The Chef
Tony O'Neill, Black Horse head chef started cooking at the Black Horse when it first opened after being approached by owner Bob Fountain.
Tony claims to have always loved cooking and discovered his talent when he started making coffee ice cubes at the age of seven. He took a part time job in a care home at the age of 15 where he got his first taste of life in the kitchen. After this, Tony trained to be a chef, doing his City and Guilds and NVQ qualifications. He spent several years working in kitchens across the North East including a spell as executive head chef at Beamish Hall. Tony spends most of his free time fishing and lives in Ebchester with his wife and their two children, Molly and Matthew.
Tony always uses fresh ingredients grown in the fields behind the Black Horse.
"We're a very unusual pub in that we use all our own herbs and vegetables. We grow 19 different varieties of apples, five varieties of potatoes and 20 types of herbs. We're really aiming to have the best kitchen garden in the North East and it's really inspiring to be able to serve food when you know that all of the ingredients have been grown here."
Tony thinks that the North East restaurant scene has improved enormously since he started working but he still feels that many other restaurants in the area lack the same dedication to fresh local produce.
"I'm not a fan of fast food and I don't like eating food when I don't know where it has come from. Since the refurbishment Tony has seen dreams realised: The Black Horse now has a full time gardner who is tending the crops you see outside the windows in our dining room. The selection of produce that we grow has increased significantly so we now have a good variety of seasonal produce. The aim is to create a pub which is almost completely self-sufficient so our customers know exactly what they are eating."
Tony claims to have always loved cooking and discovered his talent when he started making coffee ice cubes at the age of seven. He took a part time job in a care home at the age of 15 where he got his first taste of life in the kitchen. After this, Tony trained to be a chef, doing his City and Guilds and NVQ qualifications. He spent several years working in kitchens across the North East including a spell as executive head chef at Beamish Hall. Tony spends most of his free time fishing and lives in Ebchester with his wife and their two children, Molly and Matthew.
Tony always uses fresh ingredients grown in the fields behind the Black Horse.
"We're a very unusual pub in that we use all our own herbs and vegetables. We grow 19 different varieties of apples, five varieties of potatoes and 20 types of herbs. We're really aiming to have the best kitchen garden in the North East and it's really inspiring to be able to serve food when you know that all of the ingredients have been grown here."
Tony thinks that the North East restaurant scene has improved enormously since he started working but he still feels that many other restaurants in the area lack the same dedication to fresh local produce.
"I'm not a fan of fast food and I don't like eating food when I don't know where it has come from. Since the refurbishment Tony has seen dreams realised: The Black Horse now has a full time gardner who is tending the crops you see outside the windows in our dining room. The selection of produce that we grow has increased significantly so we now have a good variety of seasonal produce. The aim is to create a pub which is almost completely self-sufficient so our customers know exactly what they are eating."
Tony has shared some of his cooking tips for Black Horse guests
When you ask your butcher for pork steak make sure to ask for pork loin steak butterfly. Ask the butcher to cut it from the opposite end to the ribs so that you get a nice lean cut.Always remember when warming or boiling milk to run a little hot water around the bottom of the sauce pan. This stops the milk from sticking.
When mixing melted butter and flour to make cheese sauce, ensure you stir until mixture starts to leave the side of the pan to form a paste, before gradually adding milk and stirring vigorously. This will prevent lumps in the sauce.
If unsure your pork is cooked, check centre of the pork dish using a temperature probe. The temperature should be 64 degrees or over.
