Food Competition 2005
Combermere Arms - Heats
www.combermerearms-burleydam.co.uk
Tim and Emma were very creative in all four dishes but it was the winning main course of homemade sausages that took centre stage. There was just the right balance of ingredients along with a perfect cooking technique that resulted in this being a superbly accomplished dish.
Starter:
Locally-smoked trout linguine with a chive cream sauce
Very good dish but needed slightly more trout and seasoning to make it more robust.
Light Bite:
Hot Cheshire pork pie with brown sauce and pickled onions
Really good concept but would come together better if was a whole pastry pork pie and not set in a ramekin.
Main:
Pork bacon and thyme sausage with champ and caramelised red onion gravy
Everything was perfect with the attention to detail on the key ingredient really paying off.
Pudding:
Caramelised apple steamed pudding with ambrosia custard
A really excellent pudding which was well balanced, but needs just a little work on the overall presentation of the dish.
Prepared by:
Tim Pearson, Emma Prescott
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.