Wednesday 31 December 2008

Pork Pie Year 2008 Review

What a cracking pie year 2008 turned out to be – sampling 49 different pork pies (counting the two cheese topped “novelty” pies)! Now we have all the scores in, I can announce our top 5 pies of 2008:
  1. Gloucester Old Spot from Picnic Fayre Deli sampled on 11th May
  2. Graves of Briston, sampled on 9th March
  3. E.E. Pratt & Co., Drayton, sampled on 27th April
  4. Hewitt's, Mattishall, small pies, sampled on 8th June
  5. Dickinson & Morris of Melton Mowbray, sampled on 6th April
Our all time top 5 pies are:
  1. Mrs. King’s Melton Mowbray pie sampled on 26th November 2006
  2. M & M Rutland sampled on 29th April 2007
  3. Gloucester Old Spot from Picnic Fare Deli sampled on 11th May
  4. Graves of Briston, sampled on 9th March
  5. Tavern Tasty Meats from the Sausage Shop, sampled on 18th November 2007
That’s it for 2008, an excellent pie year, with two of the tastings making it to the All Time Greats. All it leaves me to do is wish you a good pie munching New Year.

Pie Master

Sunday 28 December 2008

Jim's Peak District Pie

Staci supplied the last pie of the year: from New Close Farm Shop in Derbyshire. But before we could start munching on this Peak District, Porky Delight, we had six miles of yomping to do around “Kett’s Country”. Starting from Bracon Ash village hall, our first port of call was St. Nicholas church, Bracon Ash, without tower or scratch dial. We then ventured on towards Hethel, passing ' Hethel Old Thorn' observing a hunting barn owl, before coming to All Saints church with its mausoleum to the Branthwaite family and monument to the USAAF 389th Bombardment Group. Onward, passing near the Lotus car factory then turning south, passing a field with a fox mawkin, to Wreningham via Penny’s Green, eventually reaching our lunch stop at another All Saints church. Unfortunately locked, but it did have a scratch dial to add to our collection. Fortified, we headed back to the car, resisting the temptation of the 'Bird in Hand' however, the Walk Master again produced another “bