Engineering a top breakfast
It's official: breakfast is back. Many top London restaurants have added breakfast to their menus and almost a year after licensing law changes sanctioned extensions for opening hours, an increasing number of pubs are also offering an early feast, dubbed "the new lunch" by many food writers.
Iconic breakfast accompaniments Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Sauce had the perfect sponsorship credentials for our breakfast battle. And our ideal pub battleground was the Engineer in London's trendy Primrose Hill, with a successful breakfast offering serving an average of 300 covers every week. Determined to prove there's much more to breakfast than the simple bacon butty, two teams of the pub's chefs took to the grills.
The challenge
A box of mystery ingredients, including Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Sauce, is revealed to each team of chefs at the start of the challenge. Their brief is to create three breakfast or brunch dishes in 50 minutes that incorporate or can be served alongside the sauces. All other ingredients listed must be included in the new dishes. The chefs can also use their own stock-cupboard ingredients such as flour and herbs.
Before the event
As the Engineer opens and serves food from 9am to 11pm, seven days a week, chefs can't rest on their laurels. They're used to working in different combinations so operating in pairs shouldn't prove problematic.
"It's tough," comments sous chef Alan Turner, "but I'm up for the challenge." Alan and chef de partie Amal Ismahoon face stiff competition from their opponents, head chef Terry Williamson and chef de partie Bernal Deane, who are eager to get on with the challenge.
It's time for our chefs to do battle, and Alan and Amal are happy with their mystery box.
"These ingredients are a good mix and will help us make great dishes," says Alan.
When Terry and Bernal get their box, Terry says: "There are lots of ingredients to incorporate, so it's going to be hard."
Teams each have 10 minutes' planning time before the cook-off. Team A plan char-grilled bruschetta with Parma ham, a basil salad and caramelised figs with a cardamon and plum chutney, posh mushroom and fried egg on toast with a concasse of tomato ketchup dressing, and shallot and potato wrapped in bacon with poached eggs and a tomato salad.
Team B opt to create a sweet potato and corn rösti with ham, poached eggs and asparagus, stuffed char-grilled peppers with sweet potato and spinach, garnished with Brie and asparagus, and sausage and Gruyère quesadillas with a red pepper and spring onion salsa.
And they're off
50 minutes to go: Team A get straight to work, slicing potatoes for the shallot and potato mix and griddling the mushrooms with some butter, while Team B set about the task of halving and de-seeding some of the Romero peppers to use in their stuffed pepper dish.
45 minutes to go: Team B turn their attention to their sweet potatoes, prepping them to fill the peppers and create the potato and corn röstis, while speedy Team A grill the halved ciabattas for their mushrooms and egg on toast. "We always make a point of offering our customers Heinz Tomato Ketchup, because it really is the best ketchup," says Terry.
40 minutes to go: After just 10 minutes of cooking time, Team A are ready to serve their flat mushrooms and fried egg on ciabatta toast and a bed of rocket. "We haven't used ketchup in cooking before, but the Heinz Tomato Ketchup concasse works quite well as a dressing." Team B look impressed, but Terry complains: "Your ingredients were better than ours." Team A aren't having any of it.
30 minutes to go: Still ahead of schedule, Team A wrap their fried potato and shallot mix in some bacon and serve their second breakfast dish with poached eggs and a tomato salad. Team B oven-cook the pork and sage sausages before placing them under the grill to brown. They grate the Gruyère cheese to add to the mix for the quesadillas. "They're a delicious type of Mexican tortilla sandwich that can be sweet or savoury," head chef Terry explains.
25 minutes to go: While Team B place their tortillas under the grill to finish off the quesadillas, Team A mix some of the
Heinz Tomato Ketchup with HP Sauce
and a little olive oil to create their third
and final dish. "The result should be
similar to a barbecue sauce," explains sous chef Alan.
20 minutes to go: Team A caramelise figs
with sugar and olive oil to serve with bruschetta while Team B char-grill the previously roasted peppers to fill with the sweet potato mixture.
15 minutes to go: Team A toast the remaining ciabatta for the bruschetta, add plum and cardamom chutney and decorate with the sauce created from sponsor's ingredients. Their final dish is served well ahead of time. "I really enjoyed that," says Alan, and his teammate agrees. Undeterred, Team B serve their first dish - sweet potato and corn rösti with ham, poached eggs and char-grilled asparagus. Head chef Terry asks opponent Alan for help. "You're working with the enemy," he jokes. "It's all a labour of love," says Alan.
10 minutes to go: Team B are on a roll and they're ready to serve their stuffed char-grilled pepper with sweet potato, Brie, spinach and asparagus.
5 minutes to go: The team prepare the quesadillas with the sausages and Gruyère cheese and serve them with a red pepper and spring onion salsa. To raise the challenge, they have prepared a mouth-watering apple and raisin strudel for the judges. "Talk about bribery," says Alan. "Hopefully that will swing it for us," replies the Engineer's head chef. Does that man have no shame? Having completed their challenge ahead of the allotted time, it's time for our teams to retire gratefully to the bar.
The judges
Our judges for this month's contest were solicitor Seth Levine, who is a regular at his favourite North London pub, Heinz Foodservice marketing assistant Gillian Burrow and PubChef editor Jo Bruce.
The judges' brief is to assess each dish on its taste, presentation and creative use of ingredients. The Engineer is Seth's local in a real sense - he lives a stone's throw away. He has become a loyal customer over the past seven years, eating at the Engineer more than three times a week and often having breakfast there at weekends. "I've told them that when I die I want a plaque on one of the Engineer's garden benches," he says.
"The pub has been under the same ownership since it opened as the Engineer
11 years ago. Obviously it's convenient as my local, but the excellent food and staff also keep me coming back. The garden is great, too."
The verdict
First up is Team A's posh mushroom and fried egg with a concasse of tomato ketchup dressing. The judges are impressed with the appearance and taste of this dish. "The Heinz Tomato Ketchup in the sauce adds an excellent zing to the flavour," says Jo.
Next, it's Team B's sweet potato and corn rösti, which again scores highly in all categories, particularly in relation to its good mix of ingredients. The next dish subjected to the judges' scrutiny is Team A's potato and shallots wrapped in bacon. The judges like its hearty image and feel that the sauce containing the Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Sauce gives it a kick without overpowering its flavours. Team B's stuffed peppers impress the judges, but are considered more suitable for a lunch or dinner menu than a successful breakfast offering. Team A's final dish of bruschetta with Parma ham and caramelised figs scores highly for its brave mix of ingredients, but Team B's sausage and Gruyère quesadillas are clearly a firm favourite.
The judges' final top dishes are Team A's posh mushroom and fried egg on toast and Team B's quesadillas; Team A are declared overall winners for high scoring and use of Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP Sauce.
Looks like the judges didn't succumb to Team A's strudel bribe - this time.
Alan and Amal's dishes
Posh mushroom and egg on toast
Peel and wash large flat mushroom; remove stalk. Season and drizzle with olive oil
