Pub aims to be the first with pan-less kitchen

29th February 2012, 7:50am

The Shoulder of Mutton at Holcombe Village, Ramsbottom, is becoming the first pub in the country to have a newly developed almost pan-less kitchen.

When it re-opens on Friday (March 2), after a facelift, the £50,000 'Eco Chef' kitchen will cook food in ultra-modern water baths on state-of-the-art stoves.

And customers who eat at the traditional 18th century pub, on the West Pennine slopes of Holcombe Hill, will even be invited into the kitchen to see their meal being prepared.

"They will have seen nothing like it," says executive chef Chris Yates, a partner in the Lancashire Taverns group that runs the Shoulder of Mutton among its portfolio of four Bolton and Bury area inns.

"It's the way kitchens are going in the future and the Shoulder of Mutton is in the lead. Not that we'll be changing to a modern menu – our food will stay traditional but cooked in a modern French blanch style that simplifies everything, guarantees consistency and is very 'eco-green'."

The 'Eco Chef' kitchen, developed by Preston-based CHR Food Service Equipment, is the first UK-built made-to-measure stove to carry full CE accreditation and meet European conformity directives.

"It's brand new to the market," says CHR's Paul Neville, "and is only the third to be fitted in the country. Eco Chef is designed to increase cooking speed and accuracy while reducing energy use by more than 50%. The fact that it dramatically reduces the number of pans in the kitchen also means less washing up and that reduces hot water, energy and chemical use."

The kitchen will be fitted during a one-week closure, as part of a pub facelift, and the Shoulder of Mutton reopens with a brand new menu on 2 March.

The 'Shoulder' is part of the growing 'Lancashire Taverns' group that includes the Chetham Arms at Chapeltown, Bolton, the Pack Horse at Affetside, Bury and the Footballers Inn at Summerseat.

Chris Yates, 25, who runs the business with his father, Craig, has worked in some of the North West's best kitchens, with some of its top chefs, from his apprenticeship with Rochdale's celebrity restaurateur Andrew Nutter to once turning down a job with Michelin-starred TV chef Gordon Ramsay.

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