Sunday, March 11, 2018

We Missed British Pie Week!

Oh no, you say.  Am I back on meat pies again? 

But British Pie Week was last week (March 5-9) and the British eat a tremendous number of pies.  According to Awareness Days UK, the most popular pie recipe searches on the Internet were for
1: Cottage Pie
2: Fish Pie
3: Shepherd’s Pie
4: Chicken and Leek Pie
5: Chicken and Mushroom Pie
6: Steak and Ale Pie
7: Meat and Potato Pie
8: Pork Pie
9: Steak and Kidney Pie
10: Corned Beef Pie
"Cottage Pie" is Shepherd's Pie except they put strong cheddar cheese in the mashed potato topping.

Pieminster
According to Hospitality and Catering News, the nation's favorite this year at the British Pie Awards was the Highland Top Rump & Dark Ale Pie.  The Independent has a list of the seven best places to eat meat pies and none of them have parsley liquor.  Pieminster apparently serves its pies with gravy and you can see that their presentation is a bit more sophisticated than that of the pie and mash shops but you pay a bit more as well. For 9.50£ you can get "any classic pie, mash, minty mushy peas, cheddar and crispy shallots."  At Goddards, pie and mash with peas is 5.10£

The Telegraph reports on the decreasing number of the traditional working class pie and mash shops but at the same time gives recipes for 7 other pies, only two of which have meat (chicken and bacon) and none have parsley liquor made with eel broth.  I don't think it's making a comeback.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, I’ve always been a meat pie fan! Although what I’ve made is chicken pot pie. Once when I went to London long ago on my own I had a lamb and apricot pie at a pub, and when Mitch and I went in 2009 he loved the pie he picked up at the Chelsea Farmers Market (small and upscale) and we split a really lovely pork pie with mash and two vegs at the Monkey Puzzle Pub. I have a photo to prove it but couldn’t figure how to attach it in a comment. And I’m not even sure my comments are posting!?

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    1. I remember Van de Kamps chicken pies as a kid. We ate a fair number of them -- they were probably an easy dinner for Mother. Did anti-chicken Daddy eat them? The one time I was in London in 1969, I had a minced meat pie in a pub and I thought it was quite good. Do you think the pie and mash store use instant mashed potatoes or the real thing?

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