Food News Archive

Seasonal Ingredients

March 2024

We love to buy produce when it’s in season.

The main advantage of seasonal foods is that they taste better since they are harvested at the right time. Seasonal foods are cheaper since there’s less traveling and storage expenses involved and seasonal foods also have higher nutritional value since they are fresher. Nutrients like folate, Vitamin C and carotenes quickly decline when the fresh produce is stored for a longer period.

Eating seasonally promotes farming in Britain through the reduction of demand for farm produce that is out of season. This means that there will be reduced carbon footprint due to less transportation and refrigeration which all contribute to the emission of greenhouse gasses.

We work closely with our suppliers who provide information to our Exec Chef team about seasonality of ingredients and where the ingredients are farmed. This information helps them to advise our Head Chefs in the pubs who then go onto create their seasonal recipes.

This March we are enjoying; Chantenay Carrots picked daily in Nottinghamshire, Curly Kale from the Vale of Evesham, Leeks from Lancashire, Red Cabbage from Lincolnshire and field grown Rhubarb from Cheshire (to name but a few!).

A Celebration of Welsh Dishes

February 2024

With St David’s Day approaching on March 1st, we invited a few of our Welsh Chefs and suppliers to get together to compile a list of dishes that encompass the spirit of Wales. After a morning of cooking and tasting we now have a delicious bank of authentic recipes that we can share with the chef teams in the pubs, to add into their menus if they’d like to celebrate the day.

Here’s just a few to whet your appetite….Braised lamb faggot with smashed peas, capers, apricots and mint to start, or perhaps, Glamorgan fritters served with a spiced tomato sauce. Pan-fried salmon, with Gwinllan white wine sauce, cockles, samphire and potato cake or Wild mushroom, leek, and lentil Oggie with new potatoes for main course, followed by Barabrith bread and butter pudding with vanilla custard or Warm Welsh cakes with apricot compote and clotted cream. Delicious, and there’s many more, but be sure to leave room for a Welsh cheeseboard of Perl Wen, Caerphilly, Per Las and Green Thunder.

Arrow Mill, Game Gourmet Wine Dinner

January 2024

'Back by popular demand' the Arrow Mill team hosted a Game Gourmet Wine Dinner for 30 guests last week. Held in their Private Dining Room, the evening consisted of 6 courses created by Head Chef Gareth to celebrate the end of Game season. Gareth's dishes were expertly paired with wines chosen by Fernando Guimarey from Castelnau. Everyone seemed to have a lovely evening.

Menu

Canapés; Sweet prunes, Gorgonzola wrapped in pancetta, Quail egg quiche, chive cream, Smoked venison, celeriac remoulade, rocket.

Starter; Mixed Game, apricot, pistachio terrine, apple texture's, Melba toast.

Followed by; Confit duck ravioli, spinach, garlic sage butter sauce, parmesan.

Pan roasted pheasant in masala butter, curry parsley purée, chard spring onion, turmeric jus.

Roast Venison loin, braised rabbit cabbage, fondant, carrot purée, walnut, chocolate jus.

Dessert; Saffron poached pear, raspberry compote, vanilla ice-cream.

Crew Christmas Menu Tastings

November 2023

We love this day! Our crew get together to taste all the dishes on their Christmas Festive menus. That way they can answer all of your questions and help you with your party bookings. But it also means they get to have a family style meal all together before the busy season starts, which is a real treat (and has grown into an occasion to air their festive knitwear ready for Christmas Jumper Day too!).

Bread and Dough Making Class

October 2023

Exec Chef Warren was over at the Cheshire School along with a group of Junior Chefs from his area to take part in a HIT training day. The day focused on the art of bread and dough making; this is skill often not utilised in our pubs that much, so really good for the chefs to familiarise themselves with new skills.

The chefs were tasked to make various breads; Guinness soda bread (which was delicious and easy to make), Focaccia, savoury Chelsea buns, filled with various fillings and sweet savarins with rum syrup.

A great day had by all, really educational and perhaps we will see some of these recipes included in our pub’s menus soon.

Annual Food Development Awards

September 2023

It’s fair to say that this year’s Food Development Awards were the best yet – such great standard of cooking from our Junior Chefs and their Front of House colleagues.

Huge congratulations to Sutton Hall’s Steve and Cat who were crowned as the overall winners. They will be joined by the two runner up teams for lunch at Jason Atherton’s City Social in London as their prize. Well done all!

Head Chef Day Out

August 2023

Exec Chef Warren’s ‘Head Chef Day Out’ and patch meeting this month was over at Willo Game, in Norbury in south Shropshire. It was fantastic day, with a tour of the butchery rooms, interestingly showing the process of feathering pigeons (you had to be there!)

After the factory tour, they all went over to Marrington Shooting Lodge near Montgomery (home of the Morris Family who own most of Shrewsbury including our pub the Armoury). We were treated to lots of game nibbles; buttermilk pheasant, seared mallard, wild boar burgers, venison chipolatas and many more delights. And after the lunch, they had a simulated game of clay pigeon shooting in the valley, which got everyone in the competitive mood!

It's Asparagus Season!

May 2023

It’s that time of year again – we love Asparagus Season. There’s nothing like using local produce at the right time. Our Asparagus either comes from the Vale of Evesham, where it has purple tips and the typical shape of a long, thin spear or the Wye Valley where the light, sandy soil and south-facing slopes capture the earliest spring sunlight, and create a microclimate that is perfectly formed to produce some of the earliest, and the best asparagus in the UK.

It’s delicious paired with hollandaise or eggs and it feels all the more special for only being around for a relatively short season. Get it while you can!

