VANILLA custard and jam was named the number one oatcake filling at a food festival.

Dozens of fans had put their chef’s hats on to submit innovative concoctions to fill the humble Potteries delicacy.

Entries at the Stone Food and Drink Festival ranged from the sweet to the savoury as the final eight recipes were cooked live on Sunday.

Judges, including the Mayor and Mayoress of Stone, Mark and Kristan Green, sampled each during a live demonstration, before plumping for teacher Dawn Jackson’s vanilla slice-inspired idea as their number one.

Mr Green said: “It was something I would never have thought of and it proves that the Staffordshire oatcake can be versatile for any meal.”

Dawn, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, said it had been inspired by her dad, Colin. The 32-year-old said: “It is brilliant. I entered at the last minute and it was all about my dad and how much he loves vanilla slices.”

Former Radio Stoke presenter Janine Machin hosted the event, which saw Russell Beardmore, head chef at Stone’s La Dolce Vita restaurant, prepare each of the final recipes in a special demonstration kitchen set up in Westbridge Park.

He told the gathered crowd: “There have been some nice ones.”

The winning recipe will now go onto the lunch menu of Granville’s Brasserie for a week, with Dawn also winning a meal for two there.

Owner Adam Jones said: “We are very happy to be putting the winning recipe on our menu for a week as a special. It is a very interesting combination and we look forward to getting some customer feedback.”

Finalists were whittled down by taste, appearance and originality, with the event recorded by Inspired Film and Video.

The company had challenged budding chefs to send in their recipes as part of the filming of its documentary, A Flavour Of Staffordshire.

Director Daniel Stubbs said: “The oatcake is synonymous with North Staffordshire and if you speak to someone about the area and ask what the food is around there, they always say the oatcake.”

A Flavour Of Staffordshire, which focuses on food and drink producers across the county, is a follow-up to May Un Mar Language, an exploration of the unique Potteries dialect immortalised by former Sentinel cartoonist Dave Follows.

It will also include a segment on Hanley’s Hole In The Wall and will be shown free at Shire Hall, Stafford, from November 15 to January 4. It will also be available on DVD.

Jill Hood, food and drink festival administrator, said the whole event had gone well.

She added: “It has been a phenomenal success. Friday was a little quiet, but on Saturday we couldn’t move, it was heaving, and on Sunday the crowds built up despite the weather and the boggy ground.

“The traders have reported a big success and one of them said that on Saturday he took more money than he has taken at any other festival, which is absolutely fantastic.”

What’s your favourite oatcake recipe? Tell us at www.thisisthesentinel.co.uk/oatcake