The Sammies 2022

CRAZY? FILLING A LITTLE

You’d be forgiven for thinking just that, when fi rst presented with the winning entry from Sandwich Designer of the Year, Catherine Fleetwood, product developer at Greencore.

For starters, the clue is in the name - “You’re Bacon Miso Bananas” – and then, it turns out, the name is also a pretty accurate description too. That’s right. Bacon. Miso. Bananas. Throw in some caramelised rice puffs and someone better fetch a priest because we’ve all just died and gone to sandwich heaven!

A panel of industry experts, including celebrity chef Theo Randall, sandwich guru Max Halley and industry heavyweights James Newton-Brown (M&S) and Marta Pogroszewska (Gail’s Bakery), taste tested some of the UK’s fi nest and most innovative sandwiches at the annual Sandwich Designer of the Year competition. Catherine’s creation wowed the judges with its unusual yet perfectly balanced fl avour combinations.

Jim Winship, director, the British Sandwich & Food to Go Association said: “What we tasted at this event were no ordinary sandwiches... With ingredients like duck confi t, mashed potato, cronuts and bacon and banana (together), our chefs are pushing the boundaries of creativity within everyone’s favourite everyday dining staple. We’ve tasted some truly tremendous sandwiches!

“Catherine’s creation demonstrated this innovation at its best, the fl avours, on paper, seem unusual, but when arranged together with precision and skill, what we got was an extraordinary sandwich. It was this creativity that earned Catherine the ‘best in show’ accolade.”

Entrants competed over four categories which were judged on their creativity, design, and technical ability and innovative use of the sponsor’s product. Category winners were then put forward for the coveted overall competition winner title.

Ingredients

40g Danish Crown - Pre-Cooked Bacon 40g Malted Cream Cheese (made with cream cheese, malt powder and icing sugar) 60g Caramelised Bananas (made with banana slices caramelised in caster sugar) 1 tbsp Caramelised rice puffs (made with puffed rice caramelised in caster sugar and a pinch of sea salt) 25g Miso caramel (made with sugar, cream butter and miso paste) 2 slices Black sesame french toast (made with shokupan milk bread, soaked in egg, cream and vanilla batter, sprinkled with black sesame and then fried)

Method

Bacon - Brush the bacon with maple syrup and cook for 10 mins at 180c until dark and crisp Malted Cream Cheese - Mix 100g cream cheese with 5g malt powder and 10g icing sugar until smooth Bananas - slice two bananas on an angle, melt 10g of butter in a frying pan, sprinkle a layer of sugar on the surface of the pan, add the bananas and cook until caramelised on both sides (turn) Caramelised rice puffs - melt 10g of butter in a frying pan, sprinkle a layer of sugar on the surface of the pan, add the rice puffs, when the sugar has melted stir through the rice puffs and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Miso Caramel - melt 75g sugar in a small pan until dark golden brown, stir in 75g cream until combined then stir in 15g butter and 5g miso paste Black Sesame French Toast - mix together 1 egg, 40ml cream and 1 drop of vanilla to form a batter, then dip 2 slices of shokupan iinto the batter and coat. Sprinkle the surface with black sesame seeds. Melt 10g butter in a frying pan. Fry the battered slices for 3-4 minutes on a low to medium heat until golden brown.

YOU’RE BACON MISO BANANAS

THE SANDWICH & FOOD TO GO INDUSTRY AWARDS

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and, judging by the volume of bonhomie on display at the recent Sammies Awards Dinner, whoever ‘they’ were, they knew what they were talking about.

By the time 5 May 2022 came around, three long years had passed since the movers and the shakers of the nation’s sandwich and food to go industry last gathered to catch up with old acquaintances; to make new ones and to celebrate each other’s achievements. And there was defi nitely a great deal to celebrate as the judges saw fi t to praise not only the heavy hitters, but also the independent and regional businesses who are punching well above their weight.

A great night was had by all and thanks must go out to all of the sponsors and supporters who make it possible as well as to the judges for their time and expert contributions which add the special sauce that makes winning one of these awards that little bit more meaningful.

You can fi nd complete details of all the winners on the Sammies website at www.thesammies.co.uk but in the meantime, here’s what some of the winners had to say.

Dan Silverston, managing director, the Soho Sandwich Co., winner of the Manufacturer Award

Absolutely proud and delighted to win, so unexpected, there are so many fantastic manufacturers, what an honour. Yet when I refl ect, I can say that my team has been fantastic in hugely challenging circumstances. We’ve been brave and positive throughout these times and have made great progress, this one is for all the good people that have selfl essly given their all to deliver the best possible food and service to our amazing customers not just in recent times but since we started.

We remain humble but awards like this will give us all the boost to push on to the next level. Big thanks to the judges, the BSA and all those that voted.

Cathal McDonnell, technical and operations director, Deli Lites, winner of the Business

Development Award

It is an honour to have won the Business Development Award for 2022. I’m proud to have been nominated by my colleagues to represent the whole Deli Lites team as we continue to bring the best quality Irish food-to-go to the world.

Thank you to Sandwich & Food To Go News for sponsoring the award and the British Sandwich & Food to Go Association for hosting the Sammies to highlight the achievements of our industry.

Antony Aguado and André Guedeney, André’s Food Bar, winner of the Independent Retailer Award and the Local Marketing Award

We’re over the moon. We entered a few years ago, before the pandemic, and reached the fi nals. We didn’t win, but felt we could. We put in a lot of effort and felt we had a chance so it’s the recognition that we wanted and deserved after two years of challenging times for all small businesses. It’s down to a good team of staff. They’re all fantastic and we owe most of it to them, they’ve done very well.

Danny Scobie, head of food to go, Scotmid Cooperative, winner of the Regional Convenience Retailer Award

Absolutely awesome. This was an unexpected win for us and for our colleagues and means everything for all the hard work that everybody puts in over every single day, week.

Rob Lugton, category development manager, Laura Davis, product development manager, and Judith Jerodiaconou, senior category manager, Costa Coffee, winner of the Healthy Eating Award and the National Café Retailer Award

Two awards tonight at the Sammies is incredible. We we are so stunned and so proud of the fact that we’ve actually won and we can’t wait to get the news back to the teams. There’s three of us here today, but there are so many more plus the stores and the operators.

Rosie Eiduks, product development manager, M&S, winner of the New Sandwich (Cold), the New Food to Go and Multiple Retailer Awards

We’re just so proud of the work that’s gone into achieving these awards. This is not just one person’s job, this is a huge team and a huge amount of collaboration.