A budding amateur chef took inspiration from one of Moray’s most famous dishes to win the World Tattie Scone Championship on Saturday.
Local woman Christine De Agostini took the ingredients of Cullen Skink soup and used them as extra ingredients in the savoury breakfast snack.
And as she celebrated with her ecstatic five-year-old son, Lewis, she revealed she only decided to enter the culinary contest on Saturday morning.
She said: “I’m a keen cook but usually only make meals for friends and family.
“I’m passionate about flavour and about traditional Scottish food though, so using the smoked fish from Cullen Skink just seemed like a natural fit to me.”
The competition, which is run by staff from Elgin’s Oakwood Cookery School as part of Piping at Forres, experienced a surge in interest this year after tutorial videos were broadcast on the internet.
Organiser Elaine Sutherland said: “This was the best standard we have ever had, and the highest turnout.
“We put short films on how to make tattie scones on Youtube, and they have made people feel a lot less daunted by it.
“Beforehand, people didn’t realise how easy they are to make.”
Entrants showed no lack of imagination in their attempts to secure success – with recipes inspired by Mexican fajitas and containing spicy chorizo sausage.
Moray MP Douglas Ross tried his hand at the breakfast staple with a “kicking kedgeree” entry, while Lord Lieutenant of Moray Grenville Johnston’s recipe contained coronation sauce.
Winner in the juniors section was Nairn 16-year-old, Liam Donald, whose crispy bacon and blue cheese combination tickled judges’ tastebuds.
