Michelin star chef Paul Rankin served up a tasty treat of his new sausage range in Manchester ahead of a national competition to find the UK’s best ‘mini-chef’.
The famed Ready Steady Cook regular dished out bangers and mash as part of a ‘save our sausage’ campaign at the Great John Street Hotel on Thursday, then challenged locals to taste-test his recipe at the Trafford Centre on Friday.
New research says British families spend just 25 minutes eating together each day while one in 20 families totally avoid it.
The Irish ‘cook’ – as he prefers to be known – is keen to show that sausages can be the modern meal solution that allows more time at the table, hence the new Rankin Selection Irish Family Sausage.
MINI-CHEF: Rankin is asking 4-12-year-olds to come up with recipes using his rustic sausages
“Sausages have always been a great home comfort food and a staple at the dinner table,” he said.
“I’m keen to ensure the humble sausage remains at the heart of family meal times.”
The new product results from a partnership with Denis Lynn’s artisan Irish food producer Finnebrogue.
“About eight years ago Denis and I started making sausages together, and the Rankin Selection premium sausage is the number one selling brand of sausage in Waitrose,” Rankin explained
“But we both have kids and we talked about this vision of creating a great Irish old-fashioned banger.
“The traditional Irish banger is not a coarsely minced sausage, it’s quite an emulsifying product that everyone can enjoy – and the top one on the market is not a good product.
“It’s the top-selling brand of sausage in the UK but it’s not a good product.”
TRADITIONAL IRISH BANGER: Rankin says that sausages ‘still have a place at the table’
Despite 57% of UK parents saying that the evening meal is when they get the most quality time together as a family, Britain’s typically spend 65% more time in the kitchen preparing the meal than sitting at the table enjoying it with their family.
The research, carried out on behalf of Rankin Selection, also revealed that the top five British favourite family meals continue to be the classics – roast dinners, cottage pie, spaghetti bolognaise, curry and bangers and mash.
Rankin’s ‘save our sausage’ campaign combined with the new product is designed to encourage parents to embrace the traditional and re-discover quality time spent together at the dinner table.
“Our campaign aims to remind people that sausages still have a place at the table,” he said.
“Kids today love them and they’re a tasty, versatile ingredient for a variety of quick and easy family dinner recipes that even kids can cook.
“We have made a product that’s 50% more meat, only made from prime cuts of pork, only uses GB and Irish pork, has no added fat and has that great Irish flavour.
“It’s a sausage that everyone can enjoy and that we’re certainly proud of.”
Doin the”Rankin Challange” all day today at Trafford Centre..come on down!! pic.twitter.com/aLytYxwPoF
— Paul Rankin (@chefpaulrankin) October 16, 2015
Dinner is served! Mini-chefs cooking up a storm with @chefpaulrankin @GreatJohnStreet tonight #rankinchallenge pic.twitter.com/xTBRZZiQ6w
— Jago Communications (@JagoComms) October 15, 2015
Had a fab evening with @chefpaulrankin what a lovely guy and the best sausages ever. Thank you. #saveoursausage @tots100
— Steffany Berry (@ohsosteffany) October 15, 2015
Budding young chefs aged 4-12 are being encouraged to devise their own recipe using the new sausage in a competition to be crowned the UK’s Rankin Mini-Chef.
Over the course of Thursday and Friday, Rankin was on hand to lend recipe hints and cooking tips all while cooking up a sausage storm of his own before the UK roadshow moved onto Liverpool and Glasgow over the weekend.
Entries for the competition must be submitted by November 6 when nine regional winners – who will each have their recipe showcased on the chef’s website – and one overall champion will be crowned.
The overall winner’s prize includes return flights and two nights’ accommodation in Belfast for the winner and their family, plus a Paul Rankin family cookery class and family entry to the Titanic Belfast visitor experience.
Full competition terms and conditions and how to enter can be found online.
Images courtesy of Jago Communications, with thanks