Fish and Shellfish Course

May 2023

Our HIT training course (a London Mayor initiative to get people ‘back to basics’ cooking again) continued this month in London, this time with a fish and shellfish course (you might remember the last gathering was all about ‘nose to tail’ butchery).

After a day learning about all types of fish and how to cook them there was a ‘Scallops Competition’. Each crew member had to de-shell their scallops and devise and cook a dish of their own choosing, using ingredients from the pantry. These dishes also had to be costed and presented to a panel of independent judges.

Orlando and Antonia, chefs from the Mute Swan won dish of the day, with Fernando, Manager at the White Horse winning the second prize.

The new Mytton and Mermaid Kitchen Team

May 2023

With the Mytton and Mermaid due to open at the end of the month, the new kitchen team have been busy in the Development Kitchen up in HQ, Ellesmere Port developing a range of new dishes for their opening menu (much to the delight of us all here in the office who are happy to be guinea pigs!) and generally getting to know each other.

Nose to Tail Butchery Day

January 2023

Some of the London pubs enjoyed a ‘Nose to Tail Butchery Course’ delivered by HIT chef academy and our fantastic training team last week. The day started off with a brief talk on animal welfare and what the stamps on the carcass mean and their importance to prove who, when and where the animal came from. We then went straight into a demo of the pig being broken down in to its main four cuts (shoulder, belly, leg and loin) and the team had the chance to break down the other side and then in groups have a go at tunnel boning and trimming the cuts.

Next up after lunch was sausage making! All the joints that they had previously worked on were minced and mixed with their own seasonings and a competition to find the best sausage maker started. All in all a pretty good effort all round but the winning team was Aivaras and Abou from the Queens Arms in Pimlico, closely followed by Alessio, Manager from the Mute Swan.

Veganuary

January 2023

Whether it be a chance to try something new, a lifestyle choice or a new year’s resolution, we have enjoyed adding some extra plant-based dishes across our menus for those partaking in Veganuary this year.

It’s been great to try something new and different and to create dishes that hold their own, rather than feel like we’ve just taken out an ingredient. As always, we love your feedback so please do let us know what you think (or any tasty recipes you’d like our Chefs to try).

It’s beginning to look like Christmas!

November 2022

Well it is in our kitchens anyway!... Our Chefs have been busy devising some cracking dishes for the festive season this year. Turkey obviously and quite rightly takes center stage, but we have some delicious alternatives this year as well as making sure that our December Daily Menus retain pub classics as we are well aware that some people love a fantastic steak burger with beer onions, grilled pancetta, Monterey Jack and spiced tomato mayonnaise whatever the season!

3 Star Food Made Good Rating

July 2022

We are super proud to have received the maximum 3-star Food Made Good rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association.

Food Made Good is the most globally recognised industry standard for measuring sustainability across the Hospitality Sector. The rating is a key tool for assessing how successfully a business is addressing the ten key areas of sustainability, and we have scored very highly.

Ten key areas of sustainability are divided under three pillars – Sourcing, Society and Environment, reflecting the need to focus on the food that’s sourced and served as well as the impact that has on the people growing, rearing, cooking and serving it, as well, of course, on the planet.

There is always more we can do and we endeavour to get better and better, but we are thrilled to have been recognised for our work so far. To find out more about the association, visit; www.thesra.org

Al Fresco Dining

July 2022

We have so many lovely summery recipes waiting in the wings for the sun to come out – we love a spot of ‘al fresco dining’ …..we just need the sunshine!

Asparagus Season

May 2022

We love nothing more than cooking a product that’s local and in season. Asparagus is a bit of a local celebrity this time of the year, it’s in our kitchens and in general we like to treat it very simply, pairing it with Hollandaise or poached eggs. Here, the Falcon in Warmington have created a gluten free starter of English asparagus with an asparagus purée, hazelnut crumb and wild mushroom Hollandaise. Get it while you can!

Crew Tasting Sessions

March 2022

Every now and then the teams of Chefs within the pubs hold a bit of a tasting session where they showcase their new ideas for recipes to their Front of House team. It’s always a lovely occasion when everyone gets to sit down and eat together and catch up on what’s new in the pub. The Crew taste dishes, ask questions, make suggestions and match drinks with the new dishes in order to be able to advise customers on what their favourites are when asked.

As you can imagine it’s a bit of a job highlight for everyone!

(Here you can see the Dysart Arms in full swing)

Shrove Tuesday

March 2022

We love an occasion to try out new recipes, but sometimes the tried and tested ones are the best. Whether you are a simple lemon and sugar person or you like to be more adventurous with bananas and caramel or even controversially with bacon and blueberries! - we hope you enjoy your pancakes this Shrove Tuesday.

National Sticky Toffee Pudding Day

January 2022

You certainly don’t have to ask us twice – any excuse to have a comfort food pudding in front of a roaring fire on a cold winters January Sunday. Whether it be the true classic with custard, pure simple and unadulterated, or with candied hazelnuts and sticky toffee ice cream on the side, or an equally delicious Gluten Free version – we were very much all over this one!

"Let’s Play Darts"

December 2021

We all need to let our hair down a bit once in a while and our Chefs work so tremendously hard all year round, but especially in December so the Exec Chefs planned a night for them all to ‘down spatulas’. Being a competitive bunch, the evening centered around a bit of healthy competition at ‘Flight Club’. A night of the arrows, followed by a few well-earned pints mulling over the near misses.

