There are several reasons to celebrate Britain’s largest county – the beautiful coastlines, the glorious Yorkshire Dales, the Roman city of York, vibrant cities such as Leeds, fabulous stately homes, and of course the fantastic food and drink produced right here in Yorkshire.
We at VWA feel very lucky to have our training facility in the grounds of the magnificent Broughton Hall at Skipton, the gateway to the Yorkshire Dales. Delegates on our courses love the fact that they are receiving top quality training in HACCP, Food Safety and our specialist courses in such beautiful surroundings.
In fact this year Skipton is at the heart of the Yorkshire Day celebrations, with various events taking place such as a grand civic parade with a military band from Catterick Barracks, photography exhibitions, an urban beach, a night at the opera and a Victorian print shop. For more information visit www.yorkshireday2013.co.uk
Fabulous Yorkshire food and drink
Things just wouldn’t be the same without a cup of Yorkshire Tea and a Betty’s Fat Rascal, Wensleydale cheese and crackers, a pint of Black Sheep, or Whitby cod and chips. And let’s not forget the most famous dish of all – Yorkshire pudding. (click link to see previous blog)
However Yorkshire’s not only about great traditional food – we have a reputation for creating amazing and innovative new dishes. After all famous celebrity chefs from Yorkshire include James Martin, Brian Turner and Marco Pierre White – who was the youngest chef ever to be awarded three Michelin stars at the time.
One of the most intriguing products we’ve discovered lately is Yorkshire Tea ice cream, which made its debut at last weekend’s Kendal Calling festival. The unique ice cream is the result of a collaboration between two VWA customers, Betty’s & Taylor’s of Harrogate (who produce Yorkshire Tea) and Huddersfield ice cream company, Yummy Yorkshire (who studied online food safety with us). Apparently the new limited edition ice cream is “sweet, creamy and intense, but also very refreshing.” Yorkshire Tea and ice cream? Sounds like a delicious combination of two of my favourite things. I hope we can buy it in the shops soon.
DeliciouslYorkshire – celebrating Yorkshire food and hospitality
For a website dedicated to all that is great about Yorkshire’s food visit www.deliciouslyorkshire.co.uk . It provides information on where to find the county’s best produce; listings of Yorkshire farmers’ markets and seasonal events; free seasonal recipes from champions of Yorkshire produce and details of how to enter the DeliciouslYorkshire Awards.
As a Yorkshire business involved in food industry training, we are a member of DeliciouslYorkshire, which is not-for-profit and exists to help promote Yorkshire food and drink businesses large and small – whether they are manufacturers, producers, retailers, or in the hospitality or B&B trade.
Here’s a recipe from the DeliciouslYorkshire website:
Dressed Whitby Crab
Ingredients
- 1-2 cooked crabs will give sufficient white and brown crab meat for this recipe
- 150mls mayonnaise
- 50g brown breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 2 hard boiled eggs yolks and white separated and chopped finely
- 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Allow 1 dressed crab per 2 people
- Mix the prepared flaked white crab meat with the mayonnaise and season.
- Mix the dark crab meat with the breadcrumbs and mustard.
- Separate the cooked egg white from the yolk.
- Finely chop the egg white and the yolk, keeping them both separate.
- Spread the dark crab meat into the base of the cleaned crab shell/s.
- Spread the flaked white crab meat onto the top of the dark meat.
- Sprinkle the chopped egg white on one side of the crab shell and the chopped egg yolk at the other side.
- Finish off with plenty of chopped parsley in the centre.
- Serve with crusty bread and wedges of lemon or lime.
Some interesting facts about Yorkshire
- If Yorkshire were a country in its own right it would have come 12th in the medals table at the London 2012 Olympics. In total we netted 7 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals!
- The Tour de France will be making its way through Yorkshire’s glorious countryside next year.
- We have great music (Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Pulp, The Human League) are all from Yorkshire; and a plethora of acting greats such as Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ben Kingsley, Sir Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Tom Wilkinson and Python Michael Palin.
- Famous writers and poets from Yorkshire include the Bronte sisters, Ted Hughes, Joanne Harris, Simon Armitage, WH Auden, John Godber, Helen Fielding, J B Priestley, Susan Hill, Alan Bennett, Roy Clarke…
- Three Prime Ministers hail from Yorkshire –Wilson, Asquith and Viscount Goderich
- Plus where would food manufacturers, processors and caterers be without stainless steel? Also invented in Yorkshire, by the way, by a gentleman from Sheffield named Harry Brearley…
Enjoy Yorkshire Day!