British Pie Week winner is crowned

By PubChef

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Hennessey: 2011 British pie Week winner
Hennessey: 2011 British pie Week winner
PubChef reveals who has been crowned the 2011 British Pie Week Pub Pie Champion... A talented young pub chef has scooped the top prize in Jus-Rol...

PubChef reveals who has been crowned the 2011 British Pie Week Pub Pie Champion...

A talented young pub chef has scooped the top prize in Jus-Rol Professional's annual celebration — British Pie Week.

Craig Hennessey of Punch Taverns lease the Queens Head Inn, Askham, Cumbria, is the 2011 Pub Pie Champion. His winning dish is Cumberland Tattie Pot, which is already a big favourite with customers.

The pie impressed the judges of this year's award, which was run in partnership with the Morning Advertiser​.

The 23-year-old wins the prestigious British Pie Week Pub Pie Champion accolade and £500 in cash.

He says the secret of his culinary success is that "good pies need to be hand-crafted — they are made using fresh ingredients bought locally to keep small companies in business".

His winning pie is a new take on a traditional Cumbrian speciality that was regularly enjoyed by local huntsmen and farmers and includes Herdwick hogget (lamb older than one year), garlic cloves, potatoes, carrots, shallots and black pudding accompanied by red cabbage.

Hennessey adds: "I'm really excited to have won — it's a great honour for me and the pub. Pies are so important because they are part of our pub heritage, especially in Cumbria.

"Not offering pies on the menu would be like not having Cumberland sausage & mash. There'd be absolute uproar."

Planning key to tasty pies

The winning pie is on the pub's menu at £7.95 and around 80 are sold weekly.

Hennessey adds: "It is really easy to make home-made pies because it's all in the planning.

"We make the filling in advance using good ingredients and the pies are finished off using Jus-Rol pastry, which helps me with the demands of making everything to order.

"We simply don't have the time to make pastry ourselves and we wouldn't be able to put on a fresh pie offering if we did. It gives me time to focus on everything else."

Menu makeover

The pub has undergone a menu makeover since Tommy and Katharine Martin took it on early last year. They decided to focus on home-made dishes using local produce, and now its motto proudly proclaims: "We do not serve fast food but we do serve fresh food as fast as we can."

Hennessey says: "Food is incredibly important to the business. We now have a menu people talk about and want to try.

"Quality ingredients are incredibly important, whether you're talking about pastry or meat. I work closely with all my suppliers and they make recommendations.

"Our specials board is always changing because I never know what they'll recommend. We also host a lot of shooting parties, so we get a great deal of venison, pheasant and partridge."

"It's so important to make everything yourself, including the pies, as you need to offer something different. If you serve good food, people will return."

Cumbrian favourite

Hennessey's winning pie puts a new spin on a traditional Cumbrian speciality featuring Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry, Herdwick hogget (a lamb older than a year), garlic cloves, potatoes, carrots, shallots and black pudding accompanied by red cabbage prepared with a secret recipe.

At the heart of a tasty pie are great ingredients — and Hennessey prides himself on

his long, close relationship with local food suppliers.

"It's so important to use local suppliers and support the community, otherwise we'll lose them. If you support the community, in turn they will support you.

"Too many pubs have closed. The traditional ale pub is dying and gastropubs are growing in popularity. Quality has to be there for a pub to survive and that's only possible by working with the very best local fresh suppliers available. You just won't get that from frozen ready-meals."

From porter to pie champion

Hennessey began working in the pub industry as a kitchen porter and has spent the past four years working his way up to become a chef. He also butchers his own meat. "It means I get all the best cuts and, as a business, we can use every part of the carcass.

"It also means we keep our ingredient costs down and the quality really high. I work with local farmers when it comes to the lambing season and invite them and their families to come and have a pie. It's important to keep the community involved."

Hennessey's victory comes in the run-up to next week's British Pie Week, which celebrates the nation's long love affair with pies of every kind.

To find out more about his winning recipe, or for further information on British Pie Week 2011, visit www.britishpieweek.co.uk​.

The fab five

Congratulations to the four other chefs who made it to the final round of the British Pie Week Pub Pie Champion contest.

They were: Carol Haime, of the Sandrock, Farnham, Surrey (smoked haddock pie with mascarpone cream, poached quails' eggs, spinach & button mushrooms); Rebecca White, from the Full Moon, Morton, Nottinghamshire (Moon pie with wings); Carl Smith, the Windmill, Mayfair, central London (venison & double chocolate stout pie) and DJ Johnston-Smith, from the Sheep Heid Inn, Edinburgh (Duddingston Fidget pie). The Punch Tavern, on Fleet Street, City of London, won the People's Choice Award for the second time with its chicken & fennel pie, created by head chef Dee Whooley.

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