For the first time, Pearl River Central High School held a cook-off in which senior Meghan Victoria Powell won with a unique twist on a chocolate lava cake. After two weeks of elimination rounds, starting with 12 contestants, the final cook-off fired up on Thursday afternoon, involving three contestants, freshman Chloe Beachner, senior Harley Evans and senior Meghan Victoria Powell.

Each chef had an hour and fifteen minutes to make a savory or dessert dish. Right before the timer started, the contestants were notified that they must incorporate a pair of secret ingredients in their dish, strawberries and carrots.

Beachner immediately starting working on a crawfish stuffed bread, incorporating the carrots, while making a bacon and potato rose as a side dish, with strawberries and bacon lining the plate.

“I have never tried making the bacon and potato roses, but it seemed like a great addition with the rest of my dish, so I decided to get creative,” Beachner said, after noting how difficult it was to construct bacon and potatoes that mimicked a rose.

Evans got to work on something she said is a family recipe, chicken and water gravy. Evans said the idea came from her grandmother who used to make the dish within an hour for the family.

The carrots were sliced and mingled with the pulled chicken and other savory ingredients. As for the strawberries, Evans made a strawberry drizzle, which she glazed over the top of each dish.

Powell took a different route than the other two chefs, utilizing her strength in the kitchen, baking.

“I wanted to provide the judges with something different. I have a big sweet tooth and really enjoy baking, so I knew I would be comfortable with my dish,” she said.

Powell said she has a lot of experience making chocolate lava cakes, but for the cook-off, she wanted to step outside of her comfort-zone and give it a twist that might impress the judges. She used the strawberries in the spiced berry compote while using the carrots, along with cinnamon, as an additional flavor on top of the homemade whipped cream. Powell said she also incorporated carrots in the spiced berry compote.

After making use of the kitchen in the PRC cafeteria for over an hour, the chefs decorated their dishes, getting them prepared for judging.

The panel of judges consisted of Kellie Ingram, owner of Kellie’s Poor Boy, Dewayne Frierson, owner of Logan’s Famous Chicken and Tenders, and a special appearance from Chef Whitney Miller, a Poplarville native and winner of the first season of the hit television show MasterChef.

As each plate was placed in front of them, the judges based their evaluation of the dish from the food’s aesthetic appeal, presentation, textures and shapes, originality and overall taste.

After the judges asked the young chefs about their dish, they came to a final conclusion of which student would be crowned as the champion of the PRC Cook-Off, which was hosted by the PRCSD Food Service Department and sponsored by numerous local and state businesses.

After deliberation, the judges named Powell as the champion due to the taste, and because “you want to keep taking bites of the cake because of all the unique flavors and the density of the cake itself,” Miller said.

The champion received a gift bag of gift cards, a personalized cutting board as well as a personalized apron with “champion” inscribed on it, a $100 gift card from the PRCSD Food Service Department and more.

The other two finalists also got a gift bag of similar prizes.

Sheila Amacker, food service administrator, said that the purpose of this event was to “get the students involved with what they love and let their passions take off.”

She hopes to host this event annually.

“If we can inspire just one student from doing an event like this, then we have done our job. We are here for the children,” she said.