The Stone Food & Drink Festival, kindly supported by Joule’s Brewery, prides itself on showcasing the best of Staffordshire’s culinary talent in its demonstration kitchen – and this year will be no exception. Making a welcome return to the bill is local girl Rosanna Moseley who, since her last appearance on the festival stage back in 2012, has risen through the ranks at Michelin-starred Adam’s in Birmingham. She reached the final 12 of BBC’s ‘Masterchef The Professionals’ in 2016 and has recently taken tenure of mentor Adam Stokes’ latest venture – The Oyster Club in Birmingham’s Temple Street – as Head Chef.
Rosanna will take the stage in the Demonstration Kitchen on Sunday 6th October at 1pm, as part of a programme that sees sessions take place in the kitchen on the hour, every hour. Also on the bill over the weekend are local freelance chef Mike Hughes, Chef and educator Chris Cohen of Fest with Friends, Stafford College’s Richard Finney, Stafford-based food blogger Sarah Winkel (A.K.A. The Credit Crunch Cooke), Andy Pickstock of Aston marina’s No.26 eatery; Luca Bellomusto of The Moat House; award-winning Stone butcher Nick Griffin; Allan Jones of Keele Hall; Smoke & Rye’s Rich James; Stuart Bruce from The Red Lion at Bradley, Joule’s Brewery’s MD Steve Nuttall and progressive Stone chef Jake Lowndes of Little Seeds.
Get hands-on in Culinary Masterclasses…
The opportunity to learn from the professionals is one of the cornerstones of this vibrant annual event – and this year there are more chances than ever to get ‘hands on’ to hone culinary skills. Sure to be popular is the ‘Wine & Cheese Tasting’ masterclass taking place at 4.30pm each day, with sommelier Patryk Kapeliński guiding students the basics of wine and food pairing techniques. Featuring some fabulous Italian wines paired with delicious cheeses from their local area, the session is available at £15pp with advance booking essential.
Those keen to learn how to preserve and store their own food will be keen to take part in the hands-on Saurkraut masterclass with Emma Cronon of Wild Pickle. During the session you’ll create your own jar of sauerkraut to take home, flavoured with various additions to suit your taste, while learning the lost art of fermentation and how it can help increase nutritional value. Sessions take place on Saturday and Sunday at 10.30am for £8pp.
Bake-off fans can try their hand at decorating cute pumpkin cupcakes with Stone’s very own ‘Queen of Cakes’, Beth Tomasik of Beth Lauren Cakes. The step-by-step process will see you create two pumpkin cupcakes to take home and the session is perfect for children accompanied by a grown-up. Cupcake sessions are on Saturday and Sunday at 12.30am and cost £6pp.
Last, but by no means least, in the Culinary Masterclass lineup are two great sessions with chef and educator Chris Cohen, who runs Feast with Friends. Designed to give you the skills to create dinner party dishes that will wow your guests, on Saturday at 3pm Chris will demonstrate how to make Pumpkin Ravioli, wild mushrooms and smoked bacon before students make their own ravioli and take the ingredients home to cook the full dish like a pro. His session on Sunday at 2pm will focus on Sous Vide cooking steak – Chris will introduce the ‘science’ behind sous vide before participants barbeque their own steak to perfection, create a fine green sauce of the world – then walk away with a great steak sandwich! Both of these sessions cost £12pp and advance online booking is essential.
As well as the culinary masterclasses, families will be delighted to hear that Kiddy Cook North Staffs will be back offering free kids’ cookery classes in the Little Foodies’ zone on Saturday & Sunday. All those taking part in masterclasses must also pay entry to Westbridge Park.
Talks & Tastings
Other opportunities to increase foodie knowledge come in a packed programme for the Lexus Stoke Talks & Tastings tent, where passionate producers wax lyrical on topics that include beer and wine, chocolate, toffee, gin, cocktails, wild fermentation, game butchery and cake decorating. So literally something for everyone!
The 2019 Stone Food & Drink Festival will take place on Friday 4, Saturday 5 & Sunday 6 October on Westbridge Park in Stone. Gate prices are £7pp (day ticket) and £15pp (3 day pass); accompanied under-16s get in free and a Park & Ride service will operate from Aston Marina – head to stonefooddrink.org.uk for more information and to buy advance discount tickets.
