PubChef crowns BBQ king
A Sussex pub chef has been crowned Britain's best pub barbecuer.
Wayne Cortilla, chef at the Royal Oak in Poynings, near Brighton, East Sussex, won the PubChef Battle of the BBQs 2007, at a cook-off on the coals on Wednesday.
Wayne impressed judges with his dish: a taste of Sussex. The dish included Poynings Grange lamb and garden mint burger, belly pork and diver-caught seared scallops with black pudding and gooseberry chutney.
The final was held at the Royal Oak in Kings Bromley, Staffordshire.
The judging panel featured David Hancock, editor of the Alastair Sawday's Pubs and Inns guide, Martin Bates, chief executive of the Craft Guild of Chefs, BBQ Ben Bartlett from the British BBQ team and Gary Barnshaw, development chef for competition sponsor Heinz Foodservice.
The two runners-up were Tony Robson-Burrell chef/owner of the Wheatsheaf at Oaksey, Wiltshire with a dish of yellow fin tuna, red wine, capers and olives and Dave Gurr-Gearing owner of the Charlton Arms, Ludford Bridge, Shropshire, with his dish of spatchcocked quail in Tuscan herb salt served on wilted greens.
The final took place during National BBQ Week.
Cortilla will join the Best of Britain BBQ team at one of their International BBQ competitions later this year.
