It is not unknown in the cooking business to have to put a dish together in a hurry for a special occasion.
So when the original Hawke's Bay school duo set to take part in the City and Guilds Secondary School Team Cooking Challenge was forced to withdraw there had to be a shuffling of the ingredients.
In a first for the annual national cooking competition, Hawke's Bay will be represented by a joint team which has been put together by City and Guilds regional manager Glenn Fulcher.
Molly-Mae Foote from Hastings Girls' High School and James Grant from Napier Boys' High School, both 17 and Year 13s, had both picked up silver medals at the National Culinary Fare competition in August where they competed as part of the Hawke's Bay team.
Mr Fulcher said when he heard the original team for the national City and Guilds competition, which is being staged in Auckland today, had been forced to withdraw he had a chat with Molly-Mae and James and put the idea to them.