Blog

Out of This World Sides Dishes for Your BBQ

March 19, 2019

Have you ever been to a BBQ that felt pretty bland and then had another that you were talking about for weeks after? It’s the small details which can make the difference to guest satisfaction, from the presentation of the food to how it tastes. Whether for a wedding, private party or corporate function, another way you can propel a BBQ or hog roast to the talk of the day is to ensure you have the best sides to complement your mains. Here are some inspirational ideas about what to consider when putting together your event menu. (more…)

Wedding Catering in Surrey – Case Study

Wedding Catering in Surrey – Case Study

March 19, 2019

As one of the biggest days in any couple’s life, it’s important to choose a wedding food menu which fits in with the tone you want to set for the day, whether that’s relaxed and informal, or adding a bit of theatre and excitement. For this event, we provided both food and staff to help the couple add a unique and special feel to their wedding reception. (more…)

Amazing Grazing Station Ideas for Every Season

February 18, 2019

Grazing stations have become one of the hottest trends in the catering world, loved by modern couples who want a cool alternative to the traditional wedding breakfast, those organising a special party or even at corporate events where you want to impress attendees. It’s a great idea to create grazing stations which reflect the time of year, so here’s some inspiration to help with your plans. (more…)

Best Ways to Add a Gourmet Twist to a Traditional Hog Roast

January 18, 2019

There’s nothing to get the mouth watering more than the thought of a delicious hog roast, from the slow-cooked meat placed in a crusty roll to the delicious crackling and sides. While a traditional hog roast is something we love, if you’re looking for something a little different, there are some additional gourmet twists you can add to your menu.

Here are some of our favourite ideas. (more…)

Open Day Sunday 11th November 2018

October 10, 2018

It’s that time of year again for our Bi-annual Open Day being held on Sunday 11thNovember at one of our wedding venues, London Fields Brewery in Hackney.

 

This is a ticketed event at £20 per person and gives our clients an opportunity to taste our full menu in a relaxed & informal environment, while enjoying a complimentary glass of bubbles and craft beer.

 

We will be cooking a full selection of our canapes, hog roast, lamb roast, BBQ, sides & salads, desserts, wood fire pizzas & paella – so bring an appetite.

 

Space is limited so if you would like to attend please get in contact at info@gourmet-hog-roast.co.uk

 

Info

When: Sunday 11th November 2018 1pm – 3pm

Where: London Fields Brewery 369-370 Helmsley Pl, London E8 3SB

What: Complimentary drink, along with full selection of Gourmet Hog Roast food

How: £20 per person and get in contact at info@gourmet-hog-roast.co.uk

 

Open Day 9th December 2017

October 20, 2017

With 2017 wedding season coming to be close, all eyes are now set on 2018, which is shaping up to be our busiest year to date.

To support this, and due to popular demand we are adding another Open Day this year. This additional Open Day will be held on the 9th December at the Pig & Whistle pub in SW18 London and is an opportunity for our clients to try our delicious food in an informal environment while discussing their big day.

The Gourmet Hog Roast Company specialise in providing hog roast & BBQ wedding catering in London, Surrey, Kent and Home Counties. Brides & Grooms choose to work with us as they want something different from the usual ‘chicken in sauce’ catering. We offer tasty, wholesome food executed with exceptional service.

Book Your Tickets Now

Come along and taste the delicious food prepared by the Gourmet Hog Roast, while relaxing in the aptly named Pig & Whistle pub.

  • What – A delicious buffet lunch prepared by the Gourmet Hog Roast to sample.
  • When – Saturday 9th December 2017, starting at 12pm.
  • Where – 481 Merton Road, Wandsworth, London SW18 5LD
  • Cost – £20 per ticket which must be booked in advance.

Pig&Whistle

Open Day April 23rd 2017

March 8, 2017

We are proud to announce the date and location of our bi-annual Hog Roast Open Day, which will be held at the Hotel Rafayel on the Left Bank on Sunday 23rd April.

The Rafayel is one of the most iconic buildings south of the river, and the terrace offers unrivalled views over the river and city skyline. We are proud to be working with the hotel to showcase this stunning venue while experiencing the Gourmet Hog Roasts’ fantastic food.

