What is the link between sausage and Stoke?

Marco Pierre White of course, the well known celebrity chefs’ kitchen was setup at the Britannia Stadium for a culinary competition sponsored by James T. Blakeman & Co. Ltd. the Supreme Sausage and Meat Manufacturers.

The Blakeman family have a long standing relationship with Stoke City and the late great ‘wizard of dribble’ Sir Stanley Matthews as today the chairman Mr James T. Blakeman sponsors the ‘Sir Stanley Matthews suite’ at the Britannia Stadium on match days.

Marco set the task for the Premier League players of Stoke City to produce a three course meal, the ‘three wanna be chefs’, Carlo Nash who was out to save more than his bacon, Rory Delap who wanted to throw in his culinary skills, whilst Ryan Shawcross was hoping to tackle more than the basics of cooking.

The Menu:

Starter

Seared Salmon

Oriental Salad

Thai Spiced Dressing

Main Course

Escalope of Chicken

Wilted Spinach

Hash Brown & Woodland Mushroom Sauce

Dessert

Eton Mess

Tea & Coffee with Biscotti

Amongst a lot sweat and nerves but no yellow cards the eventual winner being Rory Delap said “I have found my vocation when I hang up my boots”, so congratulations ‘yes chef’ are in order to Rory.

After the several hundred invited guests devoured the culinary delights on offer a Q&A session with Marco ensued and one lady diner asked “What recipe would you suggest for sausage”, Marco replied ” a good quality pork sausage,…keep it simple Toad-in-the-Hole or mustard mash are good, but you can’t beat the good old sausage sandwich,”

…….. so there you have it straight from the chefs mouth.