Finest Beef For All

Image by James Day

A special event was recently hosted by Michelin Chef  Andreas Antona celebrating the World’s finest beef, and raising awareness for grading British Beef.

Andreas is passionate about beef, and in particular considers Scottish the finest in the World. However he stresses, ”Beef is not all of equal quality and that makes it especially important for diners and chefs alike, to be able to identify the very best that is available.”

“British beef should be graded” the Midland’s leading entrepreneurial chef Andreas Antona told specially invited guests at Beef, his Kenilworth Steak House restaurant. “After all” he explained, “restaurants are graded by Michelin and the AA with stars and rosettes, so it only makes sense to do the same to the produce they serve.”

Guests were treated to a tour of the Master Butchers Aubrey Allen in Coventry, including their extensive ageing rooms, and a presentation on their unrivalled support from farmer to fork ensuring quality is paramount throughout the process.

Simon Smith of Aubrey Allen commented, “We are very proud of our relationships between some of the worlds’ finest Beef producers and the team at Beef who like us put animal welfare, consistency and quality first, our philosophy hasn’t changed since the company formed in 1933. Andreas has visited the wonderful producers up in the North East of Scotland with us to see first hand the natural environment that helps to produce the ‘champagne’ of beef for his customers to enjoy at Beef.”

At the lunch, hosted by Andreas, guests were able to sample and compare beef cuts from around the world, at the award-winning in Kenilworth restaurant, including USDA (US) Wagyu (Japan/Australia) and Scottish.

Andreas commented, “Everyone has a favourite cut, breed and method of cooking, but I like finest Scotch beef, aged for over 21 days, and cooked simply on our custom char-grill. There is a lot of misleading information in the public domain, and through events like this we aim to share our passion, knowledge and understanding with others, so we can support outstanding quality.

James Day of Midlands based Lifestyle Dining Club Gourmet-life.co.uk who helped organise the event added “to bring together such good quality ingredients, and experienced chefs who respect such ingredients, and who cook them to perfection is something that is worth celebrating. Andreas’ passion for quality beef is evident, and to share this with others was a real opportunity and a great success”

Louise and I were lucky enough to be invited to this event. It was so amazing and we learnt so much. We hope they do another one of these events soon!

By Jo of Jo’s Kitchen

on behalf of MFB

Glyn Purnell Is Going To Cook Up A Storm For Cure Leukaemia

Michelin-starred chef, Glynn Purnell will host an exclusive evening with blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia on Monday March 5 at Warwickshire County Cricket Club’s Edgbaston Stadium.

Cure Leukaemia continues its long standing partnership with Edgbaston to showcase an evening of culinary talent at the brand new Jaguar Suite. Glynn will be directing a live cooking event with assistance from Edgbaston head chef, Dave Hill along with Warwickshire’s Director of Cricket Ashley Giles (also a Cure Leukaemia Patron), Captain Jim Troughton and BBC WM Radio DJ Phil Upton.

Guests will be given the opportunity to be involved in Q&A sessions in between each course and all attendees will receive an executive gift once the kitchen challenge has ended.

The evening is the first official event Glynn has helped organised since Cure Leukaemia announced him as a Patron for the Midlands based charity.

Glynn comments on becoming a patron: “It’s an honour to be a part of Cure Leukaemia and what better way to kick off my involvement than hosting an event at Edgbaston. Everyone has been so welcoming and it is fantastic to be able to combine my passion for food with hosting an event of this nature to raise awareness of the life changing research and treatment.

“I’m looking forward to helping promote the ground-breaking work at Cure Leukaemia. The pioneering research and life-saving treatments that the nurses carry out day-to-day is astounding, and so important because we’re still searching for cures to this illness.”

Glynn was made famous by his appearance on BBC’s Great British Menu where he championed local produce and created exciting and innovative dishes. Glynn owns and runs a string of successful fine dining restaurants in Birmingham city centre, Purnell’s, his Michelin starred restaurant which opened in 2007 and more recently, The Asquith and Ginger’s Bar.

Jackie Kelly, General Manager at Cure Leukaemia said: “We’re thrilled to have fellow Birmingham-based Glynn as a Patron of the charity. This event would not have taken place without Glynn’s support, the evening will be one to remember for all, a VIP event for all good food buffs  and cricket fans alike.”

Cure Leukaemia is a long-standing partner of Edgbaston and last year the venue donated more than £75,000 and renamed its iconic Eric Hollies in honour of the charity at last year’s npower Test Match between England and India.

For more information and to book tickets for this exclusive event, please Contact Ruth Bishop on 0121 371 4367 or email info@cureleukaemia.co.uk.

By Jo of Jo’s Kitchen

On behalf of MFB

The Street Food Revolution

Here is a guest post from one of our newest member’s, Felicity of Jabberwocky, a VW transporter that, along with Barny the chef is taking the good street food message all across Warwickshire. You can check out the blog of their adventures here.

The Street Food Revolution

Over in America, where everything is bigger, the craze for fast food is something of a national pastime. It’s no surprise then that street food there has taken off in a big way, with huge vans serving weird and wonderful concoctions on the street and a TV show to make sure everyone was aware of it.

Over here the revolution is gradually picking up pace as people move away from the tired-looking burger and begin to explore new alfresco pleasures. In 2010 the first competition to find the best British street food was held, and in 2011 the prize was a pitch at the Olympics, a sure fire sign that the country is taking notice of the humble “mobiler” and beginning to change habits of a lifetime.

I say habits, because as a nation we can be a tad reluctant to embrace change. As someone firmly ensconced in the catering side of the divide I constantly come up against willing volunteers who would love to try something new if offered for free, but would run a mile before parting with hard earned cash, because they “might not like it”.

These fine folk have a very valid point, of course. There is an excellent case for going to a restaurant you know and like rather than risking “that new place”, because the resulting dining experience might be mind-bogglingly bad and ferociously expensive. Incidentally, that’s where the blogging community comes in handy, offering impartial advice without the amusing and wonderfully reactionary bile of Trip Advisor.

However with street food the internet cannot (yet) provide the same wealth of information, so we will occasionally be faced with a whole new van of food, and no up-to-date information on whether we will like it. Here is where I think we need to take a chance. Street food, by nature, is cheap and cheerful. This applies to the van serving the wholesale burger and those selling the artisan, hand cooked falafel or the gourmet noodle box alike.

So I would like to leave you with a simple request, on behalf of all my fellow mobilers out there: if you find yourself tempted by the same old things, take a chance with you lunch, and try something different. Even if it doesn’t work out you have not broken the bank, and if you pass your feedback to the food van they will probably even be grateful to hear it, I know I would be.

I may well be preaching to the crowd here, but I think independent food is worth fighting for, and there is no better time to start than where you’re feeling a touch on the peckish side and fancy a “something or other” on the go.

By Jo of Jo’s Kitchen

On behalf of MFB