Holkham Country Fair 2009
Cookery Demonstration Tent
Sponsored by bespoke kitchen builders, Kitchens Etc of North Creake, Norfolk
Just west of the cricket pitch, north of the house, led by Martin Griffiths, the Demonstration Tent "Anchorman"
Each day, from about 10 am to 5 pm
The timetable will be posted at the tent, but we are delighted that the following have agreed to come and join us:
We much regret that, due to unforseen circumstances, Chris Gates, Masterchef finalist, now cannot join us.
Jose Souto
Eric Snaith of Titchwell Manor
Franck Pontais ... see his website
Matthew Gudgin of BBC Radio Norfolk
Richard Bainbridge and Sam Wegg, Galton Blackiston's 2 Head Chefs from the Morston Hall Hotel
Chris Coubrough of The Crown Hotel, Wells-next-the-Sea ... and others ...
Prett Tejura of Curry Cuisine
Tabitha Turner, of the Ostrich Inn, Castle Acre, and the Wells Deli
Martin Griffiths
Franck Pontais ... just click here to discover all about him ... he's quite special!
Chef Eric Snaith and his family moved to Titchwell Manor Hotel from Lincolnshire in 1988. Since then, through travelling and gaining experience both at home and abroad during his early 20s, Eric has developed his love for food into a career that satisfies his passion for innovative and creative cooking. He particularly enjoys experimenting with cutting edge techniques and pushing the boundaries of modern cuisine using fine Norfolk produce.
Eric takes his inspiration not only from restaurants around the world but primarily from the quality produce that he is spoilt with in Norfolk. Having the freedom of his family's establishment allows Eric to serve his customers local food in new and thought provoking ways.
Titchwell Manor has enjoyed great success since Eric's return in 2003, achieving two rosettes within his first six months back, along with numerous other awards including best small hotel in Eastern England and best small hotel in East Anglia. The hotel, still family run, is continuing to go from strength to strength with the help of manager Mark Dobby and a great team of devoted staff.
Eric is looking forward to giving some insights into his modern approach to food from the county during his demonstration at Holkham Country Fair.
Prett Tejura’s company, Curry Cuisine, will be an exhibitor in the Fine Food Village at Holkham Country Fair and Prett will be taking time off from her stand to appear in the demo tent. She was born in Kenya, but has lived in the UK all her life. Her origins stem from Gujarat, India and she always had a passion for cooking.
Over the past ten years or so she has been collecting recipes from her family to pass down to her three children. She wants them to maintain some Indian traditions and culture, and thinks food is an excellent way of doing it.
The idea for Curry Cuisine came after several friends had asked her to teach them how to cook traditional Indian dishes. She enjoys teaching people how to create tasty meals so they can impress their friends and family, and wants to show everyone that cooking Indian food is fun and exciting. She will not be drawn in advance on what she will be demonstrating, as, she says, it will depend on how the mood takes her!
Jose L Souto studied at Westminster Kingsway College where he met the man that introduced him to game, Michael Hollingsworth, who was a Chef Lecturer and Head of Culinary Arts. After leaving the college and doing a stint abroad Jose worked as a Chef at the House of Commons for over 11 years and during this time he also worked at the Intercontinental Park Lane, Mossiman’s, The Ritz London and the Savoy Grill. Whilst at the Commons he wrote a training manual for the House of Commons on Game and through this was asked to lecture on game back at the college where he started, there soon after taking up a lecturing post at the UK’s premier Catering College - the place where Jamie Oliver and Anthony Worrall Thomson studied. Since then he has become one of the leading game chefs in the UK with knowledge of not only of how to cook game but also about its harvest and preparation. Jose’s approach has always been to try to teach not only the chefs of tomorrow about game and its diversity but also to inform and enrich the man and woman on the street about the ease in which game can be part of their every-day diet. Jose is a keen countryman living in Cambridgeshire where he practices most country sports, with Falconry and Stalking being the ones he loves most. He is married to Charlotte Hill who will be giving the Falconry demonstration each day in the Grand Ring at Holkham and Chatsworth Country Fairs. They have recently had a son, Luis.
Jose's appearances at Holkham are kindly sponsored by BASC, and the food is being supplied by UK Game to whom we are very grateful.
Martin Griffiths was born in Liverpool and moved to Colwyn Bay in his teens, where he was a schoolboy champion of Wales racing sailing dinghies. He also raced “Hot Rod” Bangers and Classic Cars. Trained at Llandrillo, he was acclaimed “Best Student of the Year”, and has worked at the Atlantic Towers Hotel in Liverpool, the Noake Hotel in St Albans, the Compleat Angler in Marlow, the Izaak Walton Hotel, Dovedale, and the Monk Fryston Hotel – amongst others. He lives in Ashbourne, enjoys all styles of international cuisine, and his own preference is for simple foods cooked well, where the flavours speak for themselves.
He has become a great friend of our events having given demonstrations for us at the Chatsworth Angling Fair for many years, and has now become our popular "anchorman" at both Holkham and Chatsworth Country Fairs.
Martin will be deciding on his own demonstrations on the hoof, as he will be using ingredients from the Fine Food Village at the Fair. You will not be disappointed - like all our demonstrators, Martin is not only an accomplished cook, but also something of a showman ...
A full list of the exhibitors in the Fine Food Village can be found here