A STUDENT has come third in the 2012 regional heats of a cooking competition judged by celebrity chef James Martin.

TV chef James Martin awarded Zach Field from Nova Hreod School third place in the Red Tractor beef and lamb Make it with Mince Challenge 2012 Bristol regional heats.

The competition saw budding young chefs from go head-to-head for the chance to be named regional winner.

Contestants were judged for their recipe development and culinary skills and hundreds of entries were received for this year’s competition.

During the tense Bristol heat each student had just one hour to prepare, cook and plate-up their own original recipe featuring beef or lamb mince. Zach was highly commended in third place after he fought it out against seven other finalists. He impressed the judges with his beef and black turtle-bean chilli.

Speaking about Zach’s achievement, James Martin said: “Our finalists have been outstanding this year and Zach has done exceptionally well to achieve third place. His recipe was creative, nutritious and brilliantly presented. Most importantly it tasted fantastic.

“It is so inspiring to meet so many talented young cooks and each and every one of them really impressed me.

“I hope that Zach’s success will encourage more young people from the area to get cooking and try out new and different recipes.”