Christmas Menu Tasting

November 2021

We love this time of the year. Before our Festive Menus launch, each of our Chefs like to cook their creations to let the rest of the Crew have a try to see what our customers will experience. It means that they can recommend dishes and speak confidently about what each dish looks and tastes like - but it’s also a perfect excuse to get everyone together and have a lovely pub family meal before the madness of December descends!

The Bodfari Carrot Growing Competition

August 2021

Many of our customers are foodies just like us and love all things on the topic. In Bodfari each year they celebrate this with various growing competitions – this year, carrots. And John and the team at the Dinorben Arms were to deleted to be involved and were given the honour of presenting the coveted trophy to Ant for his amazing ‘specimen’! Well done Ant.

National Chef of the Year Competition

July 2021

One of our amazing chef at the Falcon is aiming to make the final of Britain’s most prestigious culinary competition “ National Chef of the Year”

Andy Wright has reached the semi-finals after creating a stunning three course menu telling his story of the pandemic through food which impressed Michelin-starred chef, Paul Ainsworth.

Andy is now currently working on a signature dish for the Semi-Final round and we all have high hopes for him to reach the final.

Rhubarb Season

June 2021

‘Tis the season of Rhubarb! How will you be enjoying yours?

Rhubarb and Stem Ginger sponge pudding with vanilla custard from the Highdown perhaps or after Chase have worked their magic and we’ve added ice and tonic at Gomshall Mill?

Greener Kitchens

May 2021

It seems only right that as most of our pubs are ‘drive to destinations’ for most of our customers, we should do our bit to create clean fuel sources, so all of our cooking oil is now recycled into bio diesel. This means we are helping to power vehicles with clean fuel sources. In April Brunning and Price contributed 15,761 litres of ‘UCO’ which equates to 32,326 kg of carbon saved (and hopefully helping lots of our customers to make the journey back to us!).

Delicious New Dishes

May 2021

It’s absolutely lovely to have all of our kitchen teams back to full strength after lock down, creating loads of new fresh dishes and brining back some old favourites that our customers have been missing.

Easter Afternoon Tea

March 2021

What could be lovely than sharing Afternoon Tea? We have created these delicious little boxes, packed with sweet and savoury treats to celebrate Easter (or actually any occasion you like). They make the perfect present for you to pop onto someone’s doorstep as a welcome surprise or take home and devour yourself!

They are available to ‘Click and Collect’ each weekend. Simply head to your local pubs website and place your weekend order by Thursday evening.

Click & Collect Menus

January 2021

A bit of a new venture for us, but times are very different at the moment! Many of our pubs are now running Click and Collect menus over the weekends.

We’ve a feeling that by Friday night many will be missing the comforts of their favourite pubs and bored silly by their own cooking, so we have a range of our classic dishes available to order online.

It’s very simple, click on your time slot, choose your dishes and pay online. Our teams will then have everything hot and ready for when you arrive to collect. A particular favourite is our Click & Collect Sunday Roast – all the joy without any of the hassle and also perfect if you want to pop a portion to a friend or relative as a treat.

Annual Food Competition 2019

January 2020

Last year we had the super opportunity to partner with Cheshire College West on our Annual Food Competition. Each year our pubs are asked to form a partnership between a Junior Chef and a Front of House Crew Member who are then challenged with devising and cooking a new dish to sit on their menus.

There are 4 categories; Starters, Light Bites, Mains and Puddings and after the initial entries are ‘whittled down’ we hold a grand final to decide the overall winners.

Last year this final was kindly hosted by the college so that their students could get involved. Here is a video of the finals day produced by their media department.

Congratulations to our winners;The Combermere Arm’s Paddy and Rob, Ahmed and Beth from the Mute Swan, the Armoury’s Ed and Amelia and Andrew and Gabi from the Hare. They were all whisked off to ‘Galvin’s at Windows Park Lane’ for a fabulous tasting menu afternoon as their prize.

South Cheshire College Day

October 2019

Our Exec Chefs Dave and Warren held an inspirational day over at South Cheshire College with lecturer Shane Guildford and the new intake of catering students and some of the year 2s. This was a fun day of cookery demos and the students showing their skills cooking the dishes in teams. The students had lots of fun creating and showing off their interpretations of our dishes; Seared scallops starter with ham hock and caper croquettes, main course of pan fried duck and duck leg confit and potato terrine and rounded off with a classic caramelised apple tarte Tatin.

It's always a joy to work with the next generation of genius Chefs.

A visit from Cheshire College South and West

July 2019

It was a real privileged to welcome some of the catering students from Cheshire College South and West into our Development kitchen last week. We showed them a little of what it would be like to work within a B&P kitchen and under the guidance of Dave and Warren, our Exec Chefs, they had a try at cooking up some of our recipes.

They then went along to the Morris Dancer in Kelsall to get a glimpse of one of our kitchens in action.

Hopefully we have just met some B&P chefs of the future.

Junior Chefs Day Out. Billingsgate Market.

July 2019

An early start of 5:30am for some of our Junior Chefs who were taken on a walk around Billingsgate Market. It was nice to see the many species that flow through the market, alongside the odd mix of visitors at such an ungodly hour.

The day continued with a fish prep demonstration from the principle of the cookery school at Billingsgate called CJ who’s renowned for publishing many a fish book, writing for Waitrose and being a campaigner/advisor to the government on sustainability of fish and shell fish all over the world.

Once some of the fish were prepped by CJ the young chefs had the opportunity to have a go at filleting and skinning.

After the filleting stage the chefs were broken up into teams to cook certain species and in certain methods decided by our Exec Chefs.

Overall a great day with some good cooking and prepping on show.

Junior Chef Fishy Day Out

June 2019

Exec Chef Billy, along with Direct Seafood took ten of our Junior Chefs along to Brixham Fisheries for a two day trip.

Day one was spent travelling down to Devon, a quick check in and then into Brixham for dinner. Day two (which was what the trip was all about) started bright and early at 5:15am in Brixham Fish Market, watching the auction of the night before’s catch. It was interesting to watch all the different suppliers bidding for the boxed catches, which all went at different prices depending on the sizing. It was obvious to see that Plaice and Hake were very much in season.

After the market, they ventured over to the Direct Seafood depot for a tour of their premises and some practice at filleting fish, which was kindly tutored by Gorgeous George.

Our thanks to Direct Seafood for a really enjoyable couple of days.

Junior chefs day at Village Bakery, Wrexham

April 2019

A group of our junior chefs were fortunate enough to spend an informative day in the test kitchen of Village Bakery, with their head baker Paul Andrew and his apprentice George, learning all about the process of bread making and the ins and outs of enriched dough.

The chefs were guided through the processes of 'mother dough' which is a sourdough bread starter which is actually 2 years old. It gives the rise to the bread along with its unique flavour. They also learnt the art of fermentation, kneading and proving. Village Bakery have a process in bread making called 'slow dough', which is slowing the process down to improve the final bread product, more time makes a better product.

The chefs had a go at making ciabattas, Camembert baked bread and pizza. Paul put on a little competition of bread making where Ed Ball from the Armoury came out champion, winning a nice bottle of Champers for best bake.

Often in our kitchens we don't have time to bake our own fresh bread, so this was a good opportunity to see what goes into the art of it's making. The results were fantastic and we feel very fortunate to receive such a great quality product into our pubs.

Junior Chef day with Williams of Flint

March 2019

Wynne Williams started up her own small abattoir and butcher's shop in Northop near Flint in 1933. Since then, Williams of Flint has grown into one of the most respected catering meat suppliers in the North West.

We were thrilled that Elliot from Williams of Flint came along to hold an interactive day with a group of our Chefs here at the Development kitchen in Chester. Elliot brought a whole lamb along with him and conducted a Masterclass in butchery, taking the lamb apart stage by stage for the Chefs to see (and be quizzed on later). Our Exec Chef Dave was also on hand to bone out a saddle of lamb, stuffing it and tying it before challenging the Chefs to have a go.

The afternoon task offered the Chefs cuts of meat that they wouldn’t usually see within the pubs and challenged them to create dishes to be judged against each other. They had 15 minutes to decide which cut to take and plan out a dish using any ingredients from the larder. They then had 90 minutes to cook. Chef Peter Cherry took the dish of the day with his Asian spiced lamb sweetbreads, which he had coated in panko crumbs, he had also taken some of the mince, added spices and made it into a little shepherds pie which accompanied a lightly spiced lamb loin. The dish was served with an excellent jus and buttery carrot puree and artichoke crisps.

Great fun and everyone left with a new skill or two.

Junior Chef day at Kingfisher Midlands

March 2019

We gathered a collection of our Junior Chefs together to spend an educational day at Kingfisher Midlands in Perry Barr, Birmingham. Kingfisher Midlands are experienced fishmongers, supplying quality fresh fish and seafood to the catering industry throughout Birmingham and the Midlands. They source, prepare and deliver directly to professional kitchens and so could share a wealth of information to our team.

The day started with an interesting tour of the plant and preparation areas. Then to some fish identification and a filleting masterclass, followed by our chefs filleting and preparing the fish themselves under the experienced eyes of the Kingfisher team. The day finished up with a presentation on sustainability and the role of the MSC in protecting seafood and fish for the future.

A great day had by all. Thanks so much for Kingfisher Midlands for having us.

Chef supplier visits

May 2018

Dave held his first patch head chef meeting of the year, supported by Essential Cuisine, using their meeting room and development kitchen. They cooked off a number of dishes showing their full range of stocks and sauces to the team. We were also very kindly supported by Freshview and Nuttalls who helped sponsor some clay pigeon shooting, which all the chefs enjoyed very much. Turns out that Daryl from Sutton hall is a part time sniper scoring a more than respectable 33 out of 40, not bad for someone with no experience which left the instructor rubbing his head.

Meanwhile in the south James' meetings was supported by Harvey and Brockless, who also gave us the use of their board room and provided a bit of lunch with English charcuterie meats, boards of ewe, cow and goat cheeses, hot smoked salmon, and a selection of sauces and dips along with a new apricot chutney we have developed with them.

After the meeting they were shown round the fridges and the cheese cutting room and then a short journey (1 train, 2 tubes and a bus!) over to Greenwich for a tour round Greenwich meantime brewery with a few beers afterwards to finish the day off.

5 Course tasting lunch for our winners at 'The Salon' by Marcus Wareing

October 2017

This year's annual Food Development Awards 'Final of Finals' took place in Millford in October.

Each of the 4 winning couples took home the coveted 'meat cleaver trophy' and were whisked off for the day to enjoy a five-course tasting menu with matching wines at Marcus Wareing's restaurant in Mayfair.

The talented winners enjoyed a guided tour of the busy kitchens before being seated to dine on delicious dishes such as 'Halibut, white bean, Monk's beard and laverbread' followed by 'Venison, beetroot, parsnip and liquorice'. An amazing, and well deserved, treat for everyone involved.

Annual Food Competition 2017

October 2017

After a long day of tasting, debating, cogitating and tasting some more alongside perhaps a tipple of this and that, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2017 Annual Food Development Awards:

And the winners are...

Starter:
'Tomato jelly with crab salad and avocado mousse', from Ed and Dinushka, from the Mute Swan, Hampton Court.

Light Bite:
'Ham hock and caramelised onion pie, with Blacksticks Blue cheese mousse and piccalilli dressed salad', from Anna and Adam from Little Manor, Thelwall Village.

Main Course:
'Braised ox cheek with caramelised shallot puree and ox tail fondant, roasted baby turnips', from Becky and Alix from the Combermere Arms, Burleydam.

Dessert:
'Honey parfait with blackberries, honeycomb and yoghurt sorbet', from Lauren and Joseph from Sutton Hall, Macclesfield.

Congratulations to all the winners, you can look forward to a fabulous treat at the Marcus Wareing Restaurant in Knightsbridge, to follow a little later in the month.

Well done to everyone that entered a dish this year, the standard was fantastically high and as ever we were thrilled with the creativity and enthusiasm of all the Junior Chefs and their Front of House Partners.

Food Development Competition. Day 4. The North. Mains and Puddings.

September 2017

Seventh session of our food competition finals this year (had to loosen my belt this morning) and we were onto mains in the north. We didn't have any disappointments as the standard was so high.

Everyone made our job as judges so difficult today with even the execs saying, 'best of luck choosing from those'. With such quality and terrific cooking on show, it was really difficult to choose only one winner but of course there can only be one and in the end, we agreed it should be:

Braised ox cheek with caramelised shallot puree and ox tail fondant, roasted baby turnips from Becky and Alix from the Combermere Arms, Burleydam.

So firmly in The Combermere's comfort zone of classic British country dining, the returning main course champions from last year's regional and group finals showed their class again although it was very, very close. Perfect cooking and execution and with a nod to nose to tail eating (cheek to tail in reality) we were delivered an unctuous, rich and warming plate of slow cookedness. With each element expertly cooked we really had no need to feedback anything other than our admiration. The cheek (albeit a touch large) was easily eaten with a spoon and the fondant filled with slow braised oxtail looked just like a potato bone marrow - clever stuff. Super silky-smooth shallot puree with well-judged vegetables completed the picture of consummate country cooking.

Our final five northern teams really made us work this year with all of them neck and neck as the puddings came out to taste, and this gave us a hard decision at the end of a pleasantly warm September day, winners in the end by one point were:

Lauren and Joseph from Sutton Hall, Macclesfield with Honey parfait with blackberries, honeycomb and yoghurt sorbet.

Jo and Lauren were hit with technical difficulties with our freezer on go slow but persevered to win by a nose. What's the odds of having two parfaits accompanied by sorbet and with brandy snap in the final line up? Team Suttons had an excellent blend of honey and blackberries with a yoghurt sorbet they had made for them by Cheshire Farm. The surprise centre of blackberries brought tartness to cut across the smooth parfait with big hunks of homemade honeycomb adding crunch and much excitement for Mary.

Thank you to all of the teams competing with the practising and refining of dishes clear to see. Thanks too to all who sent in some great dishes for us to judge that didn't quite make it through and hopefully you will all enter again next year. There was good humour, jolliness and fun seeing managers and head chefs as expectant parents cajoling and encouraging their competitors along - thanks for coming, your teams really appreciated it.

Again, this year we have a final of finals which this year is in our southern training kitchens at The Refectory on Thursday 12th October with the unenviable task of picking the overall national winners for each category. These lucky folks will win the prize of lunch at Marcus Waring at The Berkeley in London.

Food Development Competition. Day 3. The North. Starters and Light Bites.

September 2017

The food competition has moved to not so sunny Chester for the second round of tastings. Over today and tomorrow we will add to our four category winners from the southern round in readiness for the final of finalists on the 12th October. Today it was the starter and light bite categories.

Some very contrasting dishes in the starter round content, style and ethnicity. We would be proud to have most of them on our menus. The top three were within 3 or 4 points of the overall winners but in the end simplicity allied with some top cooking gave the first northern win of 2017 to:

Gazpacho with mozzarella, peppers and heritage tomatoes from Rachael and Kieron from the Physician, Edgbaston. This dish from Kieron and Rachael can be taken as a great example of simplicity, quality and excellence, meeting and making a flawless dish. It really did feel like summer had arrived in Chester with bursts of Mediterranean freshness and colour. Although gazpacho essentially is a cold soup here it acted as a very flavoursome and beautifully seasoned back drop to a heritage tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad. All the elements were executed to perfection and this allied to simplicity in production and service secured them the overall winner crown.

In the afternoon we moved to the Light Bite section. A section with much debate amongst the judges as the standard was so high; across the teams only two points separated everyone, in the end we agreed that by the tightest margin the winner was:

Ham hock and caramelised onion pie, with Blacksticks Blue cheese mousse and piccalilli dressed salad by Anna and Adam from Little Manor.

This was a terrific pie and one that has pubiness written all over it. Thin pastry with a deliciously rich filling that still remained light and it combined well with the Blackstick Blue mousse and sharp piccalilli salad. Anna and Adam named it as their 'play on ploughmans' and it certainly had the same taste profile but with refinement. Only thing to work on for the final of finals will be a touch too much saltiness to the ham hock filling, but nothing that soaking the hocks won't rectify.

Another fantastic day.

Food Competition. Day 2. The South.

September 2017

Day Two of our annual Food Development Awards. We are still on the southern rounds and the main courses are always a little like the 100 metres at the Olympics, in that it is possibly the keenest followed event. The pubs competing this morning didn't let us down with the quality on show being good albeit, there were odd elements from each dish that would benefit from a little adjustment, in the end one dish edged it as winner:

Sarah and Daniel's dish from the Mill House, Hook, who presented 'Slow roast lamb loin with potato terrine, aubergine puree, winter vegetables and lamb jus.'

