Proof of the pudding
The old saying about how to gauge the worth of a pudding has been put to the test by family brewer McMullens - a test its pub chefs passed with flying colours.The Hertford-based business runs an annual competition to encourage its chefs to create new dishes for menus across the managed estate.
This year the organisers of the competition, run in partnership with Brakes, set the task of developing a hot pudding. The brief called for a dessert which not only appealed to customers but could also be manufactured on the scale needed in a busy pub estate.
Paul Robbins, food development manager at McMullens, says: "We believe our employees should be passionate about what they do. Enabling our chefs to put forward their ideas for a dish, with the opportunity for it to end up on menus throughout our estate, has proved a great success.
"Not only is it a fantastic motivator and an excellent personal development opportunity but, more importantly, it demonstrates how passionate our people are about food."
Six finalists were shortlisted and invited to the McMullens Training & Development Kitchen in Hertford where they had to produce their pudding and present it to a panel of judges.
One of the judges, John Homewood, senior development chef at Brakes, explains: "While flavour is always the most important element of any dish, when judging there were other factors we had to take into account. We were also looking for a dessert with great menu appeal and longevity, that could be manufactured on a large scale."
The winning dessert was a hot orange tangy individual sponge pudding, created by Lee Jones, kitchen manager at Baroosh in Hertford. "The standard of the desserts presented was very high and demonstrated the skill levels of the chefs we have within our pubs," says Paul.
"It wasn't an easy decision, but the winning dessert was chosen because the judges all agreed that it would appeal to our customers in both the summer and winter months."
John adds: "It was a nice light sponge with a good zesty flavour. The orange sauce that pours over the sponge was very refreshing and has summer and winter appeal. Sponge puddings can sometimes be rich and a little heavy, but the orange flavour helps keep it light and refreshing on the palate."
Lee won a first prize of £500, with prizes of £250 for the two runners-up, and every finalist received a knife set from Brakes. However, the real reward for Lee was seeing his recipe come off the production line at Creative Foods, Brakes manufacturing division, at its Torquay site.
"It was fantastic to see my idea packaged and ready to go on menus. I tasted it and was amazed how little difference there was from my original recipe." The job of duplicating Lee's recipe was spearheaded by Rick Martin, development chef at Creative Foods. "One of our biggest challenges was sourcing the orange curd for the dish," he says.
"Getting not just the quantity, but the quality to create Lee's dish was tough but we eventually found the right product for the job. The sponge was less of a challenge as we manufacture a large range of different sponge puddings, so the tweaks we had to undertake were minimal.
The only noticeable difference from Lee's original dish was that we use chunks of orange instead of slices."With the dessert now on the menu at McMullens pubs, customers will, as ever, be the final arbiter of success. "We're promoting it on table-talkers throughout our estate with a picture of Lee and the winning pudding, just so our customers know who created it," says Paul.
