Inspiration

A chef’s guide to Yorkshire by Sam Varley

Sawday's Expert

5 min read

We asked chef and owner of The Owl at Hawnby, Sam Varley to tell us about his approach to cooking and where he goes for the best of Yorkshire’s food and drink when he’s not making marvelous meals for others.

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I grew up in West Yorkshire, just outside Holmfirth. The food scene in Holmfirth wasn’t great growing up, but my family ate well and cared about the sort of food we were eating. My mum would take advantage of the very good monthly farmers market in town. There are still some very good butchers in the area, that make their own black pudding and hams.

I live on the Hawnby estate, just round the corner from The Owl, but I’ve lived in Ryedale for four years now. Having two young kids, it’s been fantastic living so close to the pub. The days are long, and being able to pop home for an hour here and there to see the kids is a real treat. As for the estate itself, the natural beauty is ridiculous. It’s one of the prettiest villages I’ve ever been to, let alone lived in. There is a bounty of natural produce to forage, and it’s a working estate so there’s a community of farmers. It feels lived in.

My main principle for food is that flavour comes before anything. That means sourcing the best quality products, but also not watering it down with overly complicated techniques, overcrowding dishes with loads of elements, or faffing about with silly presentation. This simplicity also means there’s nowhere to hide, so everything has to be cooked correctly. A peashoot should only be put on a dish if you want to taste the flavour of peas!

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Where to eat (apart from The Owl, of course!)

In Slaithwaite, there’s Anello Pizza – really high-quality pizzas, with some excellent small plates. They have their own garden as well, so the vegetables they use are high quality. Secondly, there are lots of good curry places, but a personal favourite is Mughals Sweet Centre in Bradford. The curries are excellent, fresh and well-made, the fried starters, kebabs and breads are brilliant, and their Ras Malai is sensational when available.

Finally, Homestead Goathland, a really great small, seasonal restaurant. They too grow a lot of their own vegetables, which helps direct what the kitchen produces. Owners, Pete & Shane have a wealth of experience and it shows in the dishes they produce.

What to eat

If you need any greens for your own cooking, head to Newfields Organics in Fadmoor. They have an honesty veg shop that sells produce from a nearby organic farm, like amazing cabbages and kale, peas and broad beans when in season. It sounds cliche, but you can taste the difference.

Slightly less greens-based is Bothams of Whitby in Pickering. Two items in particular to look out for here are the pork pies, which are incredible, with chunks of pork shoulder and a proper bit of jelly, as well as the Stotties, which are a traditional bread roll from the northeast. Eat them on the day, they go stale real quick.

Over in Masham, you find a town still driven by industry, and that industry is brewing. Theakston’s has been there for hundreds of years, and much of the machinery used to make the beer is the original stuff. The beer itself is excellent. We have their Best Bitter on at the pub, which is a great session beer and sometimes Old Peculiar, which is a stronger, more full-on pint. Delicious, but take caution on how many you have!

Where to drink

I sat down to list three pubs in the area I like, but I had to list four. We’ll start with The Nook in Holmfirth. It’s actually called the Rose & Crown, but to anyone in Holmfirth it’s known as The Nook. It’s hidden away down a cobbled lane, has its own microbrewery and an excellent jukebox. It was where I first started drinking, but it is a favourite with all generations of drinkers, from all walks of life. Perfect for a quite pint or two on your own in the afternoon, but it gets pretty rowdy on weekend evenings!

Second is The Sun Inn, in Pickering. A great small pub, well used by the community. It doesn’t do food, which I love in a pub, but they allow you to bring in a takeaway sometimes and there’s always something on, be it a lively quiz, live music, someone playing records on a gramophone, or dominos. A ‘proper’ pub.

Third, Birch Hall, in Beck Hole. A tiny pub/store hybrid. It feels unchanged in about 50 years and has a lovely outdoor area next to the river. Not much food on offer, but the pork pies with homemade chutney go perfectly with their own beer, ‘Beckwatter’.

And the one I couldn’t leave out, The Sair (The Sow). It’s an almost perfect Yorkshire pub, tucked away up a cobbled line on the side of a very steep hill, surrounded by dark, satanic mills. Best enjoyed on a dark, rainy November night, it’s an absolute gem. It only serves beer but offers several different small rooms, each with a roaring fire or a wood-burning stove. Once again, it has that all-important quality of being able to welcome young and old alike, locals and new visitors, and also being one of those places where extraordinary things happen. It underlines why pubs are still so important in northern societies – it’s where we meet up, share stories and drink pints.

Other than food and drink…

There’s so many innovative creative people and so much going on around here all the time. In Botton Village, there’s a bakery and Café/shop run by the community in order to offer supported living to adults with learning disabilities and complex needs. The village is beautifully situated too – you can walk straight out onto the moors.

There’s also The Flower Belt, a pick-your-own flower field just outside Helmsley. There is a hut there that does really good coffee, and in summer, decent pizzas. They also do pick your own pumpkins in autumn, so it’s a lovely place to drop in at any time of year.

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Christopher Wilson-Elmes

Sawday's Expert

Chris is our in-house copywriter, with a flair for turning rough notes and travel tales into enticing articles. Raised in a tiny Wiltshire village, he was desperate to travel and has backpacked all over the world. Closer to home, he finds himself happiest in the most remote and rural places he can find, preferably with a host of animals to speak to, some waves to be smashed about in and the promise of a good pint somewhere in his future.

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