If you want to be voted "Great British Pub" you're still in with a chance, so download your entry form and posters from Whitby Seafood's website now.
In association with The Publican. Whitby Seafoods has launched a national campaign to find the best community-driven pub in the country that also serves real ale and traditional pub dishes.Whitby Seafoods is famous for its scampi, which has always been a favourite dish on pub menus.
Now, more than ever, there is a real demand for the old classic dishes, but as Laura Troughton, marketing and sales director for the company, says: "Customers are wanting good quality British pub food so Whitby Seafoods came up with a product that would satisfy this need." While scampi is fondly remembered as a meal served in baskets in the 1970s, it remains one of the most popular pub menu items.
So what is scampi? Scampi is a small lobster with the scientific name of Nephrops norvegicus, but has four different common names: Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, scampi and langoustine. In the 1960s, a dish of prawn tails, coated in breadcrumbs then deep-fried, became synonymous with the name. It became a popular item, served with chips, on the menus of pub-restaurant chains such as Berni Inns and Beefeater.
However, any Italian will tell you that scampi is an Italian term that originally referred to the particular shrimps caught in the Bay of Venice. In Mediterranean countries, scampi - or langoustine as it is known in France - is prized as the most delectable and valuable of shellfish. France, Italy and Spain import most of their langoustine from UK waters, making the seafood favourite an international delicacy.
Beautiful Beer and succulent scampi
Panel judge Ros Shiel, PR manager for the Beautiful Beer campaign comments: "Increas-ingly, food is part of the pub experience for customers, and growing numbers of them are accompanying their meal with beer. After all, it makes a lot of sense to pair our national food with our national drink." Whitby Breaded Scampi is a wholetail product that contains all the meat of the lobster with the shell removed. It's also known as the chef's benchmark of wholetail because of its excellent taste and light breadcrumb coating.
You can download your questionnaire and posters at www.whitby-seafoods.com. Alternatively call Whitby Seafoods directly on FREEPHONE 0800 731 6596 or email info@whitby-seafoods.com The closing date for entries is Friday June 16, 2006, so call now.