PONTIAC -- For a girl who is a big fan of television cook Paula Deen, the food demonstration event Thursday at the Livingston County 4-H Fair was the place to be.

Just as Deen talks viewers through preparing her Southern-style dishes on the Food Network, the four girls who competed Thursday had to multitask in front of an audience. Each girl had to speak for eight to 10 minutes while preparing a dish with multiple ingredients, said Angie Kratochvil, a superintendent for the event.

"It's a little more difficult than making your food project at home and then bringing it as an exhibit to the fair," Kratochvil said. "Not only do you have to speak, but you have to manipulate a lot of materials in front of you while you are speaking."

For Amy Follmer, 17, of Graymont that meant taking a page out of Deen's book literally. She turned to a Deen recipe for a pine cone cheeseball for the fair.

Her performance won her a trip to the Illinois State Fair along with fellow age-bracket champion Ashten Melton, 12, of Cullom.

"I think it went pretty well but I did practice different at home," Follmer said. "When you are in that situation you tend to repeat yourself and go blank."

Follmer said she and her family took a trip last summer to Savannah, Ga., specifically to eat at Deen's restaurant.

"I do like to cook, and my mom and dad taught me and we do different recipes," she said.

Kratochvil said the judge primarily looks for demonstration skills, sanitation, manipulation of the ingredients, speaking loudly and clearly, a nice finished project and general information about food, food preservation techniques and nutrition.

Melton won her age bracket with a chicken salad.

"I do like to cook, especially when your at home and being bored," Melton said.

She said she has been involved in 4-H for four years and has really enjoyed the experiences.

"It's fun, you have something to do and I like being around other kids to help them out," she said.

Other presenters were Gracie Metz, 11, of Cullom, who made an apple snickers salad, and Hadley Tucker, 11, of Pontiac who made kabobs.

All presenters received an A rating for their demonstrations.

The Livingston County 4-H fair will conclude today.