Stop Food Waste Day

To recognise Stop Food Waste Day and to make sure we doing our bit to fight the waste on food – we caught up with Silverstone’s Award Winning Head Chef, Dean Hoddle, to hear about his best practice and top tips to reduce waste.

HOW DOES SILVERSTONE DO OUR PART TO REDUCE FOOD WASTE?

“We have very strict controls at Silverstone with regards to ordering and stock usage. We take each event we cater for and order accordingly for the menu requirements. As we make a lot of our own products in house we carry out batch cooking with prep and keep our freezers stock up with produce ready for events. We then only take out and cook the amount we need for the one event keeping the our waste down. Also by creating our own produce, we can use any fresh items which are going out of date, such as fruit, and turn it into fruit compote for a future event.”

HOW DO WE WORK WITH LOCAL SUPPLIERS?

“Most of our suppliers are local artisan suppliers and we work with these companies to get the best produce locally we can and to utilise their spare capacity. As an example we use Hamm Tun Fine Foods who make all our cheese for Silverstone. We place an advance order with them at the start of the year and the cheese is produced when their other demand is low and they have capacity to produce and age the cheese without disrupting their day to day business.”

WHICH COMPANIES DO WE WORK CLOSELY WITH?

Farrington oils – Mellow yellow dressings and oils
Friars Farm – jams and chutneys
Hamm Tun Fine Foods – cheese
The Little Bakery of Happiness – gluten free bakery
Geoff’s Real Artisan Bread

GIVE US YOUR TOP TIPS TO REDUCE FOOD WASTE

“My top tips for food waste is to keep it simple and always look at what you are cooking today and always think what you can reuse it for tomorrow. If I am roasting a whole chicken for a roast dinner today after eating I will strip all the meat off the bone and chill it down for a risotto tomorrow. I will also add the bones to a pan with water and veg and boil them up to make a stock to make the risotto with as well.

Another tip is if you are making a dish for a family of 4 then make 6 portions and freeze 2 of them. This is great for when you are in a rush another day and need a quick meal.

Finally always plan your meals when shopping where you can and when it comes to cooking today be flexible and look in the fridge and see what is due to go over and use that first. This will help with waste.”

Dean Hoddle
Head Chef at Silverstone

Visit Stop Food Waste Day for more information.  

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