has won gold at The Great Aussie Pie Competition.
The 17-year-old’s honey mustard chicken pie creation took out the top spot in the apprentice category against entrants from across every Australian state and territory.
“I didn’t even know I was making it for the competition ... (but) winning helps a lot with my future,” he said.
“It was a little bit of an original (idea) for here as well.”
He started at Hungie Fangs via a school-based apprenticeship one day a week, but decided during the COVID-19 pandemic that going full-time would be a better option.
Declan explained the competition would improve his already bright future career prospects, both within Australia and potentially overseas.
“It’ll help with my ranking and name around the country,” he said.
‘I want to finish my apprenticeship first and then after that, maybe go travelling around Europe and see the bakers there and learn from them as well.“
Hungie Fangs has also won medals for eight other bakery creations including two golds: one for a gourmet lasagne pie and one for a butter chicken pie.
The bakery’s other goods that received awards included its pepper, Pacific Ocean, cauliflower and steak diane pies.
Head baker Damien Gow said the team had only begun participating in the competition last year and had come a long way since then.
“It’s a national competition, which is extremely hard to get a gold medal, and to score three is just fantastic,” he said.
“The world’s his oyster really ... I thought we’d take out an overall award with young Declan here, but he was runner-up nationally.”
“We’ve got the second best apprentice pie maker in Australia and we can say that quite proudly.”
The competition awards points based on quality, with items reaching particular point thresholds being awarded gold automatically.
Items awarded gold are then re-assessed and ranked to award the top items in each category, which is how Declan won gold for his pie and came second in the overall apprentice division.
As for the future, Damien said Hungie Fangs would continue on with its mission to bring delicious baked goods and treats to Cobram.
“We’ll get our name out there and just putter along,” he said.