As a Texan, Rachael Minton-Bailey knows how BBQ’d and smoked food should be cooked, which is why she is the chief taster at The Fire Sprite and Grill in Minster Lovell, (the former Horse & Radish) having taken over the pub with her husband Nigel earlier this year.
Which is why we find her eating an eating a bowl of beer cheese when we arrive, said cheese accompanying the home made pretzel on the snack menu. “It’s got to be done right,” Rachel smiles.
Cue new head chef Paul Holden who is getting to grips with the intricacies of a typical Houston menu, as passed onto Rachel, generation after generation.
‘we had to buy a bigger smoker to keep up with demand’
Paul has an impressive CV of his own, having worked at Le Manoir, a top restaurant in Brisbane and opened Wilding in Little Clarendon Street. But he wanted to try something a bit different and expand his culinary horizons, so when the position came up at The Fire Sprite (the name Rachel’s Texan grandmother called her) he jumped at the chance.
Rachael hadn’t had much luck with chefs since opening, so was equally as delighted, their new menu launching this week with a much broader American slant, complete with smoked marrow bone canoes, beef brisket, burgers, pulled pork, short rib, chicken pot pie, chicken wings, BBQ beans and even Texas Twinkies (smoked jalapeno poppers wrapped in streaky bacon and stuffed with cream cheese).
Describing the menu as Cotswolds crossed with Texas, you can still find fish and chips and steaks, but even the ham, egg and chips has been given a Southern twist – the ham marinaded in treacle and mustard, smoked and served as a hock – whilst the whitebait is served with a cajun blend and a remoulade.
The pair had been scouring the area looking for a suitable premises for a while but kept coming back to The Horse & Radish
So how did this hybrid come about, and why have Rachael and Nigel bought a pub in Minster Lovell with no hospitality experience?
The pair had been scouring the area looking for a suitable premises for a while, but kept coming back to The Horse & Radish which had been left derelict for three years, finally signing on the dotted line earlier this year. “There were lots of cobwebs and dust but otherwise it was in pretty good nick. It was an empty shell but it has that view and such a massive garden,” Rachel says.
“We’ve put in new kitchens, new electrics, heating, plumbing, a boiler, toilets and filled three skips with rubbish. We had to pretty much start from scratch and give the pub a lot of love. We’ve re-sanded the bar, brought in a pizza shed, bought a smoker, and we’re doing up the shepherds huts,” she says.
‘I always knew texan was the food we were going to serve’
But to really make its mark, Rachel knew she needed to bring something new to Oxfordshire’s culinary scene, to stand out from the other local pubs and gastropubs. “I knew that Texan food was going to be the way to make our mark, and having grown up with my uncles, who were pit masters, cooking beef brisket for 16 hours at the weekends in their back yard, I always knew this was the food we were going to serve.”
Starting off with English food with a Texan twist, the team at The Fire Sprite soon realised there was more of an appetitive amongst their customers for the American slant and flipped it to make Texan predominant. “We’ve made the menu really specialised with dishes that you just can’t get anywhere else here,” Rachael says.
‘It’s something new, and that’s really exciting’
That’s now in Paul Holden’s hands, and as he feeds wood into the outdoor smoker in readiness for the evening’s service, he says: “It’s something new, and that’s really exciting. It make a nice change from fine dining and I’ve always been interested in smoking.”
Hitting the ground running since starting in July, Paul had his hands full. “It has been a trial by fire,” he admits. “I’ve had to learn pretty quickly, but its been really exciting.
“And that’s what we want – to be different. There are lots of great pubs around here and we want to stand out. And while there is lots of food out there being cooked on open flames and grills, smoking food properly is still a novelty. So we have a smoke pit and our brisket has been so popular we had to buy a bigger smoker to keep up with demand,” he says.
‘we want to be different. There are lots of great pubs around here and we want to stand out’
“You have to cook the meat and feed the smoker overnight. It takes 16 hours to cook a brisket so it needs a lot of attention,” Paul says proudly. “And there are so many techniques to learn. We grind all our own beef, which comes from Bakers Butchers in Witney, so it’s fun. I’m really enjoying it.”
The pizza shed has also been a huge success, authentic looking offerings wafting enticingly past as we speak, and Paul ensures that as much of the menu is gluten free as possible.
‘now that we know there is a demand for Texan food we have introduced as much bigger menu’
And how is Rachael feeling about it all? “We hope people will understand that we started off gently with a small menu, but now that we know there’s a demand for Texan food we have introduced a much bigger menu.
“So now it’s about settling in and making our mark. And while our cuisine is our big selling point, we also want The Fire Sprite to be about great service and a welcoming environment. So we want people to be surprised and to come down and try us out.”
Full review to follow
The Fire Sprite Pub and Grill is at Burford Rd, Minster Lovell, Witney. https://www.thefirespritepub.com
