In the following guide you will find some great ideas for food that follow the traditional seasons: poultry & game, fish, fruit and veg. Some you may know and some you may not; some you will know what to do with and some not – that’s the joy of it. Use as many or as few as you feel you can, you will find that it helps with keeping your menu fresh and appealing.
More and more customers are “switching on” to concepts such as sustainability, reduced food miles, slow cooking and “green consumerism” so providing locally sourced, seasonal food can play a significant part in creating your pub’s USP. Nine out of ten diners want more frequent menu changes: The vast majority of diners – 86% – would like to see more frequent menu changes when they eat out, research by the guest experience management company HospitalityGEM has found. Two thirds of those surveyed by HospitalityGEM said they would expect at least quarterly seasonal menu changes in restaurants and pubs.
With price volatility and inflation pub menu pricing and achieving the right profit for your business will become ever more important, so buying food within their season may well be critical to your food operation’s success.
As the year progresses I”ll be including the latest recipes from the web to give you some ideas on how to use each month’s seasonal foods … just click on the ingredient or follow the seasons with the British Larder here.
To source quality, locally available, food from sustainable sources BIG BARN will point you in the right direction (use our exclusive discount code in the members’ area). Or try one of The Times 20 Best British Farm Shop. Whilst not covered in the lists, a valuable source of information on where to buy quality beef and lamb is the EBLEX Locate A Supplier map tool (these trade suppliers will often stock pork and other meats too).
A great USP for pub food is the “head to tail”concept, whereby all the parts of an animal carcass is used. For what must be one of the most comprehensive books on the subject check out Richard H Turners’s “Hog” (Octopus Books) , which contains all you need to know about breeds and cuts, different cooking methods and dishes, and is beautifully designed to boot. It feels like the work of someone who is totally in love with pork and has put everything into making sure you’ll love it too. There are also some contributions from the likes of Fergus Henderson, Neil Rankin and Valentine Warner, and also basic recipes for master pork stock (why use chicken stock in a pork dish after all?), BBQ sauce, bacon, ham and sausages.
Seasonal Pricing
If you’re going to make fresh seasonal food a feature of your pub food menu, then one thing you’ll need to keep an eye on and have an understanding of are the fluctuations in wholesale prices which occur throughout the year. Or, save some money and learn: How To Grow Fresh Herbs
POULTRY & GAME
FISH
(Please let me know if there are any broken links as, from time to time, recipes disappear from featured websites)
Continue reading… Fruit & Vegetables on page 2