Frugal but flavoursome - INAPUB WINTER MAGAZINE 2023 ISSUE 105

Frugal but flavoursome

by JOHN PORTER

It sounds simple – cash-strapped consumers are looking for good value from pub menus in the early months of the year, so that’s what pubs need to serve up. Where to start, though? We asked some experts used to being at the sharp end of pub food.…

“The first thing I do in January is phone my butcher,” says Ashley McCarthy, co-owner of the multi-award-winning Ye Old Sun Inn, in Colton, North Yorkshire. “We discuss what he’s got available. Offal is usually really good value at that time of year – lamb’s liver, calves’ liver and so on. It might be frozen, but I know that, from my butcher, it’ll be good quality.

“Although there’s a lot of talk about dieting in January, we find that when people have decided to come out to eat, they don’t skimp on the comfort food. They might skip dessert, but they want something substantial for the main course.

“So, we find that more traditional dishes such as liver and bacon, steak and kidney pudding, and ham and pease pudding, are very popular. We can put those on at a price that appeals to customers, and still make a decent GP. Nothing’s cheap anymore, but you can still offer good value.”

Alice Bowyer, head of food at The Liberation Group, which includes pubs on the Channel Islands as well as Butcombe Pubs & Inns in the South West, says: “We have a number of VFM dishes on our menus all autumn and winter, always stating the provenance and quality of the ingredients used.”

These include Castlemead chicken leg, heritage squash and butter bean cassoulet, pine nut and sage crumb. “We often use more value parts of the animal such as the chicken leg, and then try and add value in the skill of our chefs, to come up with something you might not make at home.

“So, we confit the chicken leg over a few hours, and slow-cook seasonal local squashes, that have been roasted for extra flavour, with pearl barley adding extra flavour for the dish. It has hearty, big flavours and goes well with our beers. It’s also higher profit margin, which helps offset the costs to produce the dish.

Not too deer

“Another dish is our venison faggots, with swede mash, carrots, kale and onion gravy. Venison is a great value ingredient. The dish is made with venison from Cornbury Estate in Oxfordshire, and we worked with our butcher Walter Rose to develop a recipe specific to us, with pork belly, bacon and venison offal. It comes straight into our kitchens to be cooked and served with all the seasonal veggies. It’s one of our higher-profit-margin dishes, but looks great on the plate.”

At Little & Large Pub Company, which runs three pubs in the South East, head of food Robin Freeman says: “We make homemade pies which we change regularly, and try to always have both a meat and vegan option available.

“We make our own vegan pastry, and for the vegan filling we might use roast butternut squash, and add mushrooms and chestnuts, as well as chard or spinach with some vegan feta cheese to make it creamy.

“We serve it with mash and greens, or triple-cooked chips, and offer a pie and pint for £17.50. We don’t make an amazing margin, but enough to make it worthwhile at a quiet trading time.”

Little & Large also makes its own pasta. “We do a lovely pappardelle with a venison stew,” says Robin. “We buy the whole haunch of venison from a supplier in Horsham, and break it down ourselves into different cuts, which makes it good value. We cook the stewing cuts with red wine, and add some pecorino cheese. We then do a deal, a hearty portion of the venison stew and pappardelle with a glass of wine for £20.

“It’s all fresh, and you’ve got to know how to make great pasta, but customers get a wonderful dish for not very much money.”

Sometimes the simplest ideas can work wonders. At the newly reopened Devonshire pub in London’s West End, co-owner Oisín Rogers says: “We’ve put in a sausage machine, and we make sausages from the offcuts of the pork. We have our own recipe, and sell them on the bar for £2, just on a stick with a dollop of mustard.

Sometimes the simplest ideas can work wonders. At the newly reopened Devonshire pub in London’s West End, co-owner Oisín Rogers says: “We’ve put in a sausage machine, and we make sausages from the offcuts of the pork. We have our own recipe, and sell them on the bar for £2, just on a stick with a dollop of mustard.

“It’s a snack to have with a pint, so it doesn’t affect our restaurant trade. We’re turning out sausages by the hundred, they’re flying off the bar.”