Grassington House

Having grown up around restaurants and pubs, John was inspired by his older brother who worked in the trade. John trained at Craven College and retains his links there now, inspiring new students to share in his passion for the business.

After college. John spent 22 years working in some iconic restaurants, including the Old Swan at Harrogate (his first job), the Chester Grosvenor, and alongside Denis Watkins at The Angel, Hetton. Having won several awards along the way, including three times Chef of the Year in the North West, John yearned for his own restaurant and to return to ‘God’s own county’.

When Grassington House came on the market in 2008 John and his wife Sue knew this was the opportunity of a lifetime to create their own destination dining establishment in the Dales – a perfect place to live and work. At that time the small hotel had four employees. Five years on, the Ruddens have 22 staff and the reputation of John’s cooking is well known.

His Yorkshire wit and cheeky smile simply add to the attraction of the place.

While natural warm hospitality, sheer hard graft in renovating, constantly improving standards, and attaining accolades are the key ingredients to their success, John attributes the secret of being a good chef to having an appreciation and respect for the produce he works with.

“I don’t believe in over complicating food – the taste and texture of the food should speak for itself”, he said.

As part of ensuring he offers nothing but the best, John has flung himself into the “field to fork” philosophy, from raising his own rare-breed pigs for everything from breakfast bacon through to hog roasts and his famous “assiette of pork”. He also works with celebrity Chris Bax to champion wild foraging.

Other celebrity diners who have enjoyed John’s cooking include Brian May, Paul Scholes, Jack Dee, The Goodies, Jools Holland and, of course, The Calendar Girls.

Broughton Hall has discovered John, with Grassington House Outside regularly catering for functions at the estate and his views sought on the re-design of the kitchen.

Sharing his passion for cooking comes naturally to John whose regular masterclasses provide an entertaining opportunity to learn valuable insights into producing restaurant standard food at home.

Rag pudding

Ingredients:
Serves 4
1 lb beef fillet
2 lb feather skirt trimmed
1 lb carrots – for puree
6 shallots torpedo chopped
½ pint beef jus
250 ml red wine
3 pints beef stock
Mirepoix, thyme, bay leaf, garlic
50g butter
Suet Pastry
½ lb Atora
1 lb SR Flour
Water to bind (Cold)
Salt & Pepper
Braised Savoy cabbage
½ Savoy cabbage, sliced fine
1 shallot chopped
50g butter
Salt & pepper
Picked thyme

Method:
Season and seal skirt in a hot pan
Brown mirepoix add thyme, bay leaf and garlic. Add 100ml red wine – reduce.
Add skirt and beef stock, bring to simmer, cook covered for 5 hours until tender, cool – reduce cooking liquor. 
In a pan sweat 1 onion, add the reduced cooking liquor.  Add skirt, season and place to one side. Roll into a sausage in cling film and refrigerate.
Make suet pastry, roll out to wrap the skirt sausage. Remove skirt from cling film – wrap in suet then double wrap in cling and tin foil, steam or poach for one hour.
Serve hot or cool slice and reheat

Carrot Puree
Peel carrots, cover with water, salt and 50g butter. Bring to boil and cook until soft, reduce the cooking liquor. Puree, pass through fine chinois season and pass.  Keep warm.

Braised Savoy cabbage
Sweat shallots in butter. Add cabbage, season. Cover and cook until tender. Add thyme leaves.

Red Wine Shallots
Cover the chopped shallots with red wine. Cover with a lid, cook and reduce until all the wine has been reduced.

To Serve:
Season and seal beef fillet
Cook beef fillet on a wire rack to 40” in  an oven at 160. Rest.
Heat the jus add red wine shallots. Warm rag pudding. Warm cabbage & carrot puree. Dress the plate, carve the beef add sauce.