Five of the Best

“Our planet is precious, we don’t own it, we share it with a myriad of different creatures and living organisms.

We have a responsibility to protect it for future generations. We are the custodians of the future.”

The words and dedication of Rick Sheepshanks – Founder, MD, and Ketchup-Lover.Available in most, good, Fish & Chip shops (and cafes including Waitrose and Booths) and to valued customers in the online shop next year, our sachets are now fully recyclable too.

OUR ETHICAL CHALLENGE

Since Stokes began creating amazing ketchup, mayonnaise and sauces 21 years ago, quality and authenticity have been our fundamental goals – to provide great taste, without compromise.

Our glass bottles and jars are stylish and distinctive, reflecting the quality of what they contain. Plus, they are re-usable and fully recyclable.By popular demand (and years of research), we now use plastic, squeezable family-sized bottles that are 100% recyclable.

It has been a tough journey, finding and fitting the pieces of a box-less jigsaw puzzle, but worth it to support our environmental drive to deliver a ‘zero landfill’ policy.Finally, after much searching for like-minded suppliers, recyclable sachets are here.

They are so easy to open, with bigger ‘real world’ portions (so you only need 1 instead of 3) of the same fantastic bottled sauces … and, they are of course now recyclable.

The last piece of the jigsaw.Read more in our ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITY page.

AGE TEST:

What era are you? Famous Five, or Fantastic 5?

Julian, George, Dick, Anne and Timmy (the dog) – by Enid Blyton.

OR:

Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, the Thing, and Spider-Man – from Marvel Comics.

Meet OUR Fantastic 5, in the form of these recipes and seriously tasty tips:Chef, Andy uses our Real Brown Sauce in his Slow-cooked Beef Pie RECIPE. It adds true depth of flavour to complement the slow cooking of the beef.

A spicy depth from the combination of Persian spices and bountiful date sweetness make this a very ‘grownup’ Brown Sauce.Just imagine what it adds to a bacon butty. So good, you don’t even need the bacon.

Let’s move on to Rick’s special creation – Real Tomato Ketchup.So thick and full of natural flavour, our award-winning ketchup is packed with plump, sweet tomatoes that have ripened beneath the Mediterranean sunshine, where a longer growing season maintains the continuity of quality and taste we need.

We gently simmer a massive 200g of these beautiful tomatoes, reduced into every 100g of glorious ketchup.Friend and contributor, Dave, created this special Chilli Beans RECIPE. He uses a combination of our Real Tomato Ketchup and Chilli Ketchup to the assorted beans for massive flavour.

On now to Real (and we mean REAL) ‘Real’ Mayonnaise.Pint of Prawns & Real Mayonnaise

A joyous evening treat, peeling prawns and dunking them in the finest mayo – amayonnaising!

TIP: try finely chopping some fresh coriander and stirring it into the mayo – it’s beautiful.

At the heart of our Real Mayonnaise is the egg – British free-range whole eggs, no less. We use an impressive 12% (more than anyone else we know), to create a rich and authentic flavour.

Combined with a drizzle of Mediterranean extra virgin olive oil, this recipe delivers a truly luxurious, velvety finish that’s more than a cut above the rest.

Where now? Yes, Original BBQ Sauce. Winter BBQ Steak.

We may be plunging rapidly into the depth of a wet winter, but that doesn’t mean you have to hibernate your BBQ taste buds.

All our BBQ Sauces make superb marinades as well as sauces to add before grilling, or pour into a bowl for essential dipping.

So, coat your steak(s) in BBQ Sauce and let it rest for half an hour before cooking it to your liking. Rest, slice, serve with that ‘umami‘ finish from its sweet, thick, smoky marinate.

TIP: slicing your steaks this way makes them go further, particularly served with fluffy baked potatoes.

Finally – Tartare without the Tart – Stokes Tartare Sauce.The best things in life are so often the simplest things in life.

Our Tartare Sauce is a smooth, creamy sauce, jam-packed with coarsely-chopped gherkins and capers – tartare without the ‘tart’.‘Posh’ Fishfinger Sandwiches

Cook the fingers (or fish goujons) to a crispy crust around a juicy fishy centre. On buttered white bread, spread a layer of Stokes Tartare Sauce.

Lay the fingers on the tartare and a good layer of minted, crushed peas on top.

TIP: gently cook frozen petits pois in butter. Drain, crush and stir in a little of our sweet garden Mint Sauce, and season to taste.

You won’t believe how good this is until you try it.

Back to Kirrin Cottage

by Enid Blyton.

One fine day, right at the beginning of the Easter holidays, four children and a dog travelled by train together.

‘Soon be there now,’ said Julian, a tall strong boy, with a determined face.

‘Woof,’ said Timothy the dog, getting excited, and trying to look out of the window too.

‘Get down, Tim,’ said Julian. ‘Let Anne have a look.’

Anne was his younger sister. She put her head out of the window. ‘We’re coming into Kirrin Station!’ she said. ‘I do hope Aunt Fanny will be there to meet us.’

‘Of course she will!’ said Georgina, her cousin. She looked more like a boy than a girl, for she wore her hair very short, and it curled close about her head. She too had a determined face, like Julian. She pushed Anne away and looked out of the window.

‘It’s nice to be going home,’ she said. ‘I love school – but it will be fun to be at Kirrin Cottage and perhaps sail out to Kirrin Island and visit the castle there. We haven’t been since last summer.’

‘Dick’s turn to look out now,’ said Julian, turning to his younger brother, a boy with a pleasant face, sitting reading in a corner. ‘We’re just coming into sight of Kirrin, Dick. Can’t you stop reading for a second?’