We felt it was some 'classic British cooking'; some lovely lamb loin matched with rosemary flavoured potatoes and veggies. The lamb is cooked at a low temperature and then chilled, it is then seared off and carved whilst retaining its pinkness. There was simplicity to the potato accompaniment and in truth we would have liked a thicker slice as it was so good. The sauce was intense and flavoursome and worked well with the very tender lamb. Things to look at for the final of finals? Well the aubergine puree didn't need the chilli content, a touch more colour from the searing of the lamb and we are just about there.

Our pudding teams brought to a close two wonderful days of great food and lovely folk. It took the longest judges' huddle to eventually separate them as although there were perfect elements within all of the dishes, there were also some minor flaws. But the dish that we felt had innovated most ,making them overall southern winners was from:

Ed and Dinushka from the Mute Swan - Ed and Dinushka Hampton Court mess, Strawberries, meringue and cream.

We know that Mute Swan is into sharp interpretations of often done dishes and here they took a classic mess and modernised the look whilst adding to the B&P store cupboard an idea for presenting this genre of dish that no doubt will be picked up and developed. It wasn't just the idea though the application was impressive too. Glazed meringue onto the base of the plate, strawberry jelly, vanilla panna cotta (with lovely consistency) and a mix of fresh, macerated and freeze dried strawberries to boot. Some classy cooking and plating from Ed and Dinushka.

So we've come to the end of a great two days in the south. It's been another super foodie event with some terrific cooking, great invention and lots of lovely folk to boot.

On to the northern rounds.

Food Competition. Day 1. The South.

September 2017

Every summer we run a competition across all of our pubs to crown creators of the best dishes. Each pub enters a junior chef and front of house partnership to represent them in our company wide competition to develop the best starter, main and pudding. We run it in heats; Southern and then Northern pubs before holding a grand final.

It felt very calm on the first morning of this year's competition with all the teams exuding a steely confidence. Cooking excellence with good innovation on show meant agreeing the first southern crown was tricky but in the end, it went to: Ed and Dinushka, from the Mute Swan, Hampton Court, for their 'Tomato jelly with crab salad and avocado mousse.'

This winning starter struck us as a great bit of innovation and a concept of presentation that dovetails nicely into our food style and has legs for further adaptions with different jelly or shellfish combinations. It is stunningly pretty with the refreshing (just set) tomato jelly married with crab and avocado. There was certainly 'heat' in the background and we debated whether the wasabi in the avocado puree and finely sliced chilli were completely necessary? If these were 'dialled down' it would allow the crab to come more to the fore. These are small things to consider for the final of finals in an otherwise excellent crisp, appetising and fresh starter. It's the second year in a row for Mute Swan to win the starter category in the south, well done to them and all the others who cooked for us this morning.

In the afternoon, The Black Jug and Leather Bottle joined the trio of Mute Swan, White Hart Sevenoaks and Mill House from this morning's starter round and made things very close with our overall best Southern 'Light bite' being won by: Ali and John from the White Hart Sevenoaks, who created a 'Pan fried pigeon wrapped in Parma ham with puy lentils and a blackberry and sloe gin sauce'.

This dish spelled confident country dining pub cooking in spades. A neat touch of wrapping the two breasts together visually made for a well sized light bite. As we head towards Autumn this would certainly be that warming dish you'd eat with a glug of a good red wine. The blackberries and lentils were happy bedfellows with a well-judged beetroot purée, adding earthiness to underpin its gamey origins. Negatives? Well none really, perhaps in the final of finals they may consider swapping the sloe gin for Créme de Mur as this would accentuate the blackberries but other than that this was a well-executed light bite that sits beautifully into our food style, not at all bad considering John has only been cooking for two and a bit months.

Such a fantastic start to this year's competition. We are excited to see what tomorrow brings.

Billy's chef fishing day

August 2017

Billy held his chef's day out last month, and luckily the weather was on our side, it was the second time we had spent the day fly fishing and there was a good turnout. We visited a fishery in the Kent area which was perfectly tranquil and peaceful, unlucky for us so were the fish and they seemed to have buggered off somewhere, out of 16 angles we managed to catch, wait for it... 4 fish.

The winner's trophy went to Szabi from the Mill House who won the crown by catching two, some of us felt he was being greedy by catching 50% of the days catch but at least we had an out and out winner (thank the Lord) it would have been a struggle to split the trophy between 3 chefs. Nicest fish went to Gabi from the Hare for catching an elusive Tiger Trout.

After 4 hours of enjoying the scenery more than catching the fish, we headed back to the Nevill Crest & Gun for some supper and cold beverages which too was very relaxed and enjoyed by all.

South Cheshire college Cooking Demonstration

June 2017

We were delighted with the great turn out of 'the next generation' of chef students at South Cheshire College this week. We went along to give a presentation about all that is B&P, along with a cooking demonstration of a few popular dishes.

We hope that many of these talented students will choose to start a long and rewarding career with us when they graduate.

Northern Head Chef 'meeting'

March 2017

This month saw the Northern head chefs meet up with Mike, Warren and Dave for a spot of afternoon go-karting at Daytona in Manchester.

Purely for fun, and why not after Mother's Day, one of busiest weekends of the year? It certainly brought out everyone's competitive streak, a very nice break from the norm and lots of fun.

Southern Head Chef Day

March 2017

This week saw the Southern head chefs' meet up, which was held on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells at The Nevill, Crest and Gun.

