Feeding the fans

You may have a quality food offer that you are rightly proud of, but when the fans are packing your pub — and if you’ve got your offer right, they most certainly will do this summer — you’re going to need fare of a different kind, and finger food is just what the team coach ordered. Nicholas Robinson looks at some of the options

Italian sandwiches

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Brakes’ Italian Sub recipe is made from pulled pork, cheese triangles, chorizo and panzanella dressing all served in a soft white sub, which can be sold in halves or as a whole.

Cost to make: £1.61

Stockist: www.brake.co.uk

Brazilian fayre

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The escondidinho is a traditional shredded salt-beef and cassava pie served across Brazil and similar to the UK’s cottage pie.

Private chef Junior Menezes describes how to make it: “Traditionally it is made with salted beef, but it can also be filled with chicken or seafood. It is topped with a cassava purée and a root mash mixed with milk and Brazilian cream cheese.”

Cost to make: £1.10 per 250g portion

Ingredients:

  • 1kg of frozen cassava
  • 500g of carne seca (salt-beef)
  • Onions
  • Soft cheese
  • Cheddar
  • Milk

Quick-serve sharing food

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Spanish Patatas Bravas is quick, easy-to-make and tasty food for hungry punters. Premier Foodservice’s recipe uses chorizo and a spicy Homepride tomato and basil sauce.

Cost: £1.65/portion

Method: http://tinyurl.com/zszbp3m

Spiced lamb skewers

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Premium lamb dishes at a low cost can be hard to come by, but JJ Foodservice’s recipe for spicy lamb skewers and a garlic dip costs less than £2/head to serve.

Whether you grill them or barbeque them, that doesn’t matter. What’s important is they can be prepared in advance of a busy day.

Cost: £1.51/portion

Method: http://tinyurl.com/jebtc44

Don’t forget the wedges

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Chips are the best-selling dish on pub menus and it’s likely the trade will sell thousands more portions over the busy summer. Chips manufacturer Lamb Westons is suggesting pubs trade up to potato dippers during busier sporting events to make more GP when your pub’s packed out.

Contact: www.lambweston.com

Steak meal in a bun

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AHDB Beef and Lamb are experts when it comes to red meat. So who better to ask for tips on making the perfect beef sandwich?

The Ultimate Beef Butty is a steak meal in a bun. Its cost per-portion will depend on where you buy your meat, but AHDB suggests using thin-cut Quality Standard English steak.

Method: http://tinyurl.com/j2pcgjx

Simple with chicken wings

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A bucket or basket of chicken wings presents punters with the ideal match snack and will generate very little washing up, which is perfect when footfall is high, says foodservice supplier Big Als.

Cost: 79p/serving

Contact: www.bigalsflamecooked.co.uk

Get your hotdogs!

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Hotdogs are the ideal dish for pubs to serve at sporting events, says Booker. Quick and easy to prepare, you can microwave to order, or keep them in a bain marie for even speedier service. Simply add a topping like sweet onion, grated cheese or the old classics of mustard and ketchup.

Cost: 76p/portion, including hot dog, roll, chutney, cheese and extra chunky chips

Contact: www.booker.co.uk

Pretzel football burger buns

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Bidvest Foodservice’s new pretzel football rolls can add interest around burger offers sold during football occasions. The rolls come frozen, so need to be defrosted for 30 minutes and then baked for 4–6 minutes before serving.

Use tailored ingredients and country flags to link to the teams playing on a particular day. For example, add chorizo for Spain, and mozzarella and pesto for Italy.

Cost: £30.02/case (roughly 50p/roll)

Contact: http://tinyurl.com/gsygrw5