Food Competition 2008
Old Harkers Arms - Heats
Carl and Sarah excelled themselves at every stage with an impressively high standard of cooking and consistency.
Starter:
Smoked haddock rarebit on a toasted muffin
A nice idea with extremely good flavour but was far too large for a starter portion or add some cherry tomatoes to make it a light bite.
Light Bite:
Chicken basil salad with roasted vegetables
A first rate salad that really impressed all three judges, it looked great, had excellent combination of ingredients along with good dressing.
Main:
Steak and kidney pie with new potatoes and root vegetable mash
This was a fantastic example of a pie, great pastry, succulent filling and mouth-watering mash. Brilliant dish.
Pudding:
Rhubarb roly poly
A classic dish, presented simply and attractively. Light, tart and sweet with good custard.
Prepared by:
Carl Shone and Sarah Drake
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.