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Lucy Britner reports on PubChef's latest chef-education day at the Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire Chefs and licensees...

Lucy Britner reports on PubChef's latest chef-education day at the Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Chefs and licensees gathered at Tom and Beth Kerridge's Hand & Flowers for a day of chef demos and food and drink-tastings. On the menu was an English wine-tasting, a talk and demo by chef/patron Tom Kerridge about his pub business; a talk on traditional foods and protecting the UK's food regions by Food From Britain's Irene Bocchetta, and a pork butchery demonstration from master butcher Viv Harvey. The event was sponsored by the British Pig Executive (BPEX) and Food From Britain.

Tom Kerridge's menu

To start: Braised white bean soup with chestnut tortellini and honey-roast bacon. Main: confit belly of pork with pork fillet, celeriac purée and pickled white cabbage. To finish: Braeburn apple tart with caramel ice cream.

Recipe

Pork belly

Ingredients:

1 pork belly

Duck fat

Mix together the following:

1 tbsp juniper

1 tbsp mace

400g/14oz Malden salt

150g/5oz caster sugar

4 tbsp paprika

6 star anise

Method: Rub the mix into the pork belly and leave for 24 hours. Rinse the pork belly and cover with the duck fat. Confit in the oven at 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 for 3 hours. When cooled, press for 24 hours.

Celeriac purée

Ingredients:

1 celeriac

1/2pt milk

1/2pt double cream

Bunch of mint

150g/5oz butter

1 onion

Method: Peel and blanch the celeriac.Sweat off onion in butter. Bring the milk, cream and mint to boil. Add celeriac to the onion. Pass the milk onto the celeriac and cook out. Blend until smooth.

Pickled cabbage

Ingredients:

1 white cabbage

150g/5oz table salt

150g/5oz caster sugar

1 litre/13/4pt white wine vinegar

500g/1lb 2oz sugar

1 onion

Method: Thinly slice the white cabbage; mix with salt and sugar and leave for 24 hours. Slice onion thinly. Bring vinegar and sugar to boil. Sweat off onion. Wash cabbage and add it to the onion. Cook out for about 5 minutes. When it cools, add the vinegar and leave until you need it.

Pork fillet

Ingredients:

8 rashers of streaky bacon

1 pork fillet

Method: Roll bacon between two sheets of cling-film. Place trimmed fillet of pork on the bacon and roll up so that it is wrapped completely. Tie cling-film at ends and seal in a vac-pac bag. Cook in a Clifton water bath at 65ºC/150ºF for 45 minutes. Take out and cook in a pan with butter to colour.

Star appeal

Tom Kerridge, chef/patron of the Hand & Flowers, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, shares his trade secrets

Tenure: Greene King leasehold. The couple have just signed a new 20-year lease.

Chefs: Team of seven, with four to five working on any one day.

Average covers per day: 70 to 100

Average spend per head: £30-£35

The engine room: Tom has spent £100,000 on a brand new kitchen, which he designed himself.

Equipment: Top of Tom's kit list is two water baths and a vacuum pack. The

sous- vide baths cost about £800 each and the vacuum packer cost £1,700.

Tom says: "We have cut wastage by

one-sixth and vacuum-packed food can

be kept in the fridge for a couple of days longer. Cooking in this way reduces shrinkage and we retain around 10 lunch portions on an average Sunday - that's about £150."

Tom's tips: "Buy a Pacojet so that you can churn your ice cream at the start of a shift.

"Achieving and keeping a Michelin star is about producing consistently good food. Using sous-vide cookery and organising the chefs and kitchen so that everyone has a specific job reduces risks. We have so many checkpoints, it's almost impossible for food to leave the kitchen if it isn't right.

"Everything is made from scratch here, including bread and pasta. Use the right suppliers - if you hand-cut chips, don't use washed potatoes as too much water makes soggy chips. I use MBMG's Potato Lovers or Chippies Choice."

The kitchen runs entirely on electricity. Tom says: "It's much cleaner than gas and our central stove system works in different zones that reach the right temperature, then cut out. I think we'll save money on this in the long run. It cost £30,000." The oven is made by Athanor.

Tom's timetable: The demo kitchen is due to open and Tom plans to work with Greene King to train chefs on making decent pies and cooking chips from scratch.

He says: "I know that not all places have a team that can produce Michelin-starred food, but there's no reason why they shouldn't serve good pub food."

Pour a taste of England

Julia Trustram Eve from English Wine Pro-ducers extolled the use of home-produced wines.

There are 102 wineries in England and Wales and in 2006 they produced 3.4 million bottles of wine.

Denbies Estate in Dorking, Surrey, is the largest estate, with 265 acres of vineyard.

Still white wines account for about 70% of the wine produced in England and Wales, but this is set to change as most new plantings are Champagne variety grapes, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Julia says: "Pubs can tap into a niche with English wines because as more customers turn their focus to regional food, licensees can cash in with regional wines.

"Food miles are a big issue at the moment and pubs - especially in the south-east - can name their local vineyard along with other local suppliers."

On the tasting menu: Denbies, Dorking, Surrey: Greenfields 2004 sparkling; Three Choirs, Newent, Gloucestershire: Coleridge Hill 2006 white; Stanlake Park, Twyford, Berkshire: Hinton Grove 2006 white; Biddenden, Ashford, Kent: Ortega 2006 off-dry white; Brightwell, Wallingford, Oxfordshire: Oxford Rose 2005; Bookers, Bolney, West Sussex: Bookers Dark Harvest 2005.

Julia says: "Licensees can upsell English wine by offering it by the glass and suggesting that customers try different wines with different dishes."

Grapes grown in south-east England are roughly 90 miles from the Champagne region, as the crow flies. Julia says: "It's a question of when, rather than if, growers from Champagne will invest in land here."

English Wine Week runs from 24 May to 1 June - the ideal time to introduce English wine to customers.

For more info call 01536 772264 or visit www.englishwineproducers.com

Britain - making its mark

Food From Britain's Irene Bocchetta joined forces with master butcher Eric Reeve to talk about Britain's protected foods. There are 36 products in the UK with the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) - including Cornish

clotted cream and Jersey royal potatoes. Irene says: "This number is small, compared to other countries such as Italy where there are 155 PDOs, or France, where there are 149.

"Pubs can champion British produce by labelling it on their menus."

Traditional, local recipes and ingredients can also attract tourists who are visiting a

particular region.

PDO foods must be produced, processed and prepared in a specific geographical area. Foods can also achieve a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), by being produced, processed or prepared in a particular geographical area. Foods such as farm-fresh turkey can achieve Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) certification, highlighting that a product has traditional character, either in recipe or in the means of production.

Cumberland sausage is in the process of achieving a PGI. Eric Reeve showed chefs how to make the perfect sausage with his recipe of 90% meat, 3% rusk, 3% water and 3%

seasoning. "It doesn't quite add up!" he says.

Eric's tips: If you make your own sausages, once the ingredients are mixed together, mince the mixture again to ensure it is

properly combined.

Lots of butchers are eager to demonstrate "farm to fork" and many will be willing to do demos at your pub.

More info www.regionalfoodanddrink.co.uk

PubChef Live was sponsored by the British Pig Executive (BP

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