Chilli cook-off challenge to customers

Ian Burne, landlord of the charming village centre pub in Rectory Road, said: “Over the past 18 months we have seen a major increase in the number of new customers who have heard about our homemade food, fine wines and wide selection of lagers and real ales and have decided to pay us a visit. Analysing customers’ comments, we can safely say that the choice and quality of our food, wines, ales and customer service is as good as we could hope it to be.”

But that does not stop him from trying to make the dishes even better. After watching the TV series Further Adventures in Search of Perfection in which Heston Blumenthal tries to discover the perfect recipes for a number of classic dishes, Ian has been adding his own Best Ever options to his seasonal menu.

He said: “We have already decided to roast our own hams with a honey and marmalade glaze with a mix of spices to get the Best Ever flavour from the meat. Customers will also be able to buy sliced ham to take home.”

Best Ever dishes so far include the new Oak Burger, made from quality minced steak – all meat is sourced from butcher Hearns & Son in Burnham – and a selection of herbs and spices, slowly grilled so the meat remains juicy and tender, and served with a choice of toppings.

There is also slow roasted belly of pork with spices on a bed of Bramley apples in cider, which makes the perfect apple sauce and gravy. The meat remains juicy while the skin turns into crunchy crackling.

Another classic is calf’s liver and crispy smoked pancetta. Ian says calf’s liver is the best quality liver to use for this dish and the flavour of the smoked crispy pancetta – from the Italian Intercontinental Store in Maidenhead – really adds to the dish.

But it is the improvement made to their already highly popular chilli con carne that Ian is most excited about. He said: “We believe a good chilli should be spicy hot with lots of fresh ingredients, but after weeks of research into the origin of chilli con carne and watching Heston’s TV series, we have created our Best Ever chilli which contains seven different varieties of chillies and includes the Guinness Book of World Records official “hottest Chilli in the world”, Bhut Jolokia.

“Combine these with good quality minced steak and our secret ingredients and the result is a hot, spicy chilli which doesn’t burn your mouth but has fantastic flavour.”

Ian is so confident with his new chilli that he has thrown down the gauntlet to his customers to challenge him with their own homemade chilli and take it along to the Oak & Saw for the first chilli con carne cook-off to be held in February. He said: “We are looking for chilli enthusiasts to be the judges of the competition and we might contact Heston to see if he would be willing to be our senior judge.”

Details on 01628 604074 and to request a copy of the menu, email ian@burnewalsh.co.uk