Dickinson & Morris of Melton Mowbray

The last walk for July, where we collected chanterelles and wild plums concluded at the site of the former Swanton Abbott Railway Station, where we sampled a previous pie - a Dickenson & Morris of Melton Mowbray (I thought it was Morris & Dickinson) due to me not going to a new supplier soon enough - something for August. Dickinson & Morris produced a pie with a good aroma, tasted very porky, leaving a peppery after taste. This pork pie scored a very respectable 7.642857143 with a standard deviation of 0.55634864 - so that's a normalised 7.5 for Dickenson & Morris. We consumed a Dickinson & Morris pork pie at Wood Norton, near Guist on the 3rd September last year where it scored a normalised 9!

Sainsbury's "Taste the Difference"

Sunday 22nd saw us sampling a Sainsbury's "Taste the Difference" pie at Wells-next-the-Sea after a walk where we spotted a Natterjack Toad. This pie had a good aroma, but was a bit dry, it's jelly was good, scoring a respectable 7.125 with a standard deviation of 1.026436276! - so that's a normalised 7 for Sainsbury's.

Cow biscuits!

On Sunday 15th we didn’t have enough pie enthusiasts to form a quaruem, so “Cow biscuits” (Malted Milk) were substituted… We endured a cloud burst travelling home – a result of such blasphemy?

Champion public house, Gloucester Old Spot

At the end of our July 8th walk, I produced at Weybourne Station, full of high expectations, some Gloucester Old Spot pork pies from the Champion public house. These appeared raw and tasted no better! So they scored Nil points - taking the booby prize away from Fryer's on Norwich Market who scored a normalised 5 when we sampled them in South Pickenham in August last year. I returned to the Champion with remaining pie, they claimed, "Yes, that's how they are. We cook them ourselves and ensure the filling reaches 80 degrees centigrade before they come out of the oven." They were still raw in my eyes - I cooked the remaining pie for 40 mins @ gas mark 8 and it was then quite palatable, but nothing special.

Brays

The first pie consumed in July, on the 8th, was the wonderfully Gamy Brays pork pie, that Paul produced in Sheringham Park mid walk, made from Saddleback rare breed pigs with a touch of onion marmalade, this scored a very welcome 8.5625 with a standard deviation of 0.678101341 - so that's a normalised 8.5 for Brays. We had consumed a Brays pork pie in Binham on the 22nd April where it scored a normalised 8 - we're developing a taste for them...