Tried and Tested - A Question of Taste
In the first of a new series, three licensees and their customers give their views on a range of products designed to make life easier in pub kitchens
Product info
The product: Cranks Stuffed Red Peppers and Portobello Mushrooms
The trial: The pubs, all with a substantial meat-free menu, spent 10 days promoting the product on specials boards
The PR: Kitchen Range Foods has the licence to manufacture meat-free brand Cranks. The range offers half a fresh red pepper filled with a creamy cheese risotto and a fresh Portobello mushroom stuffed with garlic cream cheese and topped with a herb gratin. Each vegetable is hand-filled and individually finished to give a home-made impression and is manufactured on a purely vegetarian site.
Cooking instructions: Oven cook from frozen in 20 to 25 minutes or microwave from frozen in 5min 30sec to 6min 30sec, then brown the mushrooms under the grill.
Serving savvy: Suitable as starters, light bites and accompaniments or, by doubling the portion size, as a meat-free main. Serve with salad leaves and toasted foccacia bread
Cost: £8.49 for a case of six
Available from: Wholesalers, including 3663
Contact: Kitchen Range Foods, telephone 01480 445900
What the jury thought
Jacqui Cox, licensee, the Antelope, Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset
Number of covers per week: 200 to 300
Wet:dry split: 70:30
Customer base: Local but diverse - farmers/weekenders/families/young crowd. On Sundays, customers come from further afield.
Menu offering: A wide range including home-made pizzas to eat in or take away, baguettes, jacket potatoes, traditional pub grub and a weekly changing selection of home-made specials. A wide range of meat-free options are available.
Portobello mushroom
Served: As a starter with a salad garnish and as a pepper and mushroom duo. With chips and salad as a main.
Menu price: Starter, £3.95; main, £5.95
Customer views: "The filling was gorgeous, really creamy and very strong flavoured."; "The filling complemented the mushroom, quite rich but I liked it a lot"; "Felt locally-produced".
Pub view: "A good quality product that had a great taste and looked appealing. We microwaved them and then finished them off under the grill to give a crisp look. The product seemed to appeal to both vegetarians and meat eaters but at £1.42 a piece, we felt they were a bit expensive. We tend to make a lot of our food ourselves but I would use them as a starter at Christmas or if we had a function on."
Star rating: ****
Peppers
Served: With a side salad as a starter and with a Cranks' filled mushroom, chips and salad as a main
Menu price: Starter, £3.95; main, £5.95
Customer views: "I thought they were home-made"; "Looks great."; "A little bland compared to the mushroom".
Pub view: "They looked great and the taste was fine. In the pepper and mushroom duo, the pepper fared quite poorly against the mushroom. Useful to have in the freezer."
Star rating: ***
Yvonne Walder, licensee, the Flag, Wivenhoe, Essex
Number of covers per week: 150 to 200
Wet:dry split: 66:33
Customer base: Locals - older during the week and younger at weekends. "A lot of my vegetarian customers are students."
Menu offering: Extensive menu. Six out of the seven starters and 12 out of the 30 mains are meat-free.
Mushrooms
Served: As a starter with mushroom couscous and a side salad. "Better microwaved and then grilled. Oven baking made them a bit chewy."
Menu price: £1.75 (as a special vegetarian promotion). Normally £2.95
Customer views: "Great with a steak"; "Fantastic"; "Different and really garlicky"; "Good value for money".
Pub view: "These definitely win on taste and they are easy to cook. Everybody who had them loved them, but they're just not substantial enough for the price."
Star rating: ***
Peppers
Served: As a starter, on a small bed of rice to seat it and with a side salad.
Menu price: £1.75
Customer view: "We know we can trust Cranks to give us a bona fide vegetarian dish".
Pub view: They looked lovely and tasted good but they're not substantial enough. They're poor value when compared to the other starters that we offer. Even if you served two as a main, they just can't compete pricewise. A lot of my customers recognised the Cranks name and knew that they were going to get a good quality product."
Star rating: ***
David Giffen, licensee, the Alma Inn, Cotton Stones, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire
Number of covers per week: 400 to 500
Wet:dry split: 60:40
Customer base: Age range of mainly 28 to 50-year-olds. Mix of locals and destination diners. Both couples and larger groups.
Menu offering: Mediterranean-themed menu.
Mushroom
Served: starter on a bed of rocket. "We microwaved them to get them going and then put them in our wood-burning oven."
Menu price: £4.50
Customer views: "Hard to tell the difference between this and one freshly made from scratch"; "Tasted fabulous. Nice and crunchy"; "Good value for money".
Pub view: "Good quality and nice presentation. Excellent for when we're busy. They sold well to both vegetarians and meat eaters. They're quite expensive - our own stuffed mushroom costs a fair bit less to produce - but we would use them if we were up against it in the kitchen."..
Star rating: ****
Peppers
Served: As a starter, on a bed of rocket with a drizzle of balsamic oil. We microwaved them and then either chargrilled them or cooked them in our wood-burning oven.
Menu price: £4.50
Customer views: "A nice blend of flavours"; "I liked the texture, taste and presentation. An excellent product that I would try again"; "Nice taste. Looked good"; "Good value for money".
Pub view: "Easy to prepare, looked and tasted great. We usually offer a stuffed Romero pepper on our main menu, but these are ready prepped which is great for saving time; however, they did take longer to cook than ours. I'd definitely use these during busy periods. They are a great labour saving product. Why make life harder for yourself?"
Star rating: *****
All star ratings are out of five with five being excellent and one poor
