STUDENTS pitted their culinary skills against one another to discover who were the best young chefs in town.

Eight catering students at Swindon College teamed up in pairs, each of whom had to prepare a meal for two in 90 minutes.

They were given a box of ingredients and had to use at least three different cooking methods. The food had to include at least one vegetable dish and one dish with potatoes or pulses.

The competition was sponsored for the second year running by catering firm Compass Group, which provided certificates for all the finalists and a signed copy of Formula for Flavour by Michelin starred chef John Campbell, who runs The Vineyard restaurant at Stockcross, near Newbury.

The winning team was Andrew Bagley, 17, from Cricklade and Steven Thompson, 17, from Wanborough.

The pair cooked oven-roasted chicken breast stuffed with onion, bacon, lentils and coriander. It was accompanied by steamed carrots, broccoli and stuffed mushrooms, served with couscous and baked jacket cheese potato in a basil sauce.

Swindon College head of catering Steve Matthews said: "The competition shows the excellent relations that we have in the catering industry and is of tremendous value to our students."

The judges were Mark Shackleford, who has 25 years of catering experience and works for Compass, and Kevin Higgs, executive chef at the Infineum restaurant in Abingdon.

Mr Shackleford said: "We have been so impressed at the standard of trainee chefs.

"We look at how the team has worked together, the working methods employed, catering skills, attention to hygiene issues, taste and presentation."