BENDIGO lost its Great Chop Off title after a tense cook-off between students from BRIT and the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE, as part of the Festival of Lamb yesterday. The two teams of four, made up of hospitality and butchery students and their teachers, were given 35 minutes to turn a hanging lamb carcass from Erindale Farm into a scrumptious plate of lamb chops.“It was very close,” Festival of Lamb organiser Rebecca Norman said. “But NMIT mixed up the menu.”The inventive team added not just the requisite lamb chops but a Greek lamb souvlaki and ribs.The event took place in front of onlookers at Bendigo Marketplace and judges Al Shield, from Star FM, and a local chef watched as the two teams butchered the meat, trimmed it and marinated the pieces in a fully equipped kitchen set up for the show.The NMIT team took home lunch for four at Whirrakee and a lamb trophy.More lamb-related activities are taking off this weekend as part of the Sheep & Wool Show – Farmer Meets a Chef pairs sheep farmers with local chefs and Junior MasterChef will pit Bendigo’s top junior chefs against local media personalities in a cook-off.