Ailsa dishes up a recipe for success

But Mary Erskine pupil Ailsa Pack is showing other teens how it's done after creating a delicious dish that will appear on the menu of a busy city restaurant in the run-up to Christmas.

Ailsa, 14, won the inaugural Channings Schools Cookery Challenge with her main course of stuffed fillet of Scottish pork, wrapped in Ayrshire bacon, with crushed Rooster potatoes and apple sauce. The winning dish, along with Ailsa's name, age and school, will feature on the Channings dinner menu for two weeks, starting from tomorrow.

In August, the four-star hotel in Stockbridge invited every school in the Capital to submit recipes for a dish created from no more than five Scottish ingredients for less than 5, which had to serve three to four people.

The judging panel included Channings' head chef Karen Higgins, general manager of Channings, Ngaire Stanaway, and TV presenter Stephen Jardine.

As part of her prize, Ailsa, who lives in Liberton with her parents and twin sister Catriona, was invited to the Channings kitchen to prepare her dish under Mrs Higgins' watchful eye. She said: "I really enjoy cooking at home and at school so it was a real treat to have the chance to work in a professional kitchen with Karen.

"It'll be great to see my dish on the menu - I just hope that people enjoy eating it as much as I enjoyed making it."

Ailsa, who would like to be a chef when she leaves school, was told about the competition by her home economics teacher at Mary Erskine School.

Judges selected three finalists from the 15 entries, before deciding that Ailsa deserved to be crowned the overall winner.

The other finalists, who will all win a family lunch at Channings, were Cara McLeod, 12, from Boroughmuir High School, and Ruairi Gray, 16, a pupil at George Heriot's School.

Mr Jardine, who presents STV show The Hour with Michelle McManus, came along to sample Ailsa's dish.

He said: "Outside London, Edinburgh is now the food capital of the UK and it was really encouraging to discover we have so many budding young chefs in our midst.

"The standard of entries was very high and it was great to see the youngsters supporting the idea of using local and seasonal produce. Ailsa is a worthy winner."

Ailsa's mum, Sue Midgley, said: "I'm very proud of Ailsa. She enjoys cooking and it's nice to have been given this opportunity."