Rudding Park development chef, Matthew Wilkinson, is responsible for the menu for the Yorkshire Life Food & Drink Awards 2017. He tells us about his typical day.
My day starts with a run into work (Matthew has been known to run the odd marathon or two!) where I look forward to meeting all the suppliers at the door as they deliver our produce for the day. I make sure I am on hand to check not only the quality of all the ingredients but the quantities and the price!
I then visit the Rudding Park Kitchen Garden to meet with Adrian Reeve, our kitchen gardener. It’s fantastic to work with Adrian and his team find out what ingredients he’s got and what he is planting so I can think about how best to incorporate them into any new dishes. Over 100 different herbs, salads, edible flowers and fruits are grown in the Rudding Park Kitchen Garden allowing us to create dishes packed full of flavour using quality heritage varieties that are usually hard to find.
At Rudding Park we take inspiration from local producers, products and suppliers within a 75-mile radius, and I love nothing better that getting out and about to discover what’s new and exciting and I love taking all this inspiration to develop a menu for a special event.
For the Yorkshire Life Food and Drink Awards 2017, I don’t want to give too much away but I will confess devising the menu gets more difficult each time as I want to make sure we surpass the previous year.
However, I love a challenge and I am confident guests at this year’s event will experience an innovative menu which showcases great Yorkshire produce. Of course, I am particularly keen to incorporate items grown in one of our favourite food heroes, the Rudding Park Kitchen Garden!
For further information about Yorkshire Life Food & Drink Awards 2017 celebration lunch at Rudding Park on Monday, September 25th visit foodwards.yorkshirelife.co.uk or email kate.wilson@archant.co.uk
Yorkshire Life Food & Drink Award 2017 categories
Restaurant of the Year
Chef of the Year
Hotel of the Year
Family Dining Award
Pub of the Year
Dining Pub of the Year
Newcomer of the Year
Coffee/Tea shop of Year
Customer Service Award
Producer/Product of the Year
Independent Retailer of the Year
Food and Drink Hero
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