Food Competition 2008
Fox - Heats
The overall level of cooking was to a high standard from the Fox team but all the dishes lacked going through the development process to refine the end product. Carry this out and they would improve greatly.
Starter:
Homemade crumpet with Wrekin white rarebit and pancetta
A few adjustments and not drizzling the ketchup would help this dish but altogether the flavours were well balanced.
Light Bite:
Smoked pork tenderloin and waldorf salad
Good potential; all raw ingredients worked well but execution needed to be refined to enhance overall balance of dish and presentation.
Main:
Rabbit pie
A very appetising pie with a tasty mixture of veg, visually the dish would have benefited from less gravy on the pie to show off the golden pastry crust.
Pudding:
Rhubarb and whiskey cranachan
More intensity of flavour and the use of cream would improve this sweet.
Prepared by:
Greg O’Neil and Dave Hiorns
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.