The day started with some clay pigeon shooting in the morning, even with the flourishing of fake news elsewhere we must accurately report this was won by Mr Ian Slater, Ops Manager extraordinaire with an impressive maximum 24 out of 24 - those of you who know Ian's giant stature will understand that 12 of those he just grabbed as they flew past!

The other part of the day was spent back at the Nevill, Crest and Gun with Chris from Harvey and Brockless who showed us five of the best English cheeses in each category (blue, ewe, goat's, Cheddar style and soft) with a full range of jellies and chutneys to accompany them.

Light Lunches at the Wharf, Manchester

February 2017

Through popular demand from the regular business 'lunchers' that frequent the Wharf in Manchester, their head chef Simon has added a range of lighter bites to the menu that are perfect for a quick business lunch.

Poached chicken and tarragon grape and little gem salad with sage croutons; Moroccan spiced chicken thighs with lemon cous cous, apricot, date and pomegranate; Smoked haddock fishcake and poached egg with chive and caper sauce to name a few and if you don't mind sharing, there are 2 'platter options' - a Vegetarian option with Falafel, Hummus, stuffed peppers, Mediterranean vegetables and chargrilled sweet chilli Halloumi and the Manchester platter with Castlefield egg, sausage and black pudding roll, ham, Blacksticks blue cheese, savoury Eccles cake and hash cake.

There are many more to choose from. The menus are uploaded to the website daily so those sitting at their desks fantasising about their lunch our can peruse before they arrive.

Food Development Award Finals

October 2016

This year's annual Food Development Awards 'Final of Finals' took place in Chester. Although there was a high level of competitiveness the atmosphere is always one of fun with an ever-growing number of head office crew 'just popping over' to see what's on offer at the development kitchen.

The official judging panel of our MD Mary Willcock and 'Head of all things food' Mike Carney had their work cut out to choose 4 winning dishes from regional north and south winners. It's always difficult, but 'With such an amazing spectrum on offer, it's becoming ever more difficult to decide a winner with the diversity of dishes'. This year they were faced between choosing an overall 'light bite' winner between a vegan dish of 'Roast savoy hearts with crispy noodle salad, soy and sesame dressing' offered by the team at the Wharf and the Mill House's offering of 'Slow braised beef cheeks' - the difference between the dishes couldn't be more polar opposite, but both will one day be loved equally we are sure by our B&P customers.

Each winning couple is made up of a junior chef and a front of house crew member so the competition not only creates delicious dishes that our customers will no doubt enjoy on future menus, but also gives the pubs the opportunity to spot light the talents of our junior chefs who thrive on the creative process. It's also a chance for front of house crew to get into the kitchen to experience a different side to the business.

Elle from the Architect in Chester, presented a starter of 'Warm crispy pigs head terrine with piccalilli dressing' along with her team mate Alan. Elle usually works Front of house but working with the kitchen team to develop the dish has given her a real insight into the workings of the kitchen and she has since done a 2 weeks' spell with the kitchen team as she loved it so much.

Each winning couple take home the coveted (but rather vicious looking) 'meat cleaver trophy' and will next week be whisked off for the day to enjoy a five-course tasting menu at Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons.

Congratulations to all that took part, especially the finalists and really well done to the 4 winning teams: Isobel and Marius from the Mute Swan for their starter of 'Korean chicken wings with kimchi salad', the Mill House team of Stephanie and Gregely for their light bite of 'Slow braised beef cheeks with pearl barley & parsley risotto and horseradish cream', the Combermere team of Alix and Rebecca who offered a main course of 'Pan fried Venison steak with rabbit and pigeon faggot, fondant potato and bramble gravy' and to the Hare's Ollie and Luke for their beautiful pudding of 'Blackberry mousse with brown sugar meringue, roasted plums and pear jelly'.

And now the turn of the South

September 2016

The finalists from the north have been chosen and now they know who will join their categories from the south.

Each southern pub, as did those in the north, duly nominated a Junior Chef and Front of house Crew member to represent them in the annual food competition.

There were 4 categories to be won and these winners will now go head to head against the northern winners. An overall winning dish will then be chosen at the final of finals on October 20th, but as they say, to get this far they are all winners and so will all enjoy an amazing evening of celebration.

Congratulations to: Marius and Isabel from the Mute Swan for their starter of 'Korean chicken wings with kimchi salad', to Stephanie and Gregely of the Mill House for their light bite 'Slow braised beef cheeks with pearl barley, parsley risotto and horseradish cream', to the Old Windmill's Rob and Paige for their main course of 'Harissa marinated mackerel, prawn and mussel meat paella with crispy shallots' and finally to the Hare's Ollie and Luke for their dessert 'Blackberry mousse with brown sugar meringue, roasted plumbs and pear jelly'.

And the Northern Winners are

September 2016

Each pub duly nominated a Junior Chef and Front of house Crew member to represent them in the annual food competition. They then set about devising the greatest dish possible to fit within the starters, light bites, mains or pudding section of the menu. Hours of practicing, tasting and tweaking then ensued before they presented their dishes this week to the panel in Chester. After an arduous 2 days or tasting, the overstuffed and extremely lucky panel announced the northern winners to be:

Alan and Elle from the Architect for their starter of 'Warm crispy pigs head terrine with piccalilli dressing', Jacob and Jess from the Wharf for their light bite 'Roast savoy hearts with crispy noodle salad, soy and sesame dressing', Rebecca and Alix from the Combermere Arms who dished up a main course of 'Pan fried Venison steak with rabbit and pigeon faggot, fondant potato and bramble gravy' and finally Ryan and George from Sutton Hall for their pudding of 'Pressed apple with elderflower cream, hazelnut crumble and blackberry sorbet'.

