To be honest I’m still not sure what the party was for last weekend. We turned up at the pub early in the morning, a beautiful setting but way out in the Yorkshire countryside, and set up three roasters for venison, hog and beef. We knew we were catering for a lot of people, but I think it was just a pub open day or the like. Whatever it was, it was an amazing day. It was like a mini gala just set up in the most wonderful scenery. Music, animal rides and loads of families. The weather wasn’t brilliant but at least it didn’t rain. It’s not that often we get out of the city at Spitting Pig Dublin, so when we do get the chance it really is refreshing.
We served up some really delicious food all washed down with plenty of wine and the black stuff. The venison was served with crusty bread and sticky gravy, the beef served up, as the customer wanted it, with salad and horseradish, and the crackling, sauce and pork was served with salad or on a bun. The crackling was absolutely perfect and we were close to needing another beast towards the end of the day, but the imposing, darkening skies seemed to slow the event down and prevented even more people turning up.
The day after the pub do I had a solo job on the Sunday – a small family party for a silver wedding anniversary. I really like the big events where we have a couple of chefs and some extra pairs of hands, but sometimes it’s just nice to do the smaller jobs too, especially if you have a hectic schedule. You get a real chance to be part of the day and it means even more as you get to see the party and interact with all the guests. They loved it, however there was a little bit of an impasse when the kids wanted to bury the leftovers at the end of the day. I’m not sure I’d want a hog buried at the bottom of my garden. Luckily I managed to persuade them that I would have to take the remains back to the office with me.
Mike and Vera loved the day and wanted to know more about cooking on a roaster and how to hire one for future days. I always love getting people to cook their own food on these great machines, it’s so satisfying and the meat is always so moist and tasty. So hopefully they’ll be using them for their 26th wedding anniversary too.