Food Competition 2008
Pant-yr-Ochain - Heats
www.pantyrochain-gresford.co.uk
All in all the Pant team put in a very good effort this year with glimpses of excellence showing through in some of the dishes.
Starter:
Salt cod croquettes with avocado mayonnaise
These croquets were extremely tasty but the salad garnish needed a bit more attention to bring the dish together.
Light Bite:
Moroccan lamb salad
This dish looked great, nicely balanced and well executed. It would be better if cous-cous was mentioned in the menu description.
Main:
Duck breast with beetroot risotto and red wine sauce
This dish would have benefited form the food not being stacked on top of each other to show off the rich colours, and the duck was slightly under-cooked, but with a little further development this will make a good course.
Pudding:
Rhubarb and ginger jelly
Very refreshing, with brilliant combination of flavour. A truly delicious dessert.
Prepared by:
Dave Holland and John Hibbert
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.