More than 350 chefs were given an insight into curing bacon and ham in a presentation by the British Pig Executive (BPEX). As part of the two-day Skills for Chefs event BPEX staged a display of home-cured bacons and hams to show the versatility of pork from around the UK.

Foodservice Develoment Manager Richard Fagan joined forces with Butchery Specialist Viv Harvey for the demonstration at the Octagon Centre, University of Sheffield. The event attracted chefs from all fields, from the corner café to top restaurants. Richard and Viv gave a presentation on home curing British pork. They also highlighted how the Pork Quality Standard Mark could be used on menus to improve customer confidence and assurance.

Richard said: "The demonstration went down a treat and to follow up on the presentation, samples of roasted cured bacon formed part of the buffet lunch. It proved so popular we weren't even able to get any of the samples ourselves!

The team had made collar, belly and back bacons using traditional, sweet and smoke dry cures with the assistance of Lucas ingredients. Richard said: "The chefs were enthused at the possibilities we demonstrated and we were inundated with requests for more information on the process involved in producing the bacons."

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