A Banquet for the Mayor
Cooking Skills for our Foster Children
Looked after Children (LAC) miss out on so many things that the rest of us take for granted. Richard, the Head Chef (and owner) of The Old Hatchet Pub in Cranbourne (SL4 2EE, tel: 01344 899911) has been helping POP change that.
For 4 evenings in October, Richard gave a group of Looked After Children a taste of the finer things in life. The group learnt how to cook a 'fine dining' meal which they then served to their foster parents on the final evening.
The course included: Basic knife skills, Food Safety, Soup Making, Vegetable preparation, Kitchen Safety, Basic cooking techniques, Main course preparation, Fruit Cooking Techniques, making Dessert.
You might have expected maybe Spag Bol and Trifle or something relatively simple, for such an event, but not from Richard Keep at the Hatchet! Take a look at Richard's Fine Dining menu.
Fine Dining Menu for Foster Parents
The Old Hatchet, Cranbourne
Lobster Bisque
***
Wild mushroom stuffed Chicken
***
Baked Apple Tarte Tatin
On the night, all the Looked After Children were understandably nervous. They were catering for 30 people and offering a Fine Dining menu into the bargain. The guest list was topped by The Worshipful the Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest no less (and yes that is the correct way to refer to this lovely lady, we have checked!).
The presentation of the food was up there with the best on Master Chef and all created by the children themselves after just four weeks of tuition from Richard Keep, landlord, owner and Master Chef at the Old Hatchet in Cranbourne.
The children were buzzing with excitement as the evening ended and they were presented with their Chef's Whites and a lovely memento of the occasion by Camille Keep.
A brilliant evening, truly opening the children's eyes as to what is possible, making them realise that they too can aspire to greater things. The whole evening encapsulated so well the values of Power of Parenting - offering Looked After Children educational opportunities that they would otherwise never have had.
A massive, massive thank you to Richard and Camille Keep who made this evening happen and gave up their only day off for four weeks on the trot to make children's dreams come true.
Please can we thank them by supporting them as our local pub!
Word has certainly got round to this group's friends, there is already a waiting list for the next course, should we be lucky enough to persuade Richard and Camille to host another one.
What the children said....
"I have really enjoyed this experience as I learned many new things. For example, the difference between soup and bisqe. A bisque is SOUP with with cream"
"I was quite new to cooking before this course (still fairly new!) and this has taught me many skills I can use, not only now, but in the future. Great fun, Richard and Sabina were amazing! Thank You!"
"I enjoyed this experience as I got to communicate well with different people and earned new cooking skuills and got to make food I hadn't even heard of before. This has bee a good expereiwence. Thank you."
"I enjoyed this experience these last four weeks. I have enjoyed cooking and serving the food to customers and being able to work as a team."
