Fynn Vally Foods

The Führer took us to Suffield to sample Fynn Valley Food’s 5.5oz pies, in the Walk Master’s absence. Parking near to the village sign at St. Margaret’s church, where we had photographed the scratch dial 32 months earlier, we headed off on our six-mile appetiser. We stopped at the church of St. Giles, Colby for lunch where we perched on narrow “posture improving” seats in the porch. There was no pub on this walk, so we soberly made our way back to Suffield the long way, walking past a Menagerie that the girls, had they been with us, would have gone crazy over! At the cars we were joined for our cups of tea, by a friendly nine year old Jack Russell/Terrier cross. With our cups of tea we sampled Waitrose Smoked salmon rounds prior to sampling Fynn Valley Food’s pies - “a taste of the country, made with East Anglian meat & wheat”. Well, they looked as if they’d been baked on the huh! Cutting the pies reviled a smooth pink filling, with a little jelly. The pastry was no more than OK and the odourless filling, tasty with a surprising coarse texture in the mouth, was spoilt by over salting. These pies were judged to have a spot on score of 7.0 with a high standard deviation of 1.25831. So, 7.0 for Fynn Valley Food’s pies.

Bakers & Larners

Balloons were out to greet us at our chosen location to sample Bakers & Larners medium hand raised pies at North Creake village hall. We parked here and as we headed westwards on our pie enhancing walk, we noted large flocks of geese heading for the coast. Later we stopped at St. Mary's Abbey (1205-1504), first inspecting the craft centre, where we briefly misplaced Gill, then on to the abbey ruins for our lunch break. Large numbers of Bishy-barney-bees, both red with black spots, and black with large red spots, were sunning themselves on the stonewalls. After lunch we sampled a pint of Wherry at the Jolly Farmers and then had a look round St. Mary's Church, that boasted a splendid font cover and as well as a large table of preserves on sale. The church had no scratch dial, but a large sundial high on the tower and more Bishy-barney-bees in the sun. We returned to the village hall for Smoked Salmon Tsar Slices with Soy & Honey dip and Wasabi, followed by the Bakers & Larners pies. A good glossy exterior revealed a coarse filling. The pies were very tasty and the pastry good. Don’s special mustard, though very nice in itself, did not enhance this pie. This quality pie came in with a healthy sore of 8.35714, with a standard deviation of 0.69007. So a normalized sore of 8.5 for Bakers & Larners, equalling their score when we last sampled them at Baconsthorpe on the 4th February 2007. We finished off with Shortbread to conclude proceedings.

Fungus Foray 2008

For our first Sunday of the month, our attention turned from munching pies to munching mushrooms. Our annual fungus foray was to concentrate on the edible species this year, so that in Charles' words “Master Mycophogage and Chef David Atkinson could transform our haul into cloyless dishes”! Sunday was an extremely wet day and only ten intrepid fungus foragers turned up. As we set out, the weather improved, but the going was very muddy, as large plant had been at work, decimating the heath, apparently for the benefit of butterflies! Fungi were few and far between, especially edible examples. We rendezvoused later at the Trafford Arms with our haul and a few mushrooms from Tesco, where David worked his magic and produced some fabulous fungi omelettes.

Melton Mowbray Pork Pies

Today, the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association has won their campagin to gain "Protected Geographical Indication" (PGI) status within the EU for thier Melton Mowbray pork pies. Now, only pork pies made in specific areas of the East Midlands can use the term Melton Mowbray in their branding. You can read the BBC report on this historic day and links to stories leading up to it by clicking here. The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association was formed in 1998, to gain PGI for their pies.

Metfield Bakery

The last pork pies to be tasted in September were small pies from Metfield Bakery, purchased by Paul, from the deli next to Adlards in Upper St. Giles. To get our ourselves in prime pie munching condition, we set off from Long Stratton Leisure Centre heading north-west, passing the Jacobean, Tharston Hall and on to the St. Mary's Church. Following an unsuccessful hunt for scratch dials and a protracted egg buying session from a house near by, we headed east, to Forncett St. Mary where a truculent farmer and his cows blocked our path. Reluctantly we diverted south along Tas Valley Way to the church at Forncett St. Peter, for our lunch break. No dials here, but lots of crickets, we headed back to Long Stratton for the pie tasting. The starter course came from Waitrose, courtesy of Charles: Oatcakes with cracked pepper to dunk in Roasted red pepper and a Butter bean & roasted garlic Houmous. Paul’s pies released a fantastic aroma when cut revealing a coarse meaty filling with no jelly. The pastry was crisp and very good, the filling tasty but not of the intensity suggested by the aroma. These pies did deliver, receiving a score of 8.38888 and a standard deviation of 0.99303. We then partook of Shortbread to complete the grazing experience. So a normalised 8.5 for Metfield Bakery.

Morrison in store bakery

We ventured into Suffolk for our pie tasting this week, parking at White House Farm, Wild Life Centre in Carlton Colville – this having the luxury of seats & tables at which to sample our pies. First, we headed east to Oulton Broad where Giada had a swim in the broad, before we headed west along the south side of the broad, where we watched a kestrel being harassed by a crow and a flock of eight swans in flight. Our lunch stop was at Share drainage mill where a family of swans were also dining. We crossed Share Marsh to visit the Crown at Carlton Colville, on the Lowestoft Road, but this had no real ale! We gave it a miss and continued back to cars, finding parasol mushrooms that Charles added to his fungus collection. Today’s delicacies were Edamame bean, artichoke & lemon pesto Tortilla and Chilli & coriander King Prawns. Next, our pies from Wm Morrison in store bakery, these were small pies baked in foil cups. They had a good appearance and slicing revealed there was no jelly and a rather suspect pink filling. The pastry tasted good but there was no taste or any real texture to the filling, resulting in a poor score of 5.09091 with a standard deviation of 1.64040. Finally, we had Shortbread to accompany any remaining tea. So a normalised 5.0 for Morrison in store bakery. Following a “Yellow Stainer” demonstration, we headed for home calling in at the George & Dragon at Thurton for a pint of “Mad Bob” – a very pleasant pint at 3.8% from the Nethergate Brewery.

   

Sans Pies

The pies that naver made it to the munching...

We were warned of an extreme walk and told to bring towels - as we’d be getting wet! Was this what caused the Pie Master to forget the pies he had sourced on Friday? We assembled at the Führer’s bunker and headed for Blakeney, all cars taking a wrong turning at various points of the route – Ricky had obviously struck fear into our hearts! Arriving at Blakeney village hall, we caught the coast hopper to Stiffkey where we visited the church of St. John the Baptist and searched for scratch dials. The church had been heavily renovated in 1848 and no dials were found. Adjacent was Stiffkey Hall with its two remaining towers, built about 1600. We headed North onto the salt marshes and Eastwards along the “Meals” (dunes). We then had to navigate the mud and cross Freshes Creek...

   

We continued along the Meals to Morston for a lunch stop and then a pint of Winters Golden at the Anchor pub. Following the Norfolk Coastal Path, we returned to Blakeney. Broccoli quiche was served with the tea followed by Shortbread, but no porky delights!!! The Pie Master had left them at home in the fridge.

Munchers at Morston