This is my all-time favourite death-row meal, big, strong flavours, says. As always, I’d only ever use Ken Webb’s beef from just down the road at Cheadle Farm in Lower Peover for both my restaurants, The Belle Epoque, in Knutsford, Cheshire and the Duke of Portland, in Lach Dennis. This is proper beef dry-hung for tenderness and flavour. It is worth searching farmers' markets and high streets in your locale for someone like Ken. To accompany the beef, it has to be Cheshire new potatoes from Pete Moseley’s farm from Allostock. A fully trimmed fillet actually contains very little fat, lots of protein, buckets of iron, no fat in the beef tea or the new potatoes, unless you drown them in gorgeous farmhouse butter!

This dish sums up where we in England rank in the world of food at the moment. It is apparent that, at last, we’re getting the confidence to cook to our own agenda, no longer slavishly following the rigid rules of high French gastronomy which, let's be honest, is proving a real noose around the necks of the upcoming French chefs. As our young people travel all over the world, as we constantly embrace the culinary end of multi-culturalism, we have a massive spectrum of influences, without a rigid path to follow, that can make us an influential force in the world of cooking.

Let me leave you with this thought that if nothing else you’ll all remember: ‘‘you can’t make chicken soup from chicken poop!’’

Serves 6

6 x 150g fillet steaks
750grams diced shin beef
200g fresh horseradish
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
½ bottle red wine
Small bunch thyme
2 litres fresh beef stock
Salt & pepper

This is a very special meal, so needs a bit of planning, but well worth it. A couple of days ahead start the gravy; seal the shin beef in hot oil, season and place in a medium saucepan. Put in horseradish, red wine, onion, garlic, thyme and stock and bring to the boil, and then simmer for at least 8 hours until beef is almost falling apart. Strain the sauce off. When the beef is cool enough to handle, shred and keep to one side. Refrigerate sauce overnight, until fat rises to the surface and hardens. Remove fat. Bring sauce to boil, check seasoning put in shredded shin beef. Cook fillet to your liking

Potatoes
For all our tuber needs we only use potatoes from Peter Moseley in nearby Allostock. From brilliant Maris for all our chips, to that fantastic time in early Summer when the little new season Cheshire come through, pure heaven! A million times better than any other new potato. If you drive the 5 miles between the Duke and the Belle, through the glorious back lanes, you’ll pass some of Pete’s fields.

Wine Choice:
An Italian wine would go perfectly with this dish. Try to choose something that can match up to the big flavours of the ingredients yet not overpower the dish. A good Chianti (Poggiano 2004), a Barolo (Bricco Fontanille Veglio 2002) would be superb or a Brunello di Montalcino (Villa la Preta 2002) would be a match made in heaven! Wines from Nigel Wilkinson at Rodney Densem Wines, in Nantwich, Cheshire (01270 626999).

The Manchester Food & Drink Festival runs from 5-15 October with offers in hundreds of restaurants, bars and cafes as well as outdoor events across the City and region. Highlights include a Real Food Fair at Whitworth Art Gallery, the "Taste, Dine and Learn Pavilion on Albert Square" (with more than 40 chefs performing) and a huge local producers market on St Ann’s Square. For a full list of events please visit www.foodanddrinkfestival.com

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