BATHGATE JAC duo Emma Inglis and Sarah Meikle have cooked their way to the top of the East region's Ready Steady Cook challenge.

Nine pairs took part in the competition, which happened on Wednesday, September 1, at Waid Academy, Anstruther.

Andy and Janet Peddie had the difficult task of judging an array of dishes based on the criteria of taste, texture, flavour, balance of dish, appearance, hygiene, tidiness, methodical preparation of the meal, technical skills and team work.

Read more: Ready, steady, cook! Young Farmers battle it out in cookery competition

The teams were given the allocated time to work up one, two, or three dishes from their bag of ingredients consisting of peppers, red onions, lamb mince – coinciding with the start of Love Lamb Week – bacon rashers, pasta and/or rice, mozzarella, crème fraiche, tinned tomatoes, tinned apricots and short crust pastry. The teams had access to key ingredients such as milk, flour, eggs, sugar, corn flour, salt, pepper and spices.

Runner-up place was awarded to Reston's pairing of Jennifer McCreath and Lauren Todd, and third place went to the Bell Baxter team of Emma Hamilton and Gregor Bousie.