Autumn menu:: Season of plenty
With the summer coming to an end and the nights drawing in, consumers begin to look for meals that are more suited to the impending autumn months.
There's a move towards hearty meals that will really keep their energy and spirits up.
Brakes has developed a range of autumnal foods designed to keep the chill out. Roast vegetable Yorkshire pudding offers a home-cooked feel, while steak and red wine stew with chunky vegetables has a suitably hearty feel.
With the popularity of family dining in pubs increasing, there is a range of children's menu items using seasonal produce, including keta salmon portions, locally sourced and packed with Omega-3.
As the nights draw in, soup becomes a much more popular menu item. Fresh soup can be made from the right stock base more quickly and easily than most pubs think.
The man who believes he has solved the age-old issue of stock preparation is Nigel Crane, Essential Cuisine's managing director, who trained at the five-star Dorchester Hotel under Anton Mosimann and spent years frustrated by the range of pre-prepared stocks on the market.
Essential specialises in jus, gravy and glaces, in addition to powdered stock mixes, created to project the taste and flavour of traditional stock into stock pots or for use directly in cooking.
"The faith I have in my products is simply because I made them for my own use and they are exactly what I wanted them to be," said Nigel.
When it comes to stock powders and pastes, Nigel is keen to dispel a few myths. "The majority of chefs perceive powders as uninteresting and not fresh. They see paste, on the other hand, as fresh and flavoursome. The reality is paste is simply liquid fat, often with a lot of salt and seasoning. Chefs don't want the fat, there's just no rhyme or reason for it in cooking and it is skimmed off and thrown away anyway.
"What you want from a stock is balance and flavour, and with powder you get this but have the luxury of being able to sprinkle it at any stage of cooking."
For Nigel's recipe for chicken consommé, the basis for any great chicken soup recipe, visit www.thepublican.com/food
Ben Smales, managing director of 3G Food Service & Seafood Solutions, says: "Autumn is traditionally a time when pubs offer warming dishes such as meaty pies and stews, but there are also some great species of fish that are at their best during this period and should not be forgotten.
"For example, red snapper, sea bass, monkfish, cod, scallops, crab and oysters are all at their finest and widely available from the beginning of autumn. Perfect for health-conscious diners, fish and seafood can be used in a variety of dishes from soups to pies to suit any autumn menu. It can also be used to make menus stand out from the rest."
One great autumn meal is a fish curry or stew. Prawns and meaty white fish such as cod, monkfish or red snapper work well as they can take strong, spicy flavours.
3G's Ready Baked Pie Wedges also work well on autumn menus, as Julie Constable, new product development manager, explains: "Our ready-baked pie wedges provide a satisfyingly meal solution and are packed with some traditional, hearty fillings including steak, ale and stilton. These pies look and taste great when served with chunky chips or fresh autumn vegetables such as leeks, carrots and jacket potatoes."
