Who's Hot and Who's Fishy at Cartmel Races

It was a hard-fought contest. You might say the competition was hot. How do you determine the best barbecue recipe for Cartmel races?

 

Missing out narrowly was Mini Cooper from Manchester – and I am very sorry about this – but I think the entrant may have a made-up name. The recipe was for Carbecue Trout. Simply take your gutted trout, stuff it with lemon, parsley and chives, wrap it in tin foil, tie the resulting parcel to the exhaust manifold of your vehicle (or any other hot part of the engine, avoiding moving parts), drive to the races and enjoy on arrival with a slice of brown bread and mayonnaise.

 

I’m not saying that it wouldn’t work – I’m going to give it a try soon – but if it only takes you 10 minutes to drive to the races, I’m not convinced the fish will be cooked in time. If you’re travelling from Manchester, I suspect it may be a tad over-done. Anyone starting out from Kent, Devon or Aberdeenshire (and there’s always a few) should consider substituting the trout for a T-bone steak.

 

The winner wisely worked up a wok-full of our best local produce for these Cartmel Ultimate Lamb Burgers – congratulations Helen Goodwill who wins two tickets for the races on Saturday 19^th July or Monday 21^st July.

 

The ingredients include:

1lb　 Holker Saltmarsh Lamb [Minced]
1/3 pint Cartmel Peninsula Ale
A large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 egg
3oz breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon Tabasco
4 slices of Doddington Cheese

Chop the onion, crush the garlic and beat the egg. Get a large bowl and throw in all the ingredients, except the cheese. This is a taxing job. When you have divided the mixture into four roughly equal parts and patted it out you may need to drink the remaining 2/3 pint of Cartmel Peninsula Ale while you watch the burgers cooking for around 7 minutes each side on a hot BBQ. When cooked to your liking, place between top quality rolls from Unsworth's Yard or Grange Bakery, place the cheese on top of the burger, give it 30 seconds to melt. Eat. Repeat if necessary.

 

If all this is making you hungry, don’t forget that you can order barbecue packs of meat, to collect at the races, when you book your tickets on-line for the July meeting. But hurry, because the advance-ticket discount only lasts until midnight on Sunday night.

 

And if the thought of competitive cooking has got you all fired up, we shall be hosting Britain’s best BBQ contest throughout both race-days. The team from the International BBQ Network will be organising their Ready-Steady-Q competition as well as the children’s version: Kids-Q. Run to a familiar format, contestants are provided with a barbecue, a bag of mystery food ingredients and 25 minutes to create the tastiest BBQ meal. It’s free to enter and there’ll be prizes for the winners.

 

Based on the above, I suppose this weekend’s selection should be Clever Cookie in the 2.55 at York on Saturday, but instead I have a sneaky feeling for Caledonia in the 4.40.