AN AWARD-winning pub and restaurant is to appear in a TV series promoting northern food.
The Star @ Sancton will be featured in an upcoming episode of The Great Northern Cookbook, a new show on Channel 5.
The series, which is aired at 7pm on Thursdays, follows former Coronation Street star Sean Wilson on a culinary tour of the north.
He called in at The Star @ Sancton, near Market Weighton, after hearing owner and head chef Ben Cox holds The Yorkshire Pudding Champion title.
Mr Cox said: "We were surprised but delighted when we heard Sean would be visiting as part of the new Great Northern Cookbook series.
"The series is all about the gastronomic delights of the north of England and the Yorkshire pudding is definitely up there with the best of them."
Mr Cox has won the Yorkshire Pudding Championship for the past two years in cook-offs against three other top chefs.
Their puddings were sampled and judged by a panel of food writers and experts.
When he visited The Star, Mr Wilson arranged a cook-off of his own. He tackled Mr Cox and another chef from York.
Sean chose a Mrs Beeton recipe, while The Star's chef stuck to his own tried-and- tested formula.
Mr Cox said: "I was originally invited to enter the Yorkshire pudding contest by the organisers and thought it sounded like fun, but, after winning two years in a row, word of our Yorkshire puddings has spread.
"We even had the BBC Countryfile team here last year to find out how to make the perfect Yorkshire pudding."
On Countryfile, Mr Cox was pitted against farmer's wife Mary Rook, who used an old family recipe, and Jonathan Edwards, of the Royal College of Chemistry.
It was a battle of science and tradition.
Mrs Rook, of Market Weight- on, said: "We regularly visit Ben's restaurant and he invited me to take part in the show.
"I enjoy cooking and pride myself in my Yorkshire puddings.
"My mother is a fantastic cook so I use her traditional recipe, which has been used by the family for as long as I can remember."
The Star @ Sancton won the best restaurant and best pub categories in last year's Remarkable East Yorkshire Tourism Awards.
Visit www.thestaratsancton. co.uk to find out more.
