Tag Archive: chef

  1. Toad in the Hole by Brad Carter

    Comments Off on Toad in the Hole by Brad Carter

    Kicking off the 2022 British Food Fortnight, organised by Love British Food, is this amazing Toad in the Hole by our friend and top chef Brad Carter.

    We asked Brad what makes food ‘British’ for him and what his favourite British dish would be. This is what he said:

    “My dish would be Toad in the Hole, it’s the ultimate British comfort dish in AW! I love the simplicity of it & the overwhelming feeling of comfort in every bite, it’s dependent on the best sausages you can afford & a well cooked yorkie batter – I cook mine on pork lard for extra flavour & add an extra egg white or two for extra rise!”

    Brad has very kindly shared this amazing recipe with us so you can enjoy it too! Brad used our Stainless Steel Tri-Ply Roasting Pan, Copper Tri-Ply Saucepan and Copper Tri-Ply Stockpot for this recipe. He’s a big fan of all our ranges so check out the website for the best copper cookware, copper base cookware, and stainless steel cookware in town!

    Written by Eliza

    Serves: 4


    Ingredients

    • 6 Tamworth Sausages
    • 150g Tamworth back-fat, rendered
    • For The Yorkshire Pudding Batter
    • 3 large free-range eggs
    • 2 large free-range egg whites
    • 450ml whole milk
    • 225g plain flour, sifted
    • 8-10g salt

    For The Gravy

    • 500ml beef stock
    • 300ml your favourite beer
    • 4 onions, sliced
    • 2 sprigs thyme
    • 1 tbsp Coleman’s French Mustard
    • 1 tsp Coleman’s English Mustard

    Equipment


    Cooking Method

    1. Set the oven to 200c.
    2. To make the Yorkshire pudding batter start by adding the milk to a large jug & add the eggs & egg white, whisk until incorporated.
    3. Add the flour in 3 stages & whisk well, then add the salt & whisk until you have a nice smooth batter. Pass the batter through a fine sieve to remove any last lumps, this can stop the batter rising, rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature or in the fridge overnight.
    4. Heat a saucepan & add 50g of the rendered fat, add the sliced onions & the thyme then lower the heat, cook the onions, stirring constantly for around 15-20 minutes until golden & caramelised
    5. Turn the saucepan containing the onions back up to high & add the beer, bring to a boil & reduce the beer until it’s half of its original volume.
    6. Next add the beef stock, reduce the heat a little & bring the beef stock to a simmer for around 15 minutes or until reduced & thickened to a gravy consistency.
    7. Add the mustards & stir thoroughly check the seasoning, add salt if need be & set aside for the toad in the hole later.
    8. Take a roasting tray that is approximately 30cm x 25cm, if your’s is a little bigger or smaller don’t worry, the toad in the hole will work it will just be taller or flatter.
    9. Add the remaining rendered fat to the roasting tray & place in the oven for 10 minutes to heat up the fat.
    10. Remove the tray from the oven, carefully add the sausages, turn them over a few times, be cautious as they may spit, then put the tray back into the oven for 5 minutes.
    11. Once the sausages have been in for 5 minutes & started off cooking pour over the yorkshire pudding batter, also taking care as the batter will spit & bubble, that’s exactly what we you are looking for the get the ‘rise’.
    12. Add the toad in the hole to the oven & cook for around 25-30 minutes until we’ll risen & roasty brown.
    13. Rest the toad in the hole for 5 minutes then carve onto plates distributing the sausages evenly.
    14. Warm a little of the gravy & spoon over each plate, enjoy the toad in the hole with any seasonal vegetables you have, welcome to flavour town!
  2. Jöro Restaurant – Tasting Menu & Meet the Chef

    Comments Off on Jöro Restaurant – Tasting Menu & Meet the Chef

    Last Thursday the ProWare team enjoyed an 8 course tasting menu at Jöro. The open kitchen is quite unique which creates a relaxed and entertaining atmosphere. Seeing the talent and expertise of the chefs in action makes it an exciting experience. There must be an element of showmanship about it but whilst it was a very lively and busy evening in the restaurant there was an incredible air of control coming from that open kitchen. Head Chef Luke and the team delivered a wonderful and varied set of dishes. We were left not knowing which was our favourite. What we did leave with is an appreciation of unique tastes, ingredients and a memorable evening dining out at what is easily Sheffield’s best restaurant. In addition to the fabulous food, it was a treat to see our Stainless Steel Tri-ply pans and Copper Tri-ply Mini Pan in use during service.