Book Your Tickets Now

Come along and taste the delicious food prepared by the Gourmet Hog Roast, while taking in the views of the Thames from the stunning venue of the Hotel Rafayel on the Left Bank.

  • What – A delicious buffet lunch prepared by the Gourmet Hog Roast to sample.
  • When – Sunday 23rd April 2017, starting at 12pm.
  • Where – Rafayel on the Left Bank, 34 Lombard Road, London, SW11 3RF
  • Cost – £20 per ticket which must be booked in advance.

Open Day 2016

April 13, 2016

We’d like to thank everyone who attended our Annual Open Day on the 2nd April and we hope everyone enjoyed the food. We certainly had the weather on our side. For those who have not attended one before, our Open Days are an opportunity for clients, and prospective clients to taste our food before making final decisions on their food options. This year we had just under 60 people attend and it was great to have the opportunity to meet people and discuss their event in an informal environment.

openday2

Wimbledon Food Bank

April 13, 2015

The Gourmet Hog Roast are proud to announce that in 2015, with the aid and generosity of our clients are donating all the food that is not used at our events to our local Food Bank in London.  As a hog roast catering company in South West London and Surrey we have received great support from our local community and want to do our bit to help. The Food Bank is a great charity which helps supply people who really need our help with meals and other basic amenities.  As well as donating food you can also donate via their website by following this link. http://wimbledon.foodbank.org.uk/donate

Hampton Court 1/2 Marathon hog roast surrey

April 7, 2015

We’ve always been firm believers that Pork makes you run faster, jump higher and generally be a better person. This point was proven when we did a hog roast surrey at Hampton Court Palace half marathon on Sunday 29th March.

Matt and the team at Run Through asked us to be the sole caterers at the Palace as we are preferred suppliers there. The weather was terrible with near gale force winds, but that didn’t stop nearly 3,000 runners turn up to run through the beautiful grounds.

To help those elite athletes, the Gourmet Hog Roast team were giving out our own free protein shots (otherwise known as bits of sausage) which went down a storm to calm those pre-race nerves.

All in all it was great morning and it was a pleasure to be part of.

The team doing a hog roast in Hampton Court in Surrey

The team doing a hog roast in Hampton Court in Surrey

Open Day 28th March 2015

April 1, 2015

The 28th March marked another successful Open Day hosted by the Gourmet Hog Roast Company. This years venue was the Pig & Whistle pub in Earlsfield and it was was an opportunity for customers and prospects to come taste our menu, and have an informal chat about their event.

We had over 30 guests turn up throughout the afternoon and it was great to finally put a face to some names. The weather wasn’t great but spirits were high, in part because of the Prosecco on offer, along with the copious amounts of food.

We will look to host another Open Day later in the season, where we’ll cook more food and once dates are confirmed we will publish them. If you’re interested in attending one of these events then get in contact now to taste the best hog roast in London

Wedding Trends

February 18, 2015

So I thought I would share with you some of the trends we’ve noticed over the last couple of years with regards to weddings. I’d like to caveat that we’ve not completed an exhaustive quantitative study, counting for every type of variable in terms of age, demographic etc – this is purely our observations when we’ve been taking enquiries to cater for couples weddings.

1. Informality

We’ve noticed a trend the last few years whereby people are moving away from the traditional, military precision-esq wedding with ceremony at 12pm, photos from 1.30-3pm, speeches, hog roast etc etc etc. Instead the enquiries we have received have had the term ‘relaxed’ as a central pillar of the theme. Obviously there is a ceremony, and food, and photos and speeches but it is done with a more laid back approach.

2. Kiss Goodbye to ‘Class’ of Guest

The idea of inviting day and evening guests is also something we’re seeing less of. Couples are no longer differentiating between Auntie Mavis, and Dave the old office colleague who you don’t see anymore but he invited you to his wedding so you feel obliged to do the same. This may be tied with the fact people are not necessarily spending hundreds of pounds per head on food, and can afford to invite everyone.

3. Starting Later

A lot of functions we’ve been involved in recently have also started a lot later than normal. We are seeing more and more people have an event kick off at 3-4pm instead of midday. With a relaxed atmosphere being more prevalent this later start time may be linked to couples wanting their guests to be attending a ‘party’ instead of ‘wedding’. Lots of food, drink and dancing are also high on the agenda here.

