The Recipe For Success

The racing season at Cartmel is under-way… Now we’re cooking!

 

No… we really ARE cooking. The July race-meeting has traditionally been accompanied by a barbecue theme and thousands of racegoers bring charcoal with them to the races. We have a few rules, such as: keeping the barbecues off the grass (to avoid scorch marks on the village cricket pitch) and using only the metal bins to dispose of the embers. In order to ensure that the smoke doesn’t get in the way of racing, we also ask that all barbecues close to the running rail are extinguished prior to the first race.

 

To take the hassle out of the preparation, we’re working with a local supplier to provide racegoers with all the meat that they could possibly desire for the top of their barbecue. Furness Fish Poultry & Game Supplies, based in the small village of Flookburgh, just 3 miles from the track, has been potting the famous Morecambe Bay shrimps for over 30 years. They also pride themselves on supplying top quality Cumbria game and locally produced meat. Their Cumbria BBQ Packs cost £24 and include four venison burgers, four chicken kebabs, four pork sausages and four rump steaks – enough to feed up to eight people.

 

The Cumbria BBQ Pack can be ordered together with your race tickets when you book for the races online – and Claire Worrall, who runs the company, will keep the meat refrigerated for you until you pick it up from the trade-stand on race-day. But take care, one look at the stand and you may be tempted to purchase additional cuts – especially the game which I am told is not only wild, natural and free range, but is also low in cholesterol and high in protein.

 

High protein diets were all the rage a few years ago. I have a theory that it may have had something to do with the popularity of vampire films such as the Twilight saga, Buffy and (my own favourite) Underworld. After all, you never see a fat vampire. From Geena Davis, in Transylvania 6-5000, to Kristen Stewart and Kate Beckinsale, those vampires all seem very good looking – although you could have some issues with their dentistry.

 

Anyway, there’s no need to go that far; among the trade-stands at the racecourse you’ll also find fine dairy products from Cartmel Cheeses, freshly prepared Indian cuisine, bread from the Fat Flour Bakery and of course Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. The foil tray, that the Cartmel Sticky Toffee comes in, makes it the ideal barbecue pudding.

 

At about this time each year I like to include a barbecue recipe in my weekly column. However, this time, I’m going to give you the chance. Send me your best recipe (it could be for ketchup, home-made sausages, burgers, relish or salad) and I will publish my favourite entry here. The budding chef, with the best recipe, will win a pair of tickets to the races.

 

To enter the great BBQ recipe competition, simply e-mail info@cartmel-racecourse.co.uk or write to me at the racecourse office, Cartmel Racecourse, Cartmel, Cumbria, LA11 6QF, before 10th July. 

 

This week’s selection is Stagecoach Pearl – who should be given another chance to prove himself over a distance of more than three miles, at Uttoxeter, on Sunday.