Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge has left fans stunned with the hefty price tag of his cook-at-home Christmas dinner package.
The festive feast, designed to be cooked on a barbecue in the garden, comes with a whopping £280 price tag - a £65 increase from last year. And that's without the cost of the BBQ.
Kerridge's festive package includes ingredients for recipes tailored for Big Green Egg BBQs, which cost a staggering £1,950. Additional extras, such as a £58 bag of charcoal and a £39 thermometer, are also required.
The Christmas box, available for delivery on December 21, includes a turkey and a rib of beef, said to feed up to 15 people. However, the steep price has sparked outrage, with many criticising Kerridge, 51, for being out of touch with the cost of living crisis.
Image:
Jam Press)One disgruntled individual sarcastically commented: "So pleased they've dropped the interest rates. Else I'd never be able to afford this."
Others were more enthusiastic, with one fan describing it as a "great idea". The Michelin-starred chef, who owns eight restaurants across the UK, including The Coach and Hand of Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, has clearly divided opinion with his luxury Christmas offering.
The box's description tantalises with the promise of a festive feast: "It's a dream Christmas combination. Tom Kerridge, the superstar chef of Britain's only pub with two Michelin stars, provides the exclusive recipes. HG Walter, the country's best butcher, provides the meat. The Big Green Egg provides the heat and smoke."
It goes on to detail the contents: "The Tom Kerridge Christmas Box contains all the ingredients and online instructions you need to recreate two simple but spectacular Christmas centrepieces on your Egg. Tom's marmalade-glazed free-range Bronze turkey with spiced rye bread sauce, and his pastrami-rubbed, dry-aged rib of beef with mustard and horseradish mayo."
The quality is underscored with a note about the sourcing: "The meat, sourced by HG Walter from small-scale British and Irish farmers, is of the quality demanded by a multi-star chef, and the glaze, rubs and sauces all meet the same uncompromising standards. Cooking the whole box at once? Serves 15, with leftovers. £18 per head."
For those planning a big gathering, it suggests: "The meat, sourced by HG Walter from small-scale British and Irish farmers, is of the quality demanded by a multi-star chef, and the glaze, rubs and sauces all meet the same uncompromising standards. Cooking the whole box at once? Serves 15, with leftovers. £18 per head."
And for those who prefer to extend the culinary experience, it adds: "Want to spread the experience out? Both Turkey and Beef will be good to cook after Boxing Day. Includes free Delivery and online guides. The box will be delivered on the 21st of December."
However, the cost of the necessary equipment might raise eyebrows, as the cheapest barbecue in the set, the Minimax Big Green Egg, comes with a hefty price tag of £820. The Large Big Green Egg is even pricier at £1,415, and the XL Big Green Egg tops the range at £1,950.
While the box itself works out at £18.66 per head, customers would need to shell out hundreds for the kit. This isn't the first time Kerridge has faced criticism over pricing; last year, he was mocked for the cost of his Christmas box, with one person quipping it was akin to the price of a "medium sized car".
Tom Kerridge has been approached for comment.
English (US) ·