Now in its sixth year, the competition is run in partnership with the Craft Guild of Chefs and open exclusively to student chefs across the country.

Tasked with cooking a starter and main course using Tabasco pepper sauces and suitable for a mainstream pub menu, the final will take place in front of a live audience during Hotelympia next week (6 February).

Competing to get their winning dish on Stonegate pubs and restaurants’s menus across the UK as well as an all-expenses paid trip to Avery Island, Louisiana (where Tabasco Sauce is made), are:

• Paige Hill

Starter: Mackerel, pickled kohlrabi, beetroot and a Tabasco sauce gel

Main: Marinated chicken breast, pickled pumpkin, crispy cavolo nero

• Emily Orton

Starter: Tipsy sausage roll - apple, mushroom and Tabasco sauce sausage roll with apple and pear slaw

Main: Hunters pie with Tabasco chipotle sauce confit chicken

• Constantino Parla

Starter: Tempura prawns with a Bloody Mary and Tabasco sauce mayonnaise

Main: Chipotle BBQ pork shoulder with sweet potato fries and chilli coleslaw

• Marian Tandy

Starter: Seafood and Tabasco sauce cocktail with avocado mousse

Main: Fiery cheese burger

• Vitor Sandro Cardoso Estradas

Starter: Ricotta and basil ravioli with tomato and Tabasco sauce consommé

Main: Spinach and pancetta wrapped loin of pork

• Oliver Hawkins

Starter:  Duo of fish - Crab cake and marinated prawns on potato rosti

Main: Breaded cornfed chicken with Mornay sauce with gravy Tabasco sauce

• Skye Thompson Shaw

Starter: Tabasco sauce tempura battered king prawns with a sweet chilli and chive Tabasco sauce dip

Main: Pulled pork with homemade BBQ Tabasco sauce, southern slaw in a savoury waffle

• Ben Addems

Starter: Hot smoked oysters, compressed cucumber and Tabasco sauce red vinaigrette

Main: Braised ox cheek, fermented cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke mousse with Tabasco Chipotle sauce, Tabasco sauce and ox caramel

• Graham Kerry

Starter: Shrimp cocktail

Main: Tabasco sauce jambalaya served with honey and orange glazed chicken

• Liam Wassell

Starter: Spiced smoked haddock, leek and Gruyere fish cake

Main: Slow braised Jacob’s ladder with a smoked Tabasco chipotle sauce and four root mash

They will be judged on “flavour, creative use of at least one of the Tabasco pepper sauces and ease of service in a pub environment” by a panel comprising: chef and Guild member, Steve Munkley; Tabasco brand corporate chef, Gary Evans; Lee Tynan, development director Creative Foods Europe; Kevin Steppe, Stonegate Pub Company’s director of food.