11-year-old’s pasties are hit on pub menu
AN 11-year-old celebrity chef has earned his school £376 by designing a meal which became a top seller at a popular village pub.
William Etheridge’s new take on Cornish pasties resulted in more than 180 customers ordering the dish at The Green Man pub in Hurst.
The pasty recipe won the pub’s competition run for year six pupils at St Nicholas Primary, Hurst.
Pub manager Anthony Rudd said: “The task was to design a dish not already on our menu. The children came up with such amazing ideas it took two or three days to decide a winner.
“They had to write out the recipe and cooking method. Some drew pictures.
“William put his own twist on a Cornish pasty by including courgettes and butternut squash. He thought a bit outside the box. We sell English food in an English pub. His pasty filled that brief.
“Once we had made the pasties we asked William and his family to test them and they were pleased. We gave the school £2 from every pasty sold.
“We hope to run another competition for the school, possibly to design a pizza. We aim to support our local community.”
William, from School Road, Hurst and now at the Piggott School, Wargrave, enjoys cooking at home.
His mum Philippa said: “He’s keen: he likes making curries and chilli con carne. And he loves pasties. He ate lots from a pasty shop on holiday in Swanage.
“I think that was his inspiration.
“When he won the competition, we passed the word round and lots of the family and other people bought them. We kept getting texts saying ‘We’re in the Green Man eating William’s pasties’.”
St Nicholas’s delighted headteacher, Debs McGrail, said the money raised would buy cookery equipment for the school’s new food technology area.