Food Competition 2005
Corn Mill - Heats
Matt and Anna made an excellent Ham and asparagus terrine: the whole dish had a lovely balance of flavour and texture and was just the right portion size.
Starter:
Caerphilly and roasted apple tart tatin
The dish lacked an intergrated flavour and would benefit from a lot more seasoning.
Light Bite:
Ham and asparagus terrine with pickles and crusty bread
Excellent terrine with great flavours, although slightly too much pickle throughout the dish.
Main:
Chirk trout, Cheshire air-dried ham, new potatoes and spinach
Lovely dish with good fish-to-bacon ratio. More spinach and slightly less potato would enhance this dish.
Pudding:
Jam rolypoly pudding with custard
The suet was perfect but the pudding serverely lacked in jam filling and the custard needs to be developed.
Prepared by:
Matt Hobbs, Anna Bland-Roberts
The Challenge
Every pub must enter a starter, light bite, main course and pudding. The dishes need to be prepared, cooked and put together in the morning before judging at lunchtime.
In the first round, three or four pubs each day go up against each other. The winner overall on each day goes through to the final, which is held two weeks later.
Pub managers and senior chefs are encouraged to come along for the judging and to lend support at the tastings and see what their crews have done, but they can't make any alterations or comment until after the judging - or heckle the other pub teams.
The Criteria
Each dish will be judged under the following criteria; the written description of the dish; the style of the dish; presentation; taste and balance; value for money for the customer; gross profit to the pub; kitchen efficiency; likelihood of consistent reproduction; ease of service to the table.
Prizes
The winning team will enjoy the glory, the admiration and undoubtedly the accusations of bias and double-dealing from all their peers. They will also receive a trophy and probably a case or two of something quaffable to share amongst the team.