Food Competition 2006
The 2006 Food Competition was more keenly fought than ever - the thirst to win was palpable, with some pubs establishing hard-core training regimes with catering consultants, physiotherapists and sports psychologists.
First round results Final results
Well ok, that bit was a lie, but people generally took it very seriously, and you could see the difference on the plate. As last year, pub teams were composed of a junior chef and someone from front of house, which made it pleasantly inclusive. There must be a lot of closet foodies working front of house, because the food was truly delicious.
Our tasting panel were some of the company heavyweights (in an avoirdupois sense) - Jerry, Graham and Mike. The scoring criteria they used remain unchanged, including dish description; style; taste; efficiency (ease of preparation); pricing and margins; and admin (food database, costings, organisation etc).
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Some pubs perhaps played it overly safe in their choice of dishes, others pushed the envelope a bit, but there were almost no dishes at all that were completely off beam.
This year’s must-have ingredients were black pudding, smoked haddock and rhubarb, though thankfully no-one has yet found a way of combining them.
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.