Next is the turn of the southern pubs who present their dishes to the panel next week. Then follows the ultimate cook off to find the overall champions.

Gone Fishin'

August 2016

Billy's chef's day out earlier this month, was held at Frensham Trout Fishery in Churt. Not too far from the southern office.

All the chefs were given the basic tuition from Mick the Gillie, to get them started, only a couple had been fly fishing previously so there were a lot of newbies getting ready to hook themselves or a fish. Luckily for us the weather was on our side which made the day more enjoyable. Frensham consists of 2 main lakes and 3 much smaller ones, most of the chefs started out on the bigger lakes which were much easier to fish. The fish were very visible from the banks in the main lake and you could see the trout chasing your fly, only to get spooked and move on, but time and time again you would see the trout chasing the fly... but not taking the bait, stupid fish!

Almost everyone was luckily enough to feel the buzz from hooking one of the little firecracker's, some were really greedy and caught five (Ian, Ops manager extraordinaire). But for a party of 11 we took 13 fish away with us, so not bad. The general feeling was this should become an annual chefs event as everyone enjoyed the day so much.

We all went back to the Refectory for a BBQ which Damian had organised; piri piri chicken, steak burgers and loads of lovely salads with some freshly caught trout to help sign off on a great day out.

CHEESE!

May 2016

Our northern chefs had a day of all things 'cheese' up in Lancashire this week. There was a very good turnout with chefs from all over the northern patch attending - head, sous and chef de parties, anyone free was welcome as always. We started off at Butler's Farmhouse Cheeses near Inglewhite (not too far from our new pub, Haighton Manor). They have owned the farm since 1932 slowly growing the business and refining the cheese making process. Today they still make all their cheese by hand on the Farm in Inglewhite and they cut it and pack it in Longridge. There is a good tie in with our own home base in Saighton as they purchased Raven's Oak Dairy close to another of our pubs, The Dysart a couple of years ago and so not only well known for their Lancashire (it has won Supreme Champion cheese at Nantwich cheese awards) they added Kidderton Ash and Ravens Oak goat's cheeses to their most famous cheese of Blacksticks Blue. They took us through the dairy and we saw the cheese making stages with all these cheeses and the differences between how the recipe/maturation alters from blue to hard or soft cheeses. They then treated us to a tasting and lunch which everyone enjoyed with good banter and chat.

We then drove a couple of miles across to Mrs. Kirkham's (although it's made by Mr. Kirkham now - Graham her son). Although Butler's are a small producer Mrs. Kirkham's is much smaller again and so it was good to see the difference between both producers. Graham was very passionate about the whole process; starting with happy cows (they have mechanical cow brushes for the cows to be massaged and relaxed and mattresses to chill out on - honestly!), to what they eat, how quickly they are milked (not standing waiting for hours and hours like other dairies). It was all very impressive and listening to their trials and tribulations as they moved from the cowshed that his grandmother used to make the cheese in with all the natural bacteria and flora that helped the cheese making process to their new dairy in 2007 where nothing seemed to work as it was too clinical and sterilised was very interesting. We then tasted various ages/maturation of Lancashire which varied dramatically. To top it off Mrs. Kirkham laid on some afternoon tea for us, so a good day was had by all.

Fishy goings on

March 2016

Our Northern chefs took a well-earned day out to visit M&J's in Warrington and then onto Anglesey to see Menai Oysters and Mussels Ltd.First off was the tour of M&J Warrington, meeting the sales team, then downstairs to see all the fresh fish, followed by a filleting demonstration. Then onto Anglesey to see Shaun the owner of Menai oysters and mussels. He gave us a quick tour of the shellfish purification rooms before heading down to the Menai estuary to see the mussel beds where the oysters are grown.

Our Southern chefs stayed closer to home at Billingsgate fish market near Canary Wharf.After recovering from the shock of needing to be up and dressed by 4.45am a really interesting and varied morning ensued; a couple of talks; one from Norwegian Seafood Council about how and what gets fished up there; followed by a chap from Direct Seafood who talked carefully and with detail on species and sustainability. Then a fish filleting display but with species lesser used followed by a final bit of cooking they prepared fish in many different ways. Baked Gurnard and braised cuttlefish and Pollock in beer batter to name but a few.

Winners Dinner - The Chester Grosvenor

October 2015

Congratulations again to all the winners of the 2015 Food Competition. This year, not only did they win the presage and self-satisfaction of knowing that they beat their colleagues over 4 rounds, they were also whisked away for the day to be wined and dined with a 6 course tasting menu followed by tours, talks and cocktails, back at the end of October. Reece, our winner from the Grosvenor Chester: "Our lunch at The Grosvenor was amazing, we had a great time, the food was amazing, the drinks flowed and it was great to meet up with everyone again.

Mike Carney was really pleased with how the competition went this year: "The Michelin starred lunch and kitchen show at The Chester Grosvenor was a brilliant prize for the teams and a first that we should repeat next year. My overriding memory is of the great people we have working within the pubs who were courteous, good fun and mixed so well together. In particular, the number of very junior and inexperienced kitchen assistants/junior chefs who produced some remarkable dishes that required technical knowhow that could only have come about by the training and mentoring of them by their head chefs'; so all working together to make beautiful food."

The Bolney Stage Children's Cook-off

April 2015

In a remarkably brave gesture of community education, the Bolney Stage threw open its doors to the local Primary School for a cookery lesson. Children embarked on a High-tea preparation class, before sitting down to enjoy the results of their labours washed down by their own home-produced fruit punch. All agreed it was a joyful occasion, and will be repeated shortly!