The Highwayman Inn

Owner/licensees: Craig Bancroft/Nigel Haworth

Tenure: Thwaites leasehold

Head chef: Michael Ward

Turnover: £1m

Covers per week: 1,100

Wet:dry split: 30:70

Best-selling dishes: slow-cooked Goosnargh duck on toast, onion marmalade, redcurrant relish, bitter leaves (£6.90); Cumbrian fell-bred lamb chops, pea and broad bean mash, new potatoes, mint jelly (£14.50); Cartmel sticky-toffee pudding, butterscotch sauce, vanilla ice cream (£5).

On the menu: Port of Lancaster smokehouse kipper fillet, soft-boiled free-range egg and watercress salad, grain mustard mayonnaise; local cured meats - Peter Gott's air-dried Cumbrian speck ham, potted wild boar and chorizo, pork dripping, slow cooked onions, toasted organic bread; elderflower syllabub and jelly, crushed Grasmere gingerbread.

Chef's favourite ingredients: Roasted and pickled assorted beetroot, ox tongue, cider-vinegar dressing. Farmer Sharp's Herdwick mutton pudding, forager's mash, black peas and capers.

New for 2008: Menu changes in Feb & June.

Best business idea 2007: Local radio advertising the pub by using the voices of the local suppliers and their involvement.

Best-selling beer and wine: Thwaites Wainwright Bitter (£2.35), Sauvignon Blanc Kintu, Chile (£12.50).

Highwayman Burrow, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, 01524 2733338 www.highwaymaninn.co.uk ​

Recipe​

Barber Green pudding, raspberries, lemon jelly, Simpson's double cream

Serves four

Ingredients:

Use large ramekin dishes

(approx 11cm x 4cm)

600ml/1pt milk

50g/13/4oz unsalted

butter

50g/13/4oz caster

sugar

100g/31/2 fresh white

breadcrumbs

6 egg yolks

4dsp raspberry jam

Zest of 1 lemon

For meringue:

4 egg whites

220g/8oz caster

sugar

(beat egg whites with a little sugar to stiff peak, then gradually add rest of the sugar)

Method: In a heavy-bottomed pan, bring the milk and lemon zest to the boil, add the butter and caster sugar, mix well, stir in the breadcrumbs and allow to cool slightly. Whisk in the egg yolks thoroughly.

Divide equally between the ramekin dishes. Bake in the oven at 140°C/275°F/gas mark 1 for 15 to 20 minutes in a bain-marie (a deep tray lined with paper then approx 2cm of hot water added).

Bake the puddings until set. Remove the puddings from the oven and allow to cool, spoon on the raspberry jam. Pipe the meringue on top of the jam in small peaks, totally covering the top. Bake for a further five minutes at 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Serve with fresh cream and raspberries.