THE Professional Chef of the Year in the inaugural Great East Lothian Menu competition has been named – while an 11-year-old from Humbie was commended for her homemade burger.

The Great East Lothian Menu celebrated the high-quality food and drink produced locally in the county. Winners of the competition were announced on November 12.

The competition judges were Peter Eccles, 2020’s Farmer of the Year and co-founder of Lothian Larder at Saughland Farm, Pathhead; Kylie Reid, founder of online community Egg; and David Jamieson, executive chef at Archerfield and East Lothian’s food tourism ambassador.

Brenda Pryde, from The Strawberry Barn, Dunbar, was named East Lothian Food and Drink Great East Lothian Menu Professional Chef of the Year.

Brenda won for her cappuccino semifreddo with Italian meringue, served under a candy floss cloud, with strawberry fraisier macarons, mango and passionfruit pâté de fruit sugar cube, tuile biscuit spoon and chocolate coffee bean.

The chef used ingredients from The Brand Family Larder, Fraiser of Scotland, Mungoswells, Yester Farm Dairies, Chocolate Tree, Brodies and The Strawberry Barn.

The judges said that her dish demonstrated “huge technique and stood out as something different; the stunning presentation caught everyone’s eye, and beyond everything else, everyone was desperate to taste it”.

Judge Kylie added: “Brenda Pryde’s skill and stunning presentation caught all of our eyes and had us desperate to taste it.”

In the professional category, chef Kate Lewis, from Lewis & Clarke, in Gifford, was highly commended for her pork belly, scallops and sweetcorn.

The Home Cook of the Year award went to Fiona Pollock for her lamb merguez-stuffed pumpkins, using ingredients from The Brand Family Larder and Kilduff Farm.

Judges were “delighted to see the sustainable use of pumpkins, which often get thrown away after Hallowe’en”.

Fiona will receive a £100 East Lothian gift card and a Commichef casserole dish, donated by Gibsons of Haddington.

Highly commended was 11-year-old Maisie Gordon, from Humbie, for her beef tandoori masala burger with coleslaw.

Judge David was so impressed by Maisie’s dish that he invited her to visit him for afternoon tea and spend time with him in the kitchen.

The judges were excited to see a young person so engaged with where her food came from that they awarded her £100.

David said: “I was intrigued to see how our competitors would combine their flavours and if they had taken any risks with their combinations.”

Peter added: “What stood out to me was that the entries really used the local produce; they took quality ingredients and enhanced them and ultimately came up with dishes that I would happily eat any day of the week.”

Emma Bouglet, business manager at organisers East Lothian Food and Drink, said: “Thank you to all those who submitted dishes in the first ever Great East Lothian Menu.

“We are incredibly inspired by the flavour combinations and innovation displayed by you all.

“It just goes to show the endless possibilities our producers provide us with.”