While it may not have been cooking on an open camp fire, five groups of youngsters cooked up a storm at an annual culinary contest.

With the challenge of serving up their best plates of food, scouts from five groups across Lowestoft demonstrated their culinary talents with a range of creative menus.

They were taking part in the Lowestoft and District Scouts Cookery Competition at the Pakefield Scout headquarters in Kendal Road, where they battled it out to impress the two judges by preparing a three-course meal.

The teams of two or three scouts were faced with the task of cooking a balanced meal using just a two-ring gas burner and with ingredients costing not more than £5 per head.

Two of the three courses had to be cooked and served hot with all dishes prepared from raw ingredients during the competition.

The meals were judged by a local chef and Peter Jarvis, Deputy County Commissioner, who awarded marks not only for good cooking but also for presentation, time keeping, organisation, the originality and imagination of the menu and good hygiene.

The teams had just two hours to complete the meal and they were expected to eat their own food as well as to clean and wash up afterwards.

Organiser Rob Harbord said: 'As well as teaching the youngsters the need to be organised and work as a team they also learnt about food hygiene and how to handle meat safely.

'More marks were allocated to cleanliness throughout the task and clearing up was also assessed.'

District Commissioner Mel Buck said: 'The judges sampled all of the food and were really impressed with the standard of cooking. All the youngsters did really well and should be proud of themselves and of the fantastic meals they made.

'We know that cooking can be difficult but they made it look easy.'

The judges made special mention for the rice pudding, which was so nice that they asked for seconds. They also praised the shepherds pie and said they were 'blown away' with the blueberry muffin pancake.

The judges selected 2nd Carlton Colville as winners of the competition scoring 127 points, 1st Pakefield were runners-up with 124 points followed by 14th Lowestoft with 116 points.

The menus

The tempting menus were:

14th Lowestoft – Garlic fried bread with steamed asparagus tips and vine tomatoes garnish; Shepherds pie with steamed carrots and green beans and Sticky fruit kebabs.

1st Blundeston – Peri-peri chicken skewer; Vegetarian spaghetti bolognese and Fluffy white chocolate and raspberry mousse on a biscuit base.

2nd Carlton Colville (Vegetarian menu) – Courgette Provençale; Mushroom stroganoff and Blueberry fluffy pancakes.

1st Oulton Broad – Sliced tiger bread in a petal formation with a hummus dip; Pasta, bacon, salami and ham mixed in a delicious cheesy sauce with a side of cucumber and Hot rice pudding with blueberries and a seasoning of ground nutmeg.

1st Pakefield (Mexican theme) – Sweet corn pancake with a fresh avocado side salad; Chunky beef chilli con carne and Mexican fruit salad.