We're now in the final stages of planning our new food festival in which we will be aiming to give some of Cumbria’s best local produce a new twist.
The festival is at The Waterhead Hotel’s Bay Restaurant where I am head chef and it will run from Tuesday 18th to Saturday the 22nd of November. Each night we are planning to have a different theme ranging from traditional Cumbrian dishes and the best of modern British cooking to classic French cuisine and food from the East.
I'm planning to use this blog to let people know about what we've got planned and to provide a record of our preparations and the big event itself. You can also listen to my podcast - Download food_festival_podcast_1.mp4 Apologies in advance for the background sounds as we recorded the podcast in the kitchen while preparing for lunch!
We're very lucky in the Lake District to have a fantastic range of local producers offering some excellent quality food and drink. That is why I'm keen to show the versatility of this produce by creating dishes using different styles of cooking.
Along the way we’re going to be dusting off some old cookery books to produce some tasty traditional Cumbrian dishes that most people won’t have had the opportunity to try before. We’ll also be showing how some of our best local products can be used in a very creative way in cuisine from the British Isles and overseas.
The dishes at the festival will range from historic Lakeland recipes like Cumberland sausage loaf and John Peel Tart to eastern themed menu items such as crispy wanton skins topped with Morecambe Bay potted shrimps and tomato sambal, as well as banana sticky rice pudding with coconut sauce.
Throughout the festival diners will be able to watch me and the rest of the team in action in the kitchen on screens set up in the Bay Restaurant. There will also be opportunities to meet some of the local producers.
Cumbria has a strong reputation for the quality of its local produce. The county’s producers are currently campaigning to win protected food names status from the EU for the Traditional Cumberland Sausage. A campaign I've been helping to promote. Meats such as fell bred lamb, hams and chicken are also some of the finest in Britain.
Rum and spices first brought into the port of Whitehaven during the 18th century feature in many local recipes. Damsons from the Lyth Valley are also used in a number of dishes, while damson gin is a popular local tipple. The Lake District may not have its own vineyards but new microbreweries are springing up every year.
There is more information about the hotel and the festival, including how to make a reservation, on our website - www.elh.co.uk/restaurants
In my next blog I'm going to talk about the Ultimate Cumbrian Taster Menu that we're planning for the launch of the festival.
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