4. Table Settings

More of the hog roasts we’re catering for at weddings are also looking at more relaxed seating arrangements for the food. Couples are telling us they don’t necessarily want table service, and are happy for food to be presented buffet style- adding to the informal and relaxed nature of the day. Key requirements are good quality food, and lots of it! They need something to soak up all the alcohol being drunk.

At the Gourmet Hog Roast Company we understand that no wedding is the same, and we work with clients to tailor the food & drink to match their exacting requirements.

New Staff…..

January 21, 2015

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We’d like to say a huge congratulations to one of our chefs Scott & his wife Lauren on the birth of their beautiful son Travis. Scott is one of our top chefs, receiving great feedback from clients who said they appreciated him going the extra mile to make their hog roast special

Author: Nick Warlow – Follow us on Google+

New Website Coming Soon………

January 6, 2015

2014 has been a great year for the Gourmet Hog Roast Company. We’ve been fortunate enough to meet some amazing people, cater for some fantastic families and had great fun along the way. BUT we don’t like to stop there…..

2015 promises to be even bigger and better for London’s Premier hog roast hire company as we’ve expanded our BBQ menu, increased our focus on servicing the wedding market and brought on board some great staff. Underpinning all of this is the soon to be launched, revamped, super-duper new website we’re working on. The current one has served us well considering Marco and I designed it ourselves as our grand dreams for hog roast domination

Author: Nick Warlow – Follow us on Google+

Tis the Season to be Hogging

December 11, 2014

Last weekend was a busy weekend for the Gourmet Hog Roast. December went off with a bang with us providing pigs to clients in and around London for their staff parties & private events. Sebastian & Costa were over in Windsor providing a hog roast to 220 people at Daniels Stores; the largest department store in Windsor.

Scott was lucky enough to be serving a horde of hungry rugby players at the London Irish Rugby Club in Sunbury. The hog roast catering provided there went down a treat- even with the cold weather. We also had Rob down in Chiswick Town Hall catering for a Christmas party. The Hall is a great venue and we are preferred suppliers for hog roast and spit roast catering. We have a couple of weddings booked in there for 2015 already- definitely worth a look if you’re looking for your own wedding venue.

Author: Nick Warlow – Follow us on Google+

Christmas Carol Hog Roasts

December 1, 2014

Gourmet Hog Roast are happy to be supplying a yummy  hog roast to The Heathfield Fellowship in London this Thursday. What could be better than Carols and Hog Roast? We are very excited!

Bonfire Night + Hog Roast = PERFECTION

November 6, 2014

We’ve been really busy this Bonfire Night providing hog roasts to hungry customers. There’s nothing better than being stood holding a tasty hog roast on a crisp Autumn night. With roasts in Wimbledon, Battersea and Clapham we hope everyone enjoyed the hog as much as the fireworks.

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Author: Nick Warlow – Follow us on Google+

New BBQ Menu coming

November 2, 2014

Here at Gourmet Hog Roast we are currently working on our New BBQ menu which will be available from next month to London, Surrey, Kent and the other Home Counties.

This will offer our customers the freedom to choose from a more diverse selection of meats, which we believe is something important, especially for larger groups and corporate clients is doing making employees or guests not feel excluded because of their eating habits.

If you have any suggestions please feel free to email us.

New BBQ Menu coming December 2014

November 2, 2014

Here at Gourmet Hog Roast we are currently working on our New BBQ menu which will be available from next month to London, Surrey, Kent and the other Home Counties.

This will offer our customers the freedom to choose from a more diverse selection of meats, which we believe is something important, especially for larger groups and corporate clients is doing making employees or guests not feel excluded because of their eating habits.

If you have any suggestions please feel free to email us.

 

 

Business Awards Nomination

October 15, 2014

So we’re really happy to announce that we’ve been Shortlisted for a category at the Wandsworth Business Awards 2014. We entered the Best SME Business category and have been shortlisted from a total of 65 entries which is great recognition for us.

We’ve worked really hard these last 3 years (so hard that we don’t have time to update the blogs!!!) and this is the culmination of all that hard work.

2015 looks set to be even bigger and better for us so keep checking back here as we’ll be sure to update you on all the cool and interesting things we’re up too.
The Awards dinner is on 6th November at the Roehampton Club so let’s see if 2014 really is the year of the Pig!!

