I often get asked what makes a good Hog Roast!

Well in my opinion the ingredients, the drink and obviously the weather! We cater all over the South of England but already this year we have roasted more than 20 pigs, 5 lambs and served huge amounts of Sausages, Burgers, Steaks and Chickens.

We recently catered at our exclusive venue Eastland’s Estate where the bride and groom wanted a Hog Roast. We needed to cook 2 pigs for this event as there were 130 guests attending and a pig can feed around 60 guests comfortably.

The Hog

The pig comes prepared from our local butcher (Swandean Meats) and then we get the task of inserting a pole through the middle of it and putting all the clamps and braces on the pig to hold it in place when it cooks on the spit, this is a very important part of the preparation as if the pig is not on the pole properly it can split or come off when cooking and cause all kinds of problems!

We then rub the pig with water and salt to keep it moist and stop the pig from drying out and burning, we also score the meat in certain places, the belly, legs and shoulders to help crackle the skin.

The pig is then put onto the machine, these vary most of the modern ones have motors on them that turn the pig as it cooks. We hire our machines in from Classic Event Hire based in Rustington, Phil and Wayne are great guys and the they have invested in brand new machines this year…. they even have wheels on them so you can pull the machine around with ease!

the average cooking time is 6 hours depending on size, some larger pigs can take longer, I believe its always best to cook a little longer if unsure then be under cooked as RAW PORK is defiantly not good! we test by inserting a knife into the back legs and pushing it right in and then touching the tip of the knife to make sure its hot, if so then its cooked.

You are then ready to carve the pig, ideally if you can leave it for about an hour then the meat will rest and stay very moist as the juices are setting as the meat cools slightly….!!

We serve our hogs with Home Made Apple Sauce and Stuffing in a Bap with lots of exciting salads, chutneys and pickles…. perfect for that party or corporate entertaining

If you are looking for a Hog Roast then please get in touch, you will not be disappointed!

Leading Sussex based law firm Bennett Griffin wanted to celebrate their 18th year in business with a party… so they got us involved at Red Anywhere

The brief was first to find a venue in the Worthing area and then propose a day of Food, Drink and Entertainment which to us at Red was not a problem.

We decided on the venue which was the beautiful Highdown Vineyard in Ferring near Worthing, Karin the owner was a delight to work with and were pleased that such a local firm were coming to the winery and would also get the chance to taste some of Highdown’s award winning English Wine…. which was lovely!

We then started with non alcoholic cocktails which included our own Red’s Lemonade and a Peach Cobbler, they both went down very well! The staff then tucked into a light lunch of Posh Open Sandwiches, Breads, Olives and Tomatoes before going into their AGM.

There were around 50 staff for the day event and then another 75 clients that had been invited for an evening get together with more cocktails which we created for the day, Bennett Breeze and the Griffin Sour both went done very well…. ask the partners!

The evening food was a mixture of a Classic Hog Roast with Apple Sauce and Baps and a BBQ which had Peppered Steaks, Cumberland Sausages and Homemade burgers which were all accompanied by a Salad Bar and lots of pickles, relishes and Chutneys.

Dessert was my famous Summer Berry Pavlova using local strawberries and raspberries and all this accompanied by a light passion fruit sauce a true summer pud!

Later in the evening we had music from 2 local DJ’s Mis Judged and Fraggle Rock who mixed some old classics and some funky recent songs which got people up and dancing whilst enjoying the surroundings of the vineyard.

it was a great event for Red Anywhere with so many local business people attending and a real delight to work with such a prominent local firm who have offices all over Sussex including Worthing, Ferring & Rustington.

Also a big thank you from me and all at Red for Claire Loves help who runs the highly successful Local Web Solutions based in Rustington who acts on behalf of Bennett Griffin with all there marketing and website presence.

If you are looking for a corporate event with a twist then there is no else but us who can deliver…. that’s a promise!

Dan Clarke

Creative Chef

Red Anywhere cater for R and B Singer Jamelia & Footballer Darren Byfields Wedding!

The big day was Eastland’s Estate in West Sussex where Red Anywhere are the exclusive caterers. Jamelia and Darren chose to have a very private day with lots of close friends and family invited.

Dan Clarke - Creative Chef was given the task of creating a sumptuous menu for both Jamelia and Darren which included most of their favourite foods!

After the Ceremony the bar team at Red created a bespoke cocktail called The “JD” which did not include Jack Daniels…. but it did include Grey Goose Citrus Vodka, Malibu, Vanilla, Pineapple Juice and Fresh Lime, this was served to all the guests while they gathered on the lawns in front of Eastland’s House.

The guests were then invited into the marquee and sat down to a 4 Course meal…..

To Start - Seared Scallops, Tempura Calamari, Slow Roasted Vine Tomatoes, Tartar Sauce

Main Course - Rump of New Season Lamb, Mint Mash, Fine Ratatouille & a light Balsamic and Thyme Sauce

Bowls of Green Beans and Baby Corn were served on each table

Dessert - Home Made Glazed Lemon Tart, Fresh Raspberries and Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream, Apple Crumble with Vanilla Custard

Coffee and Home Made Fudge

Dan commented on the menu saying “These dishes you would expect to see in a high class restaurant!, producing it for a large amount of guests was intense but very rewarding! The dessert was especially nice as I created this especially for Jamelia and Darren!