Alan ‘Sir Porketeer’ Paton has won this year’s Great Sausage Roll Off, an annual competition to find the best sausage roll, held at the Red Lion, Barnes, in London.
Alan Paton with the Great Sausage Roll Off trophy
Hosted by The Red Lion’s managers, Angus McKean and Claire Morgan, £5,000 was raised on the night for Only a Pavement Away through tickets and sausage roll sales.
Seventeen chefs, including The Red Lion’s own Angus McKean, cooked up their savoury treats and served them to a panel of judges and a pastry-loving audience.
The entries comprised a vast range of flavours and ingredients, from pig cheek wrapped in croissant dough to harissa lamb with yoghurt dip.
Alan’s winning creation was a Suffolk Duroc pork and black pudding Battenburg with Yorkshire rhubarb curd. Second place went to Alec ‘The Weeping Chef’ Tomasso for his handmade pig cheek cotechino sausage with croissant dough, crackling, and tomato sauce powder, served with basil and spicy pepper sauce. Third was Kat Dima, head baker of The Real Food Café in Tyndrum, for The Kilted Wonder, a pork and haggis sausage roll served with spicy ketchup.
Alan winning sausage roll
This year’s judges were Simon Hulstone (of The Elephant, Jeremy Vine (presenter and journalist), Melissa Thompson (journalist and food writer), and Trevor Gulliver (co-founder, St John). Beer and food writer Melissa Cole compèred the event.
Alan Paton said: “I’m delighted to have won this year’s Roll Off. It’s such a great event and it’s an honour to spend time with my culinary companions, trying their creations and hearing their stories. This trophy will be displayed proudly, for all to see.”
Angus McKean added: “Once again, the Great Sausage Roll Off was a fantastic event. The level of skill these chefs have is incredible, and the passion that emanates out of all of them created an electric atmosphere, in the kitchen and for our audience.
“The judges had a difficult job to pick a winner. The calibre was so high — each entry was a delicious sausage roll delight. Thank you to everyone who entered and to the excellent panel of judges. A big thanks to everyone who joined us on the night, too. We raised £5,000 for Only a Pavement Away, a charity that’s close to all our hearts in the hospitality sector.”