 

WBA2014-Finalist-BestSMEBusiness

The Only Hog is Essex

June 11, 2013

2012/13 has been a great year from the Gourmet Hog Roast Company. We’ve done hog roasts for weddings, birthdays and christenings and loved everyone of them. However our most interesting one has definitely been when we were asked to do a hog roast in Essex for cast members of the The Only Way is Essex.

We cooked a great hog roast for Sam and Joey Essex’s engagement party and everybody loved it. It was Well Reem!!

 

Pulled Pork

June 11, 2013

So it’s been a while since we last wrote a blog post- apologies it’s just been so busy this year. We have done a lot of hog roasts now where people have asked what to do with the left overs. There’s only 1 answer to this……left over pulled pork sandwiches.

Firstly I’d like to add that if I offend any pork purists with the below recipe then so be it. I’ve tried quite a few recipes now and my favourite is this one that I stole from the BBC Food website. It’s really good and is a great way to use up that left over hog roast.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pulledporkwithsausag_88807

Meat and Wine

June 5, 2012

chelsea_wine_companySo we at the Gourmet Hog Roast Company have been busy these last few months. We’ve been taking bookings, cooking roast pork and also working with other like-minded companies. We came across The Chelsea Wine Company through a client and have worked with them on a number of hog roasts. The Chelsea Wine Company is London’s newest independent wine merchant. Three young wine lovers have come together to create an imaginative wine list which simply focusses on the fantastic wines of producers who are going places.  Working with their Master Sommelier, Sylvain Andres (ex of Fouquet’s, Lasserre, and Marc Meneau), and with a keen focus on food and wine pairing, they have a hand-picked list of wines which are absolutely ripe for drinking.

The Gourmet Hog Roast Company have now partnered with the Chelsea Wine Company to provide our clients with a truly unique experience of beautifully cooked pork or lamb with wines that compliment the flavours amazingly. If you’re looking for a hog roast and require alcohol to be provided at the event then feel free to get in contact.

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

March 19, 2012

The first weekend of June 2012 is a special time for us Brits – it marks the extended bank holiday we have thanks to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This 4 day celebration is tipped to be a weekend of fun and frolics centred around the Capital and we at the Gourmet Hog Roast Company think it’s the perfect time to party in style. Why not celebrate 60 years of Her Majesty’s rule by hosting an event nobody will forget – one that involves a hog roast 🙂

Whether you’re planning a wedding, charity event or just a soiree with friends and family – our catering services never fail to impress.

Whatever your plans are for the weekend, we hope you have a memorable and unforgettable time. Oh and God Save the Queen!

Snap, Crackle and Pop

March 3, 2012

Hey there fellow blog readers!

So we’ve decided to start blogging on the website as we feel like sharing many of our thoughts and ideas with our loyal customers and friends. We want this area to become a repository of useful info, and maybe a little humour along the way too 🙂

One of the questions that we’re always being asked about and a great start to the blog is how do you make the perfect crackling?

Crackling for me brings fond memories of Mum’s sunday roast growing up and I always find it difficult to turn down a piece. I think it’s the same for our customers too, as nothing makes me smile more than serving on a job and watching someone ponder an answer when I ask would you like crackling with that? The head says no its fat, but the heart (and belly) says YES! It’s the ultimate in comfort food, you know you shouldn’t but you can’t refuse

Cracking on (no pun intended) – The most important thing to remember when making crackling is scoring the skin; don’t score it and the heat will struggle to penetrate the rind and you won’t get that lovely crackled look on the hog roast. But here’s the first tip, don’t score so deep as to cut through to the meat – if you do, you’ll just lose the juices! Big mistake!

You also need to make sure that the pig (or joint) has a good layer of fat underneath the skin so that when it melts it will baste the skin. Obviously here at the Gourmet Hog Roast Company we only use Free Range Pigs ensuring that the quality is top notch!

Removing the moisture from the skin is also an important step in attaining hog roast crackling nirvana. This can be achieved in different ways and is down to personal preference. Some people (when cooking joints) will leave the meat uncovered in the fridge to dry it out, while others cover the skin in salt to suck the moisture out. Me personally, I like to do both as I have an unhealthy love of salt!

Hope you enjoyed the ramblings and get in contact if you have any questions.