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Home Chef winner: 'My life has always centered around the kitchen'

Meet Debbie Boroughs, who took the title of TODAY's Home Chef last week for her mouthwatering dessert, five flavor pound cake with vanilla lime custard drizzle. Get the recipe, which won over a whopping 78 percent of TODAY Food Facebook fans.Are you up for the challenge? Enter your recipe here. And vote for next week's winner; three readers with savory seafood dishes face off for top honors.Name:
Courtesy of Debbie Boroughs / Today

Meet Debbie Boroughs, who took the title of TODAY's Home Chef last week for her mouthwatering dessert, five flavor pound cake with vanilla lime custard drizzle. Get the recipe, which won over a whopping 78 percent of TODAY Food Facebook fans.

Are you up for the challenge? Enter your recipe here. And vote for next week's winner; three readers with savory seafood dishes face off for top honors.

Name: Debbie Hodges Boroughs

Age: 45

Hometown: Hanover, Va.

How does it feel to win the Home Chef Challenge?

Exhilarating! I am so excited and appreciative that people supported my idea of a great dessert!

How long have you been cooking?

I come from generations of outstanding cooks. My earliest memory of cooking/baking is pulling taffy with my great grandmother (“Mum” to us kids). That taffy was some kind of hot, but pulling it until it was shiny and iridescent white was pure magic! Whether it was licking the beaters as a toddler or planning menus and cooking dinners as a teenager, my life has always centered around the kitchen. My recipe collection from over the years is just bursting at the seams and houses a plethora of my family’s “make you weak at the knees” concoctions including a top secret and much loved strudel recipe passed down from a family member who worked in the kitchen of Denmark’s Royal Family!

Try Debbie's five flavor pound cake with canilla lime custard drizzle.
Try Debbie's five flavor pound cake with canilla lime custard drizzle.Debbie Boroughs / Today

Share your favorite cooking tip.

My mother instilled in me a passion for using fresh, locally grown ingredients enjoyed at the peak of their ripeness. Visit your local farm stand with an item or two in mind but buy a few items to take home that you have never used before. Stuff that purple pepper with breadcrumbs, sautéed shallots, fresh herbs and Monterrey Jack … now you have a delicious dish and a conversation piece for the meal! A quote from a book I read years ago describes perfectly my relationship to food and is truly words to live by “Cook by hand, from scratch. Use all of your senses when you cook. Become familiar with the basic beauty of flour, water, eggs, sugar and salt. Be religious about family dinners. Turn off the TV. Don’t answer the phone. Talk about what you’re eating. Converse. Ask questions. Put your utensils down while you eat. Savor!”

What would be your ideal last meal?

A meal prepared and served by me for all my family and friends consisting of:

  • Beef tenderloin with a gorgonzola sauce
  • Roasted heirloom cherry tomatoes
  • Sweetie corn pudding
  • Memaw’s green beans with mayonnaise potatoes
  • Fresh butterbeans
  • Biscuits with homemade fig preserves
  • My mom’s pecan pie with a scoop of vanilla Haagen-Dazs