National Yorkshire Pudding Day was celebrated for the sixth time with a battle of professional chefs to see who makes the best traditional Sunday roast accompaniment – The Yorkshire Pudding.
The annual, comp took place this year at Stratton Court, the award-winning retirement village and care home, so it was apt, that our head chef, Grace Horgan, took the title. She beat Chef and two successive years in a row champion, Ethan Rodgers, The Bakers Arms, from Broad Campden, Rob Goves, of The Relish Group, and a former ‘Yorkie King’, and her own colleague, a late entry, her apprentice – Riley Scriven.
The first Sunday of February marks National Yorkshire Pudding Day – a day to celebrate everything we love about this light, fluffy, crispy pudding. The Cotswold Yorkshire Pudding Day has been taking place since 2017.
Judges for the professional chef competition were: Peter Lloyd, a self-confessed, “Yorkshire Pudding aficionado, keen home-cook” and sales director of the Aura Care Living group, a resident of the retirement village, and proud Yorkshire person, Jackie Riley, Lady Bathurst, and Foyez Rahman, restaurateur of Sasa’s Indian Kitchen and Bar, Crudwell, and the new, You, Me & Umami, Pan-Asian restaurant, in Fairford.
Grace said of her win: “I am stunned, I went from cooking Sunday lunch for the residents and their families, and Lord and Lady Bathurst, to suddenly being thrown into this. It is another achievement for Stratton Court, albeit a bit of fun. I have a tired and tested recipe, and it goes to show that keeping it simple, is often best.”
