Pub chef wins mains on Great British Menu
Michelin-starred pub chef Tom Kerridge cooked at a banquet for HRH the Prince of Wales after winning the main meal round of BBC Two's Great British Menu.
Tom Kerridge, owner of the Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, beat 23 chefs with his dish of slow-cooked Aylesbury duck with a crispy duck leg, duck fat chips, peas and gravy.
The dish was served at the banquet for 100 guests at the National Trust's Assembly Rooms in Bath. The banquet was screened last week.
Kerridge was one of four winning chefs who cooked at the banquet. Each chef cooked their winning course using British ingredients sourced from farms, gardens and neighbouring producers to their local National Trust property or countryside location.
Kerridge sourced his ingredients from in and around Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. He said: "It was a fantastic ex-perience to represent pubs, Although we have a Michelin star, we are still a pub. It's great to prove that it's not just the posh restaurants that can cook good food.
"It was an amazing experience, an emotional rollercoaster, but the best three weeks of my life." Kerridge's duck dish is now on the menu at the Hand & Flowers for £22 and will be joined by his two entries in the starter category — a crayfish dish and raw beef.
Other Great British Menu pub chef regional finalists were Henry Herbert, of the Coach & Horses, Clerkenwell, London, and Tim Bilton, of the Butchers Arms, Hepworth, Yorkshire. Regio-nal heat judges included Northcote Manor and Ribble Valley Inns' Nigel Haworth and Stephen Terry of the Hardwick in Abergavenny.
