PubChef Awards - Desserts
For diners with a sweet tooth, the dessert section of the menu is probably the one they most look forward to, and our finalists seemed keen to provide unusual twists on popular traditional dishes for the awards. Jo Bruce reports
Desserts are an essential part of a pub menu and, as the last thing a customer usually eats at that meal, tend to leave a lasting impression of the pub's overall food quality.
The desserts category challenged our five finalists to create a dessert of their choice using quality ingredients.
The dish could be a twist on a classic British pudding or a new concept.
All our finalists were asked to enter a dessert which would be suitable for a pub's menu.
They had an hour to prepare four of the same dessert dish and no pre-prepared ingredients were allowed.
Judges included: David Hancock, editor of Les Routiers British Pubs and Inns 2006; food writer Mark Taylor; Louise
Tibballs, marketing manager, of category sponsor Kerry Foodservice; Vincent Gluton, catering development chef for Fullers; and Geoff Sutton, representing the Craft Guild of Chefs.
Chef: Carl Marcantonio, chef de partie
Pub: Helyar Arms, East Coker, Somerset
Dish: Hot chocolate Valrhona pudding with fruit compôte and clotted cream
Menu price: £7
Cost of ingredients: £1.25
Why this dish? "Everyone loves chocolate and this dessert is 70% chocolate. It is very indulgent and the cream and fruit also work well with the chocolate. It is among the bestselling desserts on our menu." The pudding is made to Carl's own recipe. He gets the inspiration for new desserts by experimenting with recipe book ideas and is a fan of Gordon Ramsay's recipes.
Background: Carl has worked as pastry chef at the pub for two years. He spent two years at catering college in Aylesbury and Yeovil.
Chef: Richard Smith, pastry chef/company director
Pub: Druid Inn, Birchover, Derbyshire
Dish: Baked orange rice pudding with caramelised brown sugar skin and clotted cream
Menu price: £4.50
Cost of ingredients: £1.00
Why this dish? "This is a rework of a classic. Everyone loves rice pudding and it lends itself to many flavour varieties. The ingredients are inexpensive and so it is a good money earner."
Background: Richard says about 50% of the customers have a dessert during the week, increasing to 60% at weekends. This pudding is served with a shot glass of orange Muscat. Richard is passionate about "robust, high quality pub food with a modern thrust on classical dishes". He says he prides himself on creating a repertoire of favourites for his customers.
Chef: Sean Peck, head chef
Pub: Kirkstile Inn, Cockermouth, Cumbria
Dish: Cumberland Rum Nicky
Menu price: £3.75
Cost of ingredients: £1.25
Why this dish? "It has been on our menu for two-and-a-half years and sells really well. It is a traditional, local recipe and is a good dessert for the winter as it uses dried fruit."
Background: The pub offers 10 choices of desserts, with its bestsellers including sticky toffee pudding. Around 60% of the Kirkstile Inn's customers order a dessert. Sean describes the pub's menu as "traditional, local and British", and it's back to basics when he's in the kitchen. "Good pub food should be uncomplicated," he declares, homemade and properly cooked with an emphasis on regional
recipes."
Chef: Neil Clark, head chef
Pub: Linnet, Great Hinton, near Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Dish: Cornish cream tea cheesecake with English strawberry jam
Menu price: £4.95
Cost of ingredients: £1.53
Why this dish? "I am passionate about English dishes and you can't get more English than a cream tea. It has been very popular on our menu and is a twist on a classic - incorporating as it does Earl Grey tea in a cream sauce."
Background: The pub offers seven desserts and its current bestseller is plum roly-poly. Neil says some 70% of customers order a dessert. The chef believes pub menus should be understandable and well priced. "Pub food should be relaxing, innovative and well cooked and it should go well with a good beer or wine," he maintains.
Chef: Kevin Walsh, sous chef
Pub: Rainbow Inn, Lewes, East Sussex
Dish: White chocolate and mint cheesecake with raspberry crème anglaise
Menu price: £3.95
Cost of ingredients: £0.95
Why this dish? "It is like a mint and choc Aero. It is a variation on a normal cheesecake and has the feel of a dish you could make at home."
Background: Kevin has worked at the pub for three years and has been a chef for 14 years. The pub serves an average 750 covers a week, with its top-selling dessert being chocolate brownie. Other desserts on the menu include bread-andbutter
pudding and lemon tart. Kevin believes you can't underestimate the quality of ingredients: "They should always be fresh, locally sourced and of a high quality," he says.
The judges' verdicts on the finalists:
Carl Marcantonio: "Superb taste and presentation. Good attention to detail. A very efficient worker."
Richard Smith: "Excellent concept. A confident and skilled chef. The orange and mint were an excellent combination and the muscat worked really well."
Sean Peck: "A fantastic old recipe which is a fantastic
seasonal dessert. There was great use of dried fruits and local rum. A great pub dessert."
Neil Clark: "A brilliant idea to incorporate the tea into the sauce and an overall great idea. Fantastic presentation. Very together."
Kevin Walsh: "An efficient worker. An interesting dish
idea. Good presentation and value for money."
The winner
The judges praised all our finalists for the variety of flavours and concepts they presented and said it was excellent" to see so much passion from the chefs for pub desserts.
Carl Marcantonio was awarded the desserts category title with his dish of hot chocolate Valrhona pudding with fruit compote and clotted cream. He has worked as pastry chef at the Helyar Arms in East Coker, near Yeovil, Somerset, for two years, under the guidance of head chef Mathieu Eke.
The pub offers seven desserts on its menu, plus three specials. The clotted cream used in Carl's dish comes from Rookey Farm in Highbridge, Somerset, and the berries from Fine Foods in Wincanton.
Carl believes desserts are as important as any other course on the menu.
He says: "When dining out people want to spoil and indulge themselves and, as often the last thing they eat, desserts leave a lasting impression of the pub's food quality on the customer." The pub serves an average 400 covers a week, with food representing 66% of turnover.
Receiving special praise from the judges for his excellent English cream tea as dessert, was Neil Clark, head chef at the Linnet in Great Hinton, Wiltshire.
