Beware of Imitations
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Both hog roasts and bar services can be
overdone, with disasterous effects. The Hog Roast Service is
Rutland's premiere al fresco catering service. You can trust us to
get everything right for you on your big
day.
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Our
Catering History
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Jenny and John ran a popular country
gastro-pub and funtions facility in Buckinghamshire before moving to
Rutland.
They also farmed a 5 acre small holding on
which they reared their own livestock and grew vegetables for their
restaurant. Using their home-reared rare-breed pigs they provided
regular hog roasts in the pub's extensive gardens.
Jenny was head chef; John was responsible for the bar
trade but also founded The Hog Roast Service. This provided an al
fresco dining experience independent of the restaurant's main
kitchen. The Hog Roast Service grew in popularity and the rest is
history.
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Introducing The Team
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As licensee and Head Chef Jenny Warrington
ran a traditional country kitchen specialising in game dishes
through the winter months. These included offerings from 'the
keeper's bag', i.e. birds and animals that needed to be culled but
were not considered game: rooks, squirrels etc.
Jenny's restaurant offered a challenging selection of
game, but through the closed season she earned a reputation for
fresh fish specials. Her philosophy with seafood was to buy the best
and serve it simply.
Lobsters, cock
crabs and eels were regularly bought in live.
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Game Just Arrived At The Door...
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For a chef with a game kitchen every morning
at the Warrington's pub was like Christmas morning. Anything could
be hanging from the hooks that lined the wall outside the kitchen
door.
On other occasions the 'guns' would collect
in the bar and hang a few brace from hooks in the fireplace.
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Al
Fresco Celebrations
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John redeveloped a former games room into a
dining louge and opened it up to the gardens which he landscaped to
accommodate events. For seated parties, in excess of 100 guests,
marquess were provided and linked to the pub, n.b. the covering in
the photograph is not a tiny marquee but the housing for a rodeo
bull.
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Functions And Events
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The pub was one of very few in the locale
that had the capacity to hold wedding receptions, functions and
events in its dining rooms. As such Jenny & John made events
catering a major part of their business.
We thank the
bride in these pictures, Rachael Coles, for the following
comments:
"Jenny & John hosted our wedding
reception for us. We had a really memorable day which was mainly
down to Jenny & John and their team for whom nothing was too
much trouble. The food was great and our guests were made to feel so
welcome and relaxed - we had a lot of comments afterwards about how
well hosted the wedding had been - everyone (young and old) had a
fabulous time.
"Jenny &
John also hosted a Sunday lunch party for us after the Christening
of our baby girl, Sophie, when again we had a wonderful
day.
"Congratulations on
your special day - I'm sure you will have a wonderful party with
Jenny & John looking after you.
"Kind regards
"Rachael Coles"
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Never one to
split hares, John ensured that these were prepped and jugged as a
pair
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John developed the pub's reputation for
serving fine ales at their best and his cellar work was recognised
by the CAMRA Good Beer Guides, 2008/9 & 10.
He
was also 'The Countryman' of the pub in that it was he that
encouraged fur and feather to be brought in, and it was he that
would convert it into kitchen-ready meat.
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More Fur and Feather...
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In shooting country the culling of pest
species tends to take place at the end of the season, so as not to
disturb the game.
The
omnipresent rabbits and pigeons tend not to appear on the food
market before February, but
their culinary merits are massively undestated. These
are some of the finest meats with the greatest character. When they
are prepared by somebody that loves their craft you will be spoilt
for many of the birds that are considered to have more
pretige.
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The
American Invaders...
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On our neighbouring estates there has been a
move to eradicate the north American grey squirrel to enable our
indiginous reds to reestablish themselves. As ever we consider it
criminal to kill and to waste. If an animal has to be culled then
our kitchen was there to accommodate in the recycling process.
Also from America the signal crayfish is taking over
our inland waterways and destroying our native fauna.
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Laura has been an invaluable member of Jenny
& John's team. She is a criminology graduate and her great
passion is for eventing, a sport at which she really is rather good.
It was our delight that she was able to fit us in between the
two.
Now we are living just minutes from
Burghley, we hope we may be invited to offer our services there, and
may see Laura competing... Indeed we hope to get the opportunity to
serve her a pork bap so exciting it will make her
event...
Having moved up from Hertfordshire we were
of course Sarries fans, but we'd moved into the heart of Saints
country. Laura's family even have a box at Franklins Gardens and she
is known to skive off with some consistency on important rugby
dates. Now we find ourselves in Tiger's country where they still
think that The Men In Black go around in dark glasses looking for
three-eyed monsters.
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Emily enjoyed great popularity in the
Globe’s restaurant, being a very efficient and personable waitress.
She provided an excellent back up for Jenny in the kitchen, where
she collated all the ingredients chef would want, and cleared those
that were no longer needed without ever having to be asked. Emily
made up starters, plated-up mains and prepared
puddings.
John told her repeatedly not to squander her
life on education, but youngsters never listen... Emily is going
from college into International Relations. She is pictured
practicing the latter in Peterborough, sorry, Tanzania: can you spot
Emily?
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Sally joined the team in recent months and
has delighted us with her hard-working ethos, common sense and
adaptability. She has taken on the toughest kitchen jobs and, when
Jenny took time out at Whittlebury, and left John in charge of the
kitchen (silly girl), on what should have been a quiet time, but
wasn’t, Sally adapted immediately to the challenge. She took on
Emily’s role and, with no instruction whatsoever, assumed control of
the restaurant and began expertly plating-up dishes and
orchestrating service to the tables.
Sally is a
sailing sort of sailing stock and recently went on a sea cadet's
jolly sailing the tall ship Atlantis. She has yet to tackle Rutland
Water though, with Jenny & John taking on a modest version of a
tall ship there, she could get an
opportunity.
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Ian is extremely lucky to be Laura’s other
half, and we are very lucky that she introduced him to the team. Ian
is the mainstay of our beer festivals along with many of our
functions and events.
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The Rutland Team: Josh, Sophie & Amie.
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