One Pot Cooking

“We all enjoy rattling pans, creating complex, show-stopping dishes to wow customers.  Busy, busy, with lots going on, lots of things on a plate… it’s so exciting but for every day it takes its toll on chefs and on the customer.

One-pot cookery is a very different approach. Taking multiple items and creating a dish, this is mainly done in advance, ‘prep hard, service easy’. We get everything done in advance and add any finishing touches at the end.

There is something satisfying about chucking everything into a pot and waiting for the ingredients to do their magic. Slowly coming together to create rich, complex, and super satisfying dishes - that are always a crowd pleaser. It’s also great from a caterer’s point of view, creating a great opportunity for a large gross profit menu item. Also being easy to heat and serve during service, keeping things simple; and less washing up too!

One-pot cooking is used all over the world so from a specials point of view it’s a ‘gift that keeps on giving’. Some British dishes are classic one-pot cookery that we all know and love like:

Lancashire Hot Pot– the proper way served with pickled red cabbage and Lancashire cheese.

Toad-in-the-Hole – Good quality butchers’ sausages, roasted onion gravy.

Smoked Haddock Kedgeree– Brought to us by the British colonials who had enjoyed it in India and brought it back as a breakfast dish in Victorian times.

Fish Pie – Lesser known cuts of fish work well topped with a good Cheddar.

Corned Beef Hash– Slow cooked salt beef, rich and big in flavour topped with a poached egg.

But as I said, dishes come at us from everywhere from the deep, smoky, tomato flavour of albondigas in Spain or, Coq Au Vin a classic from Burgundy in France and created for Julius Caesar to tomato and chilli baked gnocchi topped with rich smoked Scamorza. We can find one-pot cooking being used everywhere. Big in flavour and leaves us warm and fulfilled but still wanting just one more fork full to appreciate the taste.”

Kindly contributed by Steve Midgley, Consulting Development Chef. 30 years’ experience in fine dining, creating fantastic experiences at Michelin star restaurants.

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