Top Lancashire Chefs take London by storm for Lancashire Day

Lancashire chefs take Lancashire to London

Cooked for the country’s top critics in Lancashire Day showcase

The Ribble Valley’s top chefs headed to London to celebrate Lancashire Day in delicious style. Five chefs including Stosie Madi fromParkersarms, Chris Bury from The Cartford Inn, Maurizio Bocchi from La Locanda, Steven Smith from Freemason’s at Wiswell and Lisa Goodwin-Allen from Michelin starred Northcote prepared a 5 course feast for top food writers, critics and industry insiders at the exclusive IceTank venue in Covent Garden on Thursday the 17^th of November.

                               

Ruth Connor, Chief Executive of Marketing Lancashire said, “The Lancashire Day Lunch was a triumph. Our aim is to position Lancashire at the forefront of culinary destinations nationwide and following this successful event our food and drink offer is now firmly on the map, with national journalists and influencers taking note. We couldn’t have been prouder of our chefs, working together to present course after course of the very best of Lancashire.”

                                 

The event, supported by Lancashire County Council and official travel partner Virgin Trains, is part of the county’s Lancashire Day celebrations that will culminate on Lancashire Day, 27 November. Marketing Lancashire is spear-heading a social media campaign inviting all proud Lancastrians to post images of their favourite Lancashire scenes, events and delicious local produce using #LancashireDay.  Last year a similar campaign reached over 40 million people in 816 locations worldwide.

                                 

Maurizio Bocchi, chef-patron at La Locanda, in Gisburn, which is the highest rated Italian restaurant outside London, said “As an adopted Lancastrian who tries to celebrate the Lancashire larder in every dish I produce, it was fantastic to be able to showcase this in London. I was very proud to be a part of such a game changing initiative.”

                                                                                                  

 Stosie Madi, chef-patron at multi award-winning Parkersarms said “It was a spectacular showcase and a chance for some of the UK’s most respected critics and writers to try our food. I served a Cockerham Saltmarsh Lamb and Lytham Cockle Pie, and received some wonderful feedback, a very proud moment.”

                               

Steven Smith, Chef Patron at The Freemasons at Wiswell, said; “There is an abundance of quality operators and producers in our region and it was fantastic to be able to package that offering up and deliver it to an esteemed audience in London. I’m very proud that The Freemasons was part of such a great event, which really showcased what we’re capable of and hopefully will drive incentivise media to include Lancashire in their food & drink and travel features in the future.”

                               

Jennifer Mein, County Councillor and Leader of Lancashire County Council said,

“Lancashire’s food and drink sector is worth around £734 million to Lancashire’s visitor economy and the sector supports an estimated 12,937 food and drink related posts. Taking ‘Lancashire to London’ will encourage more visitors to sample and appreciate the county’s rich larder.  We have some of the best produce in the country and raising awareness of this around Lancashire Day, sends out a strong message to visitors as well as to proud Lancastrians.”

Food and drink is worth around £734 million to Lancashire’s visitor economy, which has grown by £129 million over the last 6 years. This makes the county’s food and drink sector a strategic priority for the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) as highlighted in the newly launched Lancashire narrative and ‘We Are Lancashire’ campaign, along with the county’s advanced manufacturing, tourism and connectivity by air, sea and rail.

                                         

The 5 award winning chefs cooking were Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Head Chef of Michelin-starred Northcote, Maurizo Bocchi from La Locanda, Chris Bury from The Cartford Inn, Stosie Madi from The Parker’s Arms and Steven Smith from the Freemasons at Wiswell.   

                                                  

                                                     

                                                                                                                                            

The menu featured a wealth of Lancastrian producers from traditional Morecambe Bay shrimps & Lytham cockles, Goosnargh duck, artisan goat’s cheese from Capra Products, Ormskirk potatoes, Salt Marsh lamb from Cockerham, Brockhall village apples, honey from Crossmoor Farm, raw milk butter from Gazegill Organics and Burnley’s latest artisan gin distiller, Batch Brew.  Burnley-based CoolKit Ltd provided refrigerated transport to ensure all the ingredients arrive in top condition. 

                                                    

The unique meal included a gourmet coffee course from Lancaster’s oldest and most admired coffee importers Atkinson’s. The feast ended in true Lancashire style with a Lancashire cheese board supplied by Dewlay and Mrs. Kirkham’s, alongside handmade chutneys from Heritage Kitchen and biscuits from Farmhouse Biscuits. 

                             

On the 27 November 1295 King Edward I invited Lancashire’s first representatives to attend Parliament. Today this historic event is marked by the reading of proclamations, swearing allegiance to the Queen, and by numerous events and activities taking place across the county to celebrate what we now call Lancashire Day (27 November).

Content and Images supplied by Marketing Lancashire 

Game week at the Freemason Arms at Wiswell - Great British menu night !

This week we were fortunate enough to be invited to the Freemason Arms at Wiswell 5th Annual Game week celebrations.

Our evening was the Great British Menu night where two North West chefs were to  compete to be the champion for the Region for the night. Our featured chefs, Mary Ellen McTague (Aumbry) and Chris Holland (Alderley Edge Hotel) have both previously competed on the Great British menu for real, so along we went to this cute country inn feeling like Prue Leith and Mathew Fort for the night.

The Freemasons Arms in situated in a cute village in the Ribble Valley and has the perfect blend of pub with high end restaurant food, calm, comforting and relaxing interiors blend seemlessly with beautiful food.

Our menu for the evening as appropriate for Game Week featured Hare, Deer, Mallard and Pheasant and seasonal vegetables and flavours. All diners were provided with voting slips for us to chose our favourite dish from each course, just like on the tv show and of course we had no idea which chef had createdw hich dish. Not having eaten at either chefs restaurant we weren't familiar with either chef's body of work and signature style, so we had no preconceived ideas of what to expect.

Onto our delicious menu, our welcome canape was a dinky little "hotdog" made of foie gras rolled in a coating and served in a lovely white roll with sauce and mustard, no picture I am afraid as they disappeared before I even had chance to grab a photo, they were delicious.

First Course

Hare Consomme vs Surf and Turf

Tasty and a little gamey consomme accompanied with rare hare fillet, earthy turnip shoots and crunchy cubes with an amazing English truffle garnish. A nice balance between the consomme and the meat dish. This was instantly our favourite.

We found the smoked roe deer tartar disappointing as we couldn't detect any smoke in the flavour and despite being a well balanced tartar the meat could have been anything. The langoustine on the other hand was well flavoured and autumnally complemented by the cinnamon sauce.

Winner - Surf and Turf - Chris Holland

Main Course

Duck and Rosehip vs Pheasant Pie

Tender juicy slow roasted mallard with the rosehip wine syrup providing a delicious sweet and unusual sauce for the dish, roasted cabbage and a crunchy artichoke and sage crumb contrasting with the soft meat and the baked salsify was very savoury and tasty. Mr Lancashire Food's vote was won.

Buttery crisp pastry encasing a little pheasant and comforting savoy cabbage, chestnuts and bacon, moist pheasant fillet with a tasty gravy and celeriac puree. This one got my vote mainly due to the "pie" and the comfort food factor.

Winner - Pheasant Pie - Mary Ellen McTague

Dessert Course

Pumpkin and Parkin vs Beetroot & Chocolate Cakes

                                                 

This is where things started to get really interesting as we both love desserts, the perfect dish in our humble opinion, the sweet hum of nutmeg marrying beautifully with the parkin crumble and slightly sharp honeyed and oranged pumpkin, our only disappointment no popcorn in the ice cream could be found.

Moist dense chocolate cake and the most amazing hazelnut ice cream were our favourite elements of this dish, the beetroot mousse cake was very attractive in colour but lacked any real flavour for us and also the toffee and bee pollen were hard to detect in the dish.

                                    Winner - Pumpkin and Parkin - Chris Holland

So our overall winner was Chris Holland, on a couple of courses it was a close run thing particularly the Pheasant Pie which divided our table. We really enjoyed our evening at the Freemason Arms and were delighted to meet foodie friends we have made through facebook and twitter. After service, the chefs Mary and Chris along with Steven Smith mingled with diners chatting about their food and how excited they were to be cooking for us. The diners were the winners on the night experiencing classic British courses from these talented chefs.

If you fancy visiting the Freemason Arms then all their contact details are here.

Here is an earlier blog post of a visit to The Freemason Arms

We were kindly invited to attend this event on a complimentary basis, no payment was made for this blog post or a blog post requested as a condition of attendance. All the comments are my own opinion.

Freemasons at Wiswell

For a quite a while we have been promising ourselves a visit to the Freemasons@Wiswell, especially after we had attended the chef demonstration at Clitheroe Food Festival by Steven Smith. I booked our table a few weeks ago for my birthday lunch, the inn itself is cosily situated in a little nook off the main village green. Parking, I think could be an issue as this is a Lancashire hill village, so leave plenty of time to park but there is plenty of on road parking in the village. The inn's decor is rustic country pub style, warm and inviting, I especially liked the glass cloth style napkins and tartan curtains. We were warmly welcomed and seated at our table by the fireplace, Despite it only being just after 12 noon the pub was busy, we were brought menu's and our drinks order taken. The inn is well staffed and we were looked after well, all staff had a smile and were knowledgeable about the food and drink on offer.

The menu's changes frequently to reflect the seasons and the best local produce.  As this was our first visit and the fact that I like to try a seasonal menu we chose from the excellent value "seasonal menu", the a la carte also looked very tempting.

Various local beers were on offer including one from 3B's from Blackburn and also a local cider, after selecting our choice of the home-baked bread our starters arrived. I have opted for the Chicken and sweetcorn veloute, which was served in a china tea cup, this was a delicious well flavoured soup topped with a thick creamy swirl, crispy chicken skin crumbs and chives. Hubby ordered the the Pughs Piglet, a terrine of "porkyness" including being studded with black pudding, the terrine was garnished with apples and blackberries. If hubby could have licked the plate he would have. 

On to the mains, we had been recommended to order some of the wicked chunky chips cooked in duck fat, as neither of our mains came with potatoes, these were presented in a cute frying basket. Hubby's main was Hake with butter sauce, mushy peas and tartare sauce, this was pronouced "amazing"and quickly demolished, I did get to sample it however and it was beautifully balanced. My main was the Tandoori roast pork belly, pork nuggets and scratchings, pumpkin, apple and cumin. Yummy !


On to the desserts, spiced plum souffle with a hot plum sauce for Mr B, Lemon Tart for me served with a salted walnut crumble, poached blueberries, clove ice cream. The clove ice cream was awesome, I am sure without a delicate touch this so easily could become medicinal, but this was perfectly balanced and absolutely delicious when eaten with the plum souffle.


This was our first visit but I am sure it won't be our last.