A showcase for the very best of Yorkshire Dales culinary talent and a very popular attraction for food lovers. Find out how your favourite local chefs use the best that the Dales have to offer.
Ross Walker – Dog & Gun Inn – Malsis
Ross is Chef and co-owner the Dog and Gun at Glusburn where he hunts, shoots, prepares and cooks an array of fresh fish and game to create an array of home-cooked dishes.
Ross, who has cheffed in some of the UK’s top kitchens (including Buckingham Palace) also cures and smokes the trout he catches himself.
This year Ross and his wife and business partner Anita are celebrating 10 years at the helm of the Dog and Gun.
During hunting season Ross takes to the fields, woods and rivers to bring back fresh game including grouse and pheasants which he and his kitchen team (including sons Aaron and Ricky) roast and stew to culinary perfection.
A small smoking house – built by Ross – cures salmon and trout, the latter of which is caught the same day.
Ross will be getting proceedings under way in the Cookery Theatre from around 10:30am.
Bruce Elsworth – The Angel Inn – Hetton
Bruce is the executive chef at the highly acclaimed Angel Inn, just down the road from Kilnsey in the village of Hetton.
At the Angel food is of the essence. Experience tasty well presented food using the freshest and finest seasonal produce from around the region. Meat and game from the Yorkshire Dales and Lancashire, fresh fish from the East and West coasts, legumes and soft fruit from the local farms and everything baked, cooked and produced in their own kitchens.
Bruce will be cooking with local produce in the cookery theatre and is always a popular attraction.
Stephanie Moon – Great British Menu
Steph is a Yorkshire Dales farmer’s daughter who has trained and worked around the world, now offering chef consultancy services and performing demonstrations around the country.
So what makes her different?…
Personality, skill, enthusiasm and above all a sense of humour; combined with a passion for food and over twenty years’ experience at the highest levels of catering.
She has appeared twice on the BBC’s Great British Menu and numerous other TV and radio shows and will join us in the cookery theatre to talk about and demonstrate how to cook with some of the Dales’ finest produce.
Steph says “I love food, the feel of it, the smell of it, the textures and colours it gives.
To create something wonderful from raw ingredients never ceases to give me a thrill”.
Chris Oakden – The Coniston Hotel
Chris is a young chef who has appeared in our cookery theatre a couple of times and never fails to entertain.
Chris works with the popular “Estate on a Plate” philosophy used by the hotel and restaurant, where the food is sourced directly from the Coniston Estate…. it’s hard to imagine fewer food miles than that!
This year he is planning to demonstrate a dish using trout caught the same morning in the lake at Coniston. Let’s hope they’re biting!
John Rudden – Grassington House Hotel
Originally from Skipton, John trained at the The Angel at Hetton under Dennis Watkins and returned to his Yorkshire Dales roots having made a name for himself in the North West where he was awarded Chef of the Year three times as chef and partner of the acclaimed White Hart at Lydgate.
John now has Grassington House hotel with his wife Sue. Naturally his talents have been rewarded at Grassington, with 2 rosettes and an excellent rating in the Good Food Guide.
His easy wit means he’s a favourite with visitors to the Cookery Theatre and his demonstrations are not only inspirational but entertaining too.
Andy Annat – International BBQ Crackerjack
International “BBQ Crackerjack” Andy Annat will show us how BBQ-ing should really be done.
Andy is 3 times world BBQ champion in the UK and will be using the amazing Primo Grill to demonstrate some of his techniques.
He’ll be showing us that BBQ-ing isn’t just burgers and sausages and passing on some great tips to use at home, if we ever get the weather for it.
Dales Dairies
The cookery theatre is being supported again this year by local firm, Dales Dairies of Town Head Farm Grassington.
The business was started in 1938 by William Oversby, who ran the farm and started milk retailing to the local community. This continued to grow over the next 25 years and in 1963 he passed the reigns over to his son, John Oversby. He continued to see the business develop and in the early 1980s decided to sell milk out to other wholesalers within the Yorkshire area. A further 20 years of growth passed and in 2003, John decided to pass the business over to third generation son, David. At that point, the business changed its name to Town Head Farm Products Ltd and now has a customer base which includes local milkmen, schools, retail shops and wholesalers, through to large Public Sector Organisations.
In January 2011, the company obtained the trading name of “Dales Dairies” and will be trading under this name in the future.
The local farming community plays a key part in Dales Dairies’ milk supply. It is sourced from farms that comply with national farm assured quality standards and are within a 12 mile radius.