    ProWare Team at Jöror Restaurant Sheffield

    The evening started with a series of amuse-bouches and some freshly made bread. Each dish was expertly explained by our host/sommelier who was a delight. He answered our haphazard questions with charm and interesting tidbits of information including where they forage for some of the food on their menu.

    Jöro Restaurant Sheffield

    The most popular dishes of the evening were the Cod with chevril as well as the Cumbrian Herdwick Hogget with wild garlic, jersey royal & mint pictured below.

    Jöro collage

    And of course, the Browned Butter Parfait which is one of the recipes Chef Luke shared with us for Christmas. Check out the recipe here.

    ProWare Christmas Recipes Joro-87

    To read more about Jöro check out our blog here and read more below to find out about how Luke got to the place where he is now.

    Meet the Chef – Luke French

    Starting Out

    Beginning as a kitchen porter at The White Pheasant pub in Fordham, Cambridgeshire, Luke French worked hard to climb up the kitchen ranks, going on to become part of the catering team at the University of Cambridge. Over the following two years he amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience, thanks in part to the wide variety of events that he was tasked with catering, from student meals to large scale banquets, to fine dining for delegates and government officials. He also had the opportunity to try his hand at a great number of international cuisines, expanding his knowledge and refining his skills along the way allowing him to reach a height of Junior Sous Chef.

    From here, he went on to work at a selection of high end restaurants such as Aliemtum, Graffiti, Hotel Felix and Gonville Hotel. During this time of working in AA Rosette and Michelin Star establishments, Luke also gained experience working with pastry, an area which had thus far remained unexplored.

    Following this, in the months prior to embarking on a global travel adventure, he worked at The Fat Duck. With three Michelin stars and a recipient of the esteemed title of Best Restaurant in the World, Heston Blumenthal’s eatery is noted for its wildly inventive food, multi-sensory cooking and unorthodox flavour combinations.

    Luke travelled first to India, on to Thailand, then Vietnam, Burma and finishing in Cambodia. Enjoying the street food on offer and immersing himself in the vibrant cultures introduced him to new, local ingredients. This time, he says, has become a rich source of inspiration for the food he is cooking today.

    Upon his return to the UK, he spent some time in Cambridge, working as Head Chef, giving him free reign to develop his own distinctive style of cooking. He eventually moved to Sheffield and joined the team at local gastro pub, The Milestone, where he worked as a sectional chef for two years. A head chef vacancy opened up, an opportunity to which Luke jumped and a position he subsequently achieved.

    Joro Restaurant - Luke French

    On the Way Up

    Alongside his duties as head chef, Luke worked with Stacy and Mat (Jöro co-owners) to open Craft and Dough, who serve indulgent, innovative pizzas with the finest craft beers available. This formula has proved successful, resulting in the three Craft and Dough restaurants opening in Sheffield and Luke acquiring invaluable experience.

    While cooking at event hosted for a group of architects working on a new development, located just around the corner from The Milestone, Luke first heard about Krynkl. Twenty-nine shipping containers, combined to produce “a revolutionary new space created to showcase the best and most exciting independent start-ups and businesses from Sheffield, where they can share space, skills and ideas. A space built for work and play”. After the warm reception received by several pop-ups, hosted at The Milestone, it became apparent that Sheffield was ready for Joro to set up a permanent home. The restaurant opened at Krynkl in November 2017.

    A New Direction

    With the opening of Jöro, Luke set about redefining Sheffield’s culinary scene with his nature-inspired food, channelling the ethos widely adopted in Denmark and Norway; that cooking should be kept simple to really get the best out of quality ingredients.

    “A meal made of many small plates” is the message that greets with you when opening the Joro website.

    ProWare Christmas Recipes Joro Trout

     

    To book your table:

    Jöro Restaurant
    0.2 – 0.5 Krynkl
    294 Shalesmoor
    Sheffield
    S3 8US

    0114 299 1539
    Email

    Opening Times

    Lunch 12.00 – 15.00
    Thursday – Saturday

    Dinner 17:30 – 22:00
    Wednesday – Saturday

    (last orders for tasting menus at 14.00 & 21.00)

    Closed Sundays, Mondays & Tuesdays, Wednesday Lunchtime.

     

    We can wholeheartedly say that everyone experience a meal at Jöro. We left the restaurant with full bellies and our taste buds tingling. We would like to say a big thank you to Luke and the whole team at Jöro for a wonderful evening. Also we’d like to credit Tom Kahler for the featured image about of Luke.

  3. The Kitchen Kit We Can’t Live Without

    Comments Off on The Kitchen Kit We Can’t Live Without

    There are items you buy for your kitchen that you think will be life changing. You get it home, purposefully cook something that requires its use and marvel at the speed and ease with which you have managed to hull a strawberry or slice an avocado. After a few weeks you realise that the task you bought this gadget for can be done with a knife. Just as quickly (if not quicker because you already have a knife out of the drawer) and just as easily (when you think about having to dismantle and wash your new toy). So it remains untouched, existing only to make your utensil draw harder to open and to act as a constant reminder of your misguided vision and wasted money.

    However, there are those things that become your close culinary companion that you use almost every time you cook. You may stumble upon something in a shop completely by accident, its £2 so you throw it in your basket without giving it a moments thought and it turns out to be the the single most indispensable item in your kitchen. It could be something you treated yourself to 10 years ago because you always wanted one. It was expensive but hey, you get what you pay for; and you still have it now, sitting on a shelf looking as good as the day you bought it.

    We think it important to celebrate those things that can be kept and used and loved for years on end so we asked members of the ProWare team to tell us about the kitchen kit they have come to treasure.

     

    Faye – Fully Forged All-Purpose Knife, £13.99, Lakeland

    http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15222/Lakeland-Fully-Forged-Stainless-Steel-All-Purpose-Knife-10-5cm-Blade

    lakeland.co.uk

    Why I love it – 

    “£14 is a steal for this knife. It’s the perfect size and shape for all sorts – fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese; just everything. The blade stays sharp after prologued use and it can go straight in the dishwasher afterwards. It has a lovely sturdy and well-balanced feel in your hand. For all round performance and value, its the best knife I’ve ever bought!”

    Fiona – The Garlic Twist, £18.50, Amazon

     

    The Garlic Twist

    amazon.co.uk

    Why I love it –

    “We use a lot of garlic at home and this has saved us so much time. It’s a quick and easy way of producing finely chopped and minced garlic. No more fiddly chopping or scraping bits off a chopping board. Once twisted, the contents can be used when required and simply emptied in. It also works great with ginger, chillies and herbs.”

    Danielle – Stainless Steel Turner, £4, M&S

    M&S Stainless Steel Turner

    marksandspencer.com

    Why I love it – 

    “Put simply, its just a great turner. It has a large surface area which makes it good for flipping omelettes which I have quite frequently, or fried eggs. It hasn’t overheated and deformed like a previous one I had. I have a lot of roast veg and chicken combos so it’s good for serving them up as well and because of the nylon head it doesn’t scratch baking trays and non-stick cookware. For M&S it’s very reasonably priced for the quality you get and no more expensive than a lot of their competitor’s offerings.”

    Robert – Hygiplas LDPE Chopping Board, £19.99, Nisbets

     

    Hygiplas LDPE Chopping Board

    nisbets.co.uk

    Why I love it –

    “Very easy to clean, non-absorbent and kind to knife blades. £20 may seem expensive for a plastic board but these are solid and will last years. They’re also available in various colours to avoid cross contamination of raw and cooked ingredients.”

    Rachel –  Pyrex 2L Glass Bowl, £6.62, Amazon

    Pyrex Glass Bowl, 1.0L

    amazon.co.uk

    Why I love it –

    “You just can’t have too many of these – they’re so versatile! Oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe and really excellent value for money. Available in sizes 0.5L to 3L and they are all handy but I find the 2L to be the best all-rounder.”

    Jayne – Tupperware Batter Shaker (get one similar here)

    Tupperware Batter Shaker

    Tupperware Batter Shaker (via pinterest.co.uk)

    Why I love it –

    “I have an original Tupperware batter shaker that my mum bought me when I first left home (that’s a long time ago now) and I still use it all the time for batter mixes and scrambled eggs. I used to use it for Angel Delight treat time when my lads were young and it’s now become my grandson’s favourite ‘ok to play with’ item from my cupboards. Apart from the fond memories, it’s a great little gadget that I can’t image being without!”

    Lawson – IDEALISK Whisk, £1, IKEA

    IDEALISK Whisks

    ikea.com

    Why I love it –

    “I bought these on a whim about a year ago because my old whisk was starting to rust – at a quid for two I really didn’t expect much. The quality of both whisks is excellent and they represent outstanding value for money but it’s the coil whisk (the one on right) that was a real game changer for me. I use it all the time! It has a flat bottom so it’s perfect for use in small saucepans and jugs, it’s light, easy to clean and despite being essentially a length of wire, the handle feels very ergonomic.”

    Get in touch!

    We would love to hear about what you have in your kitchen and why you love it. Please leave a comment below, email or tweet us.