Meet Joe, Head Chef at Cottons Hotel & Spa, Knutsford, Cheshire showcasing his signature dish “Celebration of Beef”. A rich, warming and traditional dish with plenty of flavour.

Cottons Hotel & Spa is situated just outside of the historic town of Knutsford. Joe Liptrot joined the House of Daniel Thwaites Hotel Collection three years ago and led the Cottons Hotel kitchen team for over a year. Joe’s experience within brand and independent hotels such as Marco Pierre White at the Hilton Doubletree, Jean Cristophe Novelli’s restaurant in Spain and with Scottish Hotel chain Macdonald Hotels, Joe deliveries an eclectic choice for the guests across all of the hotels menus. Today, Joe brings a new influence to the restaurant meaning a creative and exciting array of flavours.  With 11 years’ experience in high volume and quality establishments, Joe understands how to lead a team to deliver a rosette standard kitchen juggling the ever changing guest preferences whilst coaching and mentoring his team. Joe’s style of cooking is all about seasonality and simplicity, trying to get the best out of the produce available, whilst also coming up with flavours and dishes many of the guests may of never seen or imagined before. This creates an exciting menu to read and taste buds tingling. The current Spring menu takes inspiration from Italy, where it’s all about great quality ingredients, cooked simply to allow the flavours and textures to be the heroes of the dish.

Joe says, “Without the strong kitchen team I have here we wouldn’t be able to deliver, I praise my full team! A kitchen team is a family. We rely on team work to orchestrate each and every dish with a sophisticated and knowledgeable level of service delivered by our front of house restaurant team creating a memorable dining experience for our hotel guests as well as our local following from the surrounding villages and towns of Knutsford.

I feel my “Celebration of Beef” showcases, one of my favourite meats; beef, in three different ways, all cooked in different style meaning a nice complex range of textures and flavours that really work well – creating the overall “Celebration” of a modern and original dish busting with flavour.” 

Cottons Hotel & Spa  Manchester Road, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 0SU

t: 01565 650333  e: reception@cottonshotel.co.uk

Chef’s Recipe

A Celebration of Beef

A dish of braised ox cheek, ox tail bone marrow, char-grilled fillet, carrot puree, rainbow carrots, confit smoked garlic, nutmeg, spinach & braising liquor reduction. 

Ingredients

300g per person - ox cheek, 200g carrots , 175g per person - fillet steak, 3 white onion , 1 banana shallot , 10g thyme , 300g  ox tail , 300g bone marrow - including the bones itself, 1 garlic bulb , 200ml vegetable stock , 100ml cream , 300ml red wine , 300ml beef stock.

Method

• Bone marrow can be sourced from your local butcher - steam & scrape out the flesh. Chef  uses a great local Cheshire butcher. 

•  Braise the ox tail and ox cheeks for 6 hours in beef stock and vegetables of choice, Chef tends to use, carrots, onions, leaks, garlic &  thyme, then pick off the meat and mix with  bone marrow. 

•  For the fillet, simple pan fry until all sides are  golden over 180 degrees for 6 minutes and  leave to rest for 5-6 minutes then slice. This is  for a medium-rare cook. It is suggested to cook for 2 minutes longer for a medium cook. 

•  To make the carrot puree slice 100g of  carrots, 1 garlic clove and half a white onion,  add to a pan, sweat off then cover with the  vegetable stock and add a dash of cream.  Leave to simmer for 30 minutes on stove then  when all the vegetables are soft blitz in a  blender adding salt and pepper to taste and  then finally pass the puree through a fine sieve. 

•  For the confit garlic add a whole garlic bulb  to a pan covered in vegetable oil on a low  heat for 30 minutes, keeping an eye on them.  Take out of the oil and leave to cool. Once  cooled pop the garlic cloves out. 

•  For the red wine jus take shallot, garlic, bay  leaves, sweat off and add the red wine and  reduce to a syrup by boiling until nice and  thick, then add the braising liquor from the ox  tail and the ox cheeks and reduce right down  to the right consistency of your preference,  Chef likes a thick constancy for a nice covering  of gravy. Chefs hint is to add a nob of butter  to thicken slightly and also gives a nice shiny  colour to the jus. 

•  Build together with pride. Stacking the  individual pieces around your plate, finish with  the jus and add the vegetables. A nice glass of  merlot makes accompanies this dish perfectly.  Enjoy!