The Awards were launched in 2014 to celebrate the country's finest home-grown ingredients, as well as the hard-working folk who produce and cook with them.
Behind the scenes our team of judges, including John Torode, Rachel Allen, Val Warner and Nathan Outlaw are busy taste testing the very best in British food and drink. Their findings will be unveiled in the October issue, out September 8th. Have your say across 20 foodie categories.
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Al fresco or picnics - we're eating outside !
It's National Picnic Week 16th - 25th June. Read on for some tasty al fresco foodie thoughts.
Sandwich Saucery
Forget the old days of British Rail's dried up curly tasteless sandwiches, a good sarnie can be a taste-bursting delight. Whether it's in a roll, batch, sliced bread, cobbler, ciabatta or even a wrap - the filling is King and the sauce its flavoursome Queen.
From the simple, to the extravagant, the variety of sandwich fillings and picnic side dishes is limited only by the imagination. Even the simple favourites can be given a lift with an extra dollop of this or spoonful of that.
A firm favourite is egg mayonnaise. Free range eggs boiled (just), peeled whilst warm and coarsly broken up with Stokes Real Mayonnaise and some freshly snipped peppery cress. Try adding a teaspoon (or more) of Stokes Chilli Jam. I've just had it for lunch and it is really very very good.
Mixing and matching Stokes sauces and relishes is not only good fun, it opens the door to all sorts of new taste experiences.
Go on, try it, get them all out and let your imagination run riot. This was the making of 2 parts mayonnaise to 1 part chilli jam for a delicious accompaniment in a chicken and avocado sandwich.
The taller bottle at the back is one of Stokes truly scrumptious salad dressings, it's the Mango & Orange Dressing. Add this to the mayo chilli jam combo and coat lukewarm new potatoes with it in a salad.
Hand carved Wiltshire ham loves both mayonnaise and English mustard. Here though the twist is not to mix them together but to put Stokes Real Mayonnaise on one slice of the bread and Stokes Classic English Mustard on the other, laying the ham in between. You actually enjoy the individuality of each rather than the dilution of both.
Try your own combinations and please share your favourites with us: tweet here, or post here.
'Al Fresco'
Al fresco is derived from the Italian for 'in the cool' but is no longer used in the language. In fact it is more commonly a reference to spending time in jail. I know I've been glad to be released from one or two dismal outside dining occasions myself - but - there is hope ... it's all a question of taste.
Whether it's al fresco dining with friends on the terrace or a picnic in the park with the children, there are hundreds of truly delicious ideas that can turn the ordinary in to the extraordinary food to go.
Caesar Salad is an al fresco favourite. Take it to a higher level by coating the chicken pieces with Stokes Original BBQ Sauce before char grilling. Add to the salad with anchovies and chopped hard boiled eggs, then generously coat with Stokes Caesar Sauce (it's delightfully creamy, made with free range eggs, parmesan cheese and garlic).
Coronation Chicken - simple ... just add Stokes Coronation Sauce. Here's a tasty tip: if you want to soften the flavour of this wonderfully intense sauce, fold a spoon or two of Philadelphia creamed cheese into it.
Butter Bean & Potato Salad. Just mix a washed tin of butter beans with cooked and cooled baby new potatoes. Add a finely chopped sweet red pepper (for colour as well as taste) and coat with a smooth mixture of equal parts Stokes Real Mayonnaise and our Olive & Balsamic Dressing.
Stokes dressings offer two absolute classics in the form of the caesar and the olive & balsamic - but be assured they're classics made classically - using fabulous ingredients for fabulous taste.
If you haven't tried them yet, our Raspberry & Balsamic and our Mango & Orange are inspired. (Click the image above to find them all).
Be adventurous with them. At the weekend we marinated a new season lamb loin fillet in the Mango & Orange, adding fresh rosemary and thyme. This was followed with a bowl of mixed soft fruits soused in Raspberry & Balsamic dressing - or try drizzling the same onto a lush scoop or three of vanilla ice cream.
Keep watching as we will be adding more picnic and al fresco foodie thoughts next week.
In the meantime, this is an excellent link to the National Picnic Week website and a range of their own picnic ideas; here.
Happy (belated) Father's Day
We're simple souls at Mr @stokessauces, more into fine food than fine dining. If we can have ketchup with it, we are very happy - hence the efforts made to create our Tomato Ketchup and our Real Mayonnaise.We tend to avoid restaurants unless we know they serve Stokes. Why do you think we started producing generous servings of easy to open sauce sachets for Stokes taste on the go!
And when we visit friends and family for supper, our 'bring a bottle' is usually ketchup, mayo and brown sauce.
Bubble 'n' Squeak. Turn this up to full yumminess by elevating it to a hash with corned beef and flavouring it with Stokes Brown Sauce. Served with a fried or poached egg and a dollop of Stokes Tomato Ketchup - heaven.
Another father favourite is mashed potato champ with Stokes Creamed Horeradish Sauce.Smooth mash with oodles of butter, chopped spring onion greens and a spoon or two of our horseradish - it's pure foodie joy.
DID YOU KNOW
Now, depending on the weather, Father's Day @stokessauces will either be indoors with a gammon joint or outside with a barbeque.
The beauty of a lovely gammon joint is that its is so naturally tasty and juicy fresh from the oven, though perhaps that's as much a credit to Mrs @stokessauces' culinary skills as it is to Suffolk's pig farmers. It's sweetness can be set off by our Cider & Horseradish Mustard or the traditional full flavours of our Classic English Mustard.
And then next day, we have cold cuts. Whether it's with a salad and relishes, or with chips and a fried egg (ketchup, ketchup, ketchup!), it is bound to turn this Father's Day into a wonderful Father's Weekend.
If the sun shines and we take to the great outdoors for a walk with the wallabies and a barbie with the peacocks (yes really - more soon) - we can be sure that whatever we 'char', we've a great tasting sauce to go with it.
Simple, honest, delicious
FOOD MADE BETTER
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