Hog Roast Chelmsford

Chelmsford had been a village since well before 1199. It was given a Charter then for a weekly market and in 1201, for an annual fair. Through the early years of Chelmsford's existence, it made its way by the manufacture of leather goods, keeping tanners and skinners in business. As well, wool proved a prosperous mainstay of life as it did for many southern towns of its day. Drapers and dealers in fine cloth were commonplace in the village. By the 18th century, it was mostly an agricultural area and in 1843, the railway came to Chelmsford, bringing with it inevitable growth and change. In 1899 Marconi set up his first radio factory in Chelmsford.

Chelmsford's history and size has expanded greatly throughout the millennia and in 2012, it was given City status. There was much jubilation in this and the town's council decided to throw a huge party in conjunction with the Queen's Jubilee celebrations.

And, as a hog roast caterer, I was asked to cater at this exciting and happy event. With a population of 121,195 at the beginning of this most auspicious year, I had in mind that this event might just be a very busy one!

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I opted, therefore, to bring my Zeus hog roaster into use for hog roast Chelmsford. The Spitting Pig Company manufacture some pretty useful, and pretty amazing machines for hog roasting. The Zeus is just one of them. The Zeus is a workhorse with many fine features. Not the least of which is its optional spit attachment geared toward roasting as many as 35 chickens at a time! It's a lightweight machine with easy manoeuvrability combined with being easy to use and easy to clean. I decided, for this event, to roast a number of chickens as well as strips of lamb and beef. This gave people the option of trying all different sorts of flavours, while still enjoying the fantastic benefits of roasted meats. Roasting meats on a spit makes it a healthier option as the fats drip from the meat onto a tray. As well, the meat remains moist and tender and cooks to perfection every time.

On this occasion, I called upon the hog roast hire Chelmsford services of The Spitting Pig Company as I felt that it would be good to have serving staff available as well as offering a variety of fresh, organic salads. And this is something The Spitting Pig are happily able to provide. The advantage, to me, of opting for their hog roast hire Chelmsford package is that having serving staff on site allows me to spend more of my time concentrating on getting the different cuts of meat just right and all ready to serve at the same time.

I racked up the chickens whole, and prepared the lamb and beef with the proper seasonings. For the chickens I used a basic tarragon and lemon rub which included salt and olive oil. These last two ingredients assure me that the skin will be crispy, which to my experience, is just as popular a feature as crackling is on pork. We then concentrated on preparing the large wooden picnic tables, again, under a marquee; and went on to prepare the serving area with cutlery, plates, and a variety of condiments and salads, chosen specially to compliment the meat being roasted.

When the meat was ready, I was easily able to carve pieces to order, and hand the plates off to The Spitting Pig's staff. They then put together plates of sandwiches and salads for people on a per-order basis. This method of serving also keeps the line running smoothly and creates less of a delay for those hungry folk in line.

At the end of the day, my Zeus hog roasting machine was still attracting a good amount of attention from people interested in the cooking process as well as the cost of the machine. Currently, hog roasting as a means of feeding large crowds seems to be growing in popularity and I reckon this is mostly down to the ease with which the meat cooks. It also satisfies the caveman in most of us, too. As I said before, it's a healthy option as well as a surprisingly inexpensive one.

I count hog roast Chelmsford as a success. It's down to the most basic of business formulas, really. If you serve quality, affordable food, you end up with happy, satisfied customers who are likely to come back for more.