“Bring out the Branston” – the advertising slogan for Branston Pickle – is something I associate with cheese sandwiches, not barbecues. But the brand, which started life in 1922, is now known for more than just pickle and has a range of relishes and table sauces. By inviting a group of food and lifestyle bloggers to the London Barbecue School, they were able to showcase just what you can do with their products - and there wasn't a cheese and pickle sandwich in sight!
I've been to the London Barbecue School before; it's run by a very nice man named Alistair who is also the lead tutor at the School of Food. They specialise in using Kamado Joe barbecues, which are ceramic egg-shaped grills that gives you the ability to grill, smoke or sear; the grill itself is in two parts so can be used at different levels to create different heat zones.
I've been to the London Barbecue School before; it's run by a very nice man named Alistair who is also the lead tutor at the School of Food. They specialise in using Kamado Joe barbecues, which are ceramic egg-shaped grills that gives you the ability to grill, smoke or sear; the grill itself is in two parts so can be used at different levels to create different heat zones.
Edward from Mizkan, the company that owns Branston Pickle, introduced himself and spoke a little about the brand, and then we were told about the recipes we would be cooking. We would be using Branston products in some of the recipes themselves, not just as accompaniments – and I learnt something straight away. Do you know the difference between a relish and a chutney? They often have similar ingredients, but a relish is made to go with hot food while a chutney is meant to go with cold food.
We organised ourselves into small groups and chose which recipe we wanted to do, from a choice of:
sticky pork chops
Tex-Mex chicken tacos
mushroom and grilled cheese burger
beer-braised brisket with blue cheese slaw
sticky pork chops
Tex-Mex chicken tacos
mushroom and grilled cheese burger
beer-braised brisket with blue cheese slaw
I decided I most liked the sound of the steak so my group began to prepare our ingredients.
We were given thin steaks rather than a large piece of brisket as that would have taken far too long to cook; the steaks had already been marinaded so all we needed to do was put them on the barbecue.
Meanwhile two of us got on with making the slaw – I am not normally a fan of coleslaw but thought this looked really good and it did taste great.
To serve, we placed the steak, some slaw, some little gem lettuce and some Branston in a tortilla and wrapped it up - delicious!
I saw people making the other recipes and they all looked very tasty; I would never have thought of using Branston to jazz up chicken tacos and as part of the recipe rather than an accompaniment.
I also cooked some burgers for the rest of the group, which went really well with the Branstons Rich and Smoky sauce; I really had no idea they had so many products beyond just pickle!
We were given thin steaks rather than a large piece of brisket as that would have taken far too long to cook; the steaks had already been marinaded so all we needed to do was put them on the barbecue.
Meanwhile two of us got on with making the slaw – I am not normally a fan of coleslaw but thought this looked really good and it did taste great.
To serve, we placed the steak, some slaw, some little gem lettuce and some Branston in a tortilla and wrapped it up - delicious!
I saw people making the other recipes and they all looked very tasty; I would never have thought of using Branston to jazz up chicken tacos and as part of the recipe rather than an accompaniment.
I also cooked some burgers for the rest of the group, which went really well with the Branstons Rich and Smoky sauce; I really had no idea they had so many products beyond just pickle!