A Lancashire woman has won first place in a competition designed to protect traditional Northern recipes from becoming extinct.
Sarah Stover from Fleetwood won the competition which was organised by Booths and Slow Food for her recipe for Honey Tea Bread.
Eleven amateur cooks from Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire served up their best-loved family recipes in the final which took place at the Northcote Restaurant at Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers Football Club on Friday 11 February. Each entry had 15 minutes to talk about the history of the dish and then for the judges to taste it.
The judges included the Times food critic Charles Campion, Booths chairman Edwin Booth, chef Nigel Haworth and Catherine Gazzoli, chief executive of Slow Food UK.
Sarah saw the competition in a Booths store as she was reading through an article. She said: “I originally found the recipe in a tiny 50p recipe book that I found in my home when I moved in; I baked it from then on.”
Sarah decided to enter the Honey Tea Bread recipe as she had recently baked it when catering for an afternoon tea party.
When she was announced as the winner she said: “I’m thrilled, I have never won anything in my life. Sorry to sound like a cliché but I just cant believe it.”
Sarah won a family three-course meal prepared and cooked for eight people, plus £500.
Second place went to Helen Morris from Ulverston in Cumbria for her recipe for Pepperpot Pie and Helen Tawn from Ilkley was third with her Plum Jumbly Tart. The two runners up won prizes of £250 and £100.
The best dishes will be featured on special recipe cards in stores and appear on the Booths website.
Booths marketing manager Sarah Burns said: “We're thrilled with the response we had to this competition - people delved deep into their family cookbooks to share some amazing recipes that combine family history, local tradition and local produce.
“Many of the dishes are treasured culinary secrets that date back generations and have only been saved in people's memories. We want to champion these beloved family dishes and protect them for many more generations to come.”
Slow Food UK's Catherine Gazzoli says: “All the recipes that were entered into the competition encapsulate all that is good about Slow Food – delicious, local family dishes prepared with love. It was wonderful to meet the shortlisted amateur cooks and review time-tested recipes that celebrate the simple pleasure of home-cooked food.
"You can never underestimate the power food has in bringing families together, particularly when recipes and food traditions are passed from generation to another.”
A total of 70 recipes were entered in the contest. Many of the recipes originate from the 1930's and 1940's when ingredients were stretched to make them go further. They also use cheaper cuts of meat which are increasingly coming back into fashion.
Slow Food UK and Booths announced a partnership in April last year which sees them working together to promote the quality, provenance, seasonality and regionality of food.
This competition is one of the first of many initiatives the partnership has embarked on to encourage people to think about what they are eating and to take time to treasure family meals.