Pork Pie Year 2010 Review

2010 started with more new pies to sample and it looked as though we were going to beat the bumper year of 2008. However, events and very bad weather towards the end of the year, resulted in a rather poor score of only 29 different pies being sampled, but of this number, 17 were sampled for the very first time. Now we have all the scores in, I can announce our top 5 pies of 2010:

1. Jarold's Deli, sampled on 5^th September
2. Waitrose Large Melton Mowbray, sampled on 2^nd May
3. Pickerings Medium pies, sampled on 24^th October
4. “Butlers Choice” R.A. Cawdron & Son, Stalham, sampled on 1^st August
5. Laurels Farm Butchers, Eye, sampled on 4^th July

Our all time top 5 pies are:

1. Mrs. King’s Melton Mowbray pie sampled on 26^th November 2006
2. M & M Rutland sampled on 29^th April 2007
3. Gloucester Old Spot from Picnic Fare Deli sampled on 11^th May 2008
4. Clarkes Quality Meats, huge pork pie sampled on 26^th July 2009
5. Jarold's Deli, sampled on 5^th September

R.A. Cawdron and Pickering swapping places from last year and Jarolds Deli pie makes it onto our all time top 5, displacing Graves of Briston, sampled on 9^th March 2008. That concludes 2010's pie munching.

Pie Master

Pork Pie Year 2009 Review

2009 was another great pie year, though petering out in the final month, however we sampled 45 different pork pies (counting the two Christmas “novelty” pies)! Trailing the 49 of last year, though of the 43 bona fide pork pies, an incredible 29 were sampled for the very first time. Now we have all the scores in, I can announce our top 5 pies of 2009:

1. Clarkes Quality Meats, huge pork pie sampled on 26^th July
2. Bray's Cottage, "Naked Pie", sampled on 11^th October
3. “Butlers Choice” R.A. Cawdron & Son, Stalham, sampled on 5^th April
4. Pickerings large pies, sampled on 1^st February
5. G. Morris & Sons - Mega pie, sampled on 26^th April

Our all time top 5 pies are:

1. Mrs. King’s Melton Mowbray pie sampled on 26^th November 2006
2. M & M Rutland sampled on 29^th April 2007
3. Gloucester Old Spot from Picnic Fare Deli sampled on 11^th May 2008
4. Clarkes Quality Meats, huge pork pie sampled on 26^th July
5. Graves of Briston, sampled on 9^th March 2008

That’s it for 2009, an excellent pie year, with lots of good pie munching. All it leaves me to do, is wish you a good pie munching New Year. Don’t forget your new year’s resolution to regularly visit the Pork Pie News - we have welcomed 3,758 visitors from 58 nations!

Pie Master

Butlers Choice pork pies

A new pie for the pie munchers: Medium size Butlers Choice pork pies, homemade by award winning Mrs. Leeks! Purchased from R. A. Cawdron & Son in Stalham. The Walk Master, inspired by the recent Boldero walk, had us heading out to Great Ryburgh to sample the pies. This walk started as the last walk left off... We headed south down a muddy bridle way, the majority following the Walk Master down the left hand side. The Führer led a small party down the right-hand side! They all had to turn back, other than Don, who climbing through the bushes, managed to climb the embankment. Walking along the top of the embankment, passing obstacles on the way, he then met up with the main party via a decent through more bushes! We all eventually regrouped and continued south, observing a buzzard riding the thermals and passing the west gatehouse of Sennowe Hall, we arrived at the church of St. Helen, Gately - this was our lunch stop. Having consumed sandwiches and looked around the church, finding no scratch dials, we made our way back to Great Ryburgh along footpaths that followed the road. In the distance we observed a barn owl hunting and then later rabbits scurrying in the undergrowth, close to our path. We had a quick look around the exterior of St. Andrew’s as it sounded a service was under way. We crossed the road for pints of Adnams in very good condition at the Blue Boar Inn. We returned to the cars parked in front of the village hall, to sample Vintage Houmous with Celery prior to sampling the pies...These good-looking pies with good chunky meat filling and little jelly, released a beautiful aroma when sliced. The meat filling was very tasty and not really enhanced by mustard. The attractive pastry looked better than it tasted. However, these pies were a hit with the massed pie munchers; they were judged to be the best pies this year, with a score of 8.58333 and a standard deviation of 0.79296. The last pie to beat this was Hewitt's small pies sampled on 8th June, when the Führer was absent. The Walk Master then produced Shortcake to complete proceedings! So a normalised score of 8.5 for Butlers Choice pork pies.

Massed Pie Munchers at Great Ryburgh