Food Competition 2005
Black Jug - Heats
The Black Jug engineered a remarkable Lemon mallow pie, a clever way of recreating the traditional lemon meringue with good kitchen efficiency, which proved to be an extremely tasty well-balanced dessert.
Starter:
Goujons of calf's liver coated in oatmeal with raspberry vinegarette and herb leaf salad
Nice idea but the oatmeal coating made the liver too heavy and the raspberry vinaigrette was not well balanced. Presentation was a bit too fussy.
Light Bite:
Smoked salmon and asparagus tagliatelle with shavings of fresh parmesan
A nice pasta dish but more seasoning and a thicker sauce would really lift this dish.
Main:
Braised pig's trotter filled with spiced pork, black pudding and wild mushrooms, served with creamed potatoes and red cabbage
Far too long description with the pig's trotter providing more of a skin for the stuffing rather than adding pork meat to the dish.
Pudding:
Lemon mallow pie served with mango sorbet
Very clever idea and exceptionally tasty, with good balance of all ingredients.
Prepared by:
Karl Breese, Mark Hillman
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.