Jus-Rol Professional

Pastry Perfect Panel - The Punch Tavern

Sitting in the heart of the City on Fleet Street, The Punch Tavern is a Grade II listed building boasting stunning Victorian period décor and famed as the once local watering hole for the writers of the satirical magazine Punch. Over the years the pub has picked up a number of industry accolades and along with a dedicated team of four chefs, Head Chef Dee Whooley has built up the pub's reputation on good, British cuisine averaging between 50 to 100 covers a day.

"I'd describe the Punch Tavern as a winter pub, we're surrounded by offices and as we don't have a beer garden the summer makes it a difficult time to draw in customers," explains Dee. "Because of where we are we're busy Monday to Friday, but we do get tourists popping in at weekends as we're not far from St. Paul's Cathedral and in the guide book."

Without a beer garden, the pub has learnt to set itself apart from the competition through its food offering.

"Food is an incredibly important part of the business, especially during the day with the lunchtime trade. We used to do a global cuisine buffet every day but consumer taste changes and our focus has moved to providing traditional pub grub. We keep our dishes simple and use good, quality ingredients, as a result the menu is doing really well and we’re getting lots of repeat business - our customers trust us with the quality of our food offering."

"I love playing around with recipes whether it's introducing a new ingredient or presenting something differently. With British cuisine you need to think more about the quality of your ingredients and presentation as more often the dishes themselves are very simple."

As part of Jus-Rol Professional's pastry Perfect Panel, Dee tried and tested the Twisted Corner Basket, Shortcrust Flan case and the Shortcrust Oval and used them as his inspiration for some new menu ideas.

"Pastry is the British version of pasta; it plays a core part in any dish and like pasta can be so easily messed up. When done correctly though and using quality ingredients, you can’t beat pastry for versatility."

"The trial went well, there really is no limit with what you can do with pastry" reveals Dee. "I was impressed with the Twisted Corner Basket - it looked great on the plate which gave me the freedom to focus on the filling and it was versatile enough to be used as a starter, main or dessert. My dessert recipe, the Fresh Cherry, Mascarpone and Chocolate Flake Basket with Cherry Syrup is a bit of an indulgent recipe as chocolate and cherries are one of my favourite combinations, the textures work perfectly with the puff pastry, it's simple to make and a definite customer pleaser.

For my Wild Mushroom, Spinach and brandy tart I wanted to create a really unusual vegetarian dish. Spinach & Mushroom is a classic combination; the Field Mushrooms gives the tart a rich, strong taste you don't expect from usual vegetarian cuisine. I used garlic & thyme as well as brandy and cream so the flavours are complex but it works. I liked the Shortcrust Flan Case, in three steps you’ve created a dish: out of the freezer, add your filling and into the oven - it's perfect when you are short on time and what chef isn't?!

The Shortcrust Oval surprised me the most, you can use it as a pie lid and score it to create a latticed effect. It's a very elastic product, so you can stretch it, roll it and play around with it. It was perfect for share platters too and corporate catering as it saved time in having to roll and cut your Shortcrust parcels which is essential on high volume orders."

With all the recipes Dee was conscious to consider gross profit. "I'm passionate about food, but you need to remember you are part of a business" comments Dee. "We work to a gross profit of 67% on every dish, if we can't achieve this then it won't go on the menu, there has to be balance between creativity and budgets, which is why making your own dishes is far more cost effective then buying in ready meals, your customers can tell the difference and it means you can price them that little bit higher."

So would Dee recommend Jus-Rol Professional to other chefs?

"I would recommend the products to other chefs, for anyone who has imagination and likes to play; Jus-Rol Professional provides a reliable basis for any pastry recipe, so just give it a go!"

For more information on Jus-Rol call 0800 626 893

Press Office Contact Details:

Gemma Buckley-Roberts / Jellybean Creative Solutions, 4 Bridge Street, Leatherhead KT22 8BZ
Tel: 01372 227 956 / Fax: 01372 383359 / email: gemma@jellybeancreative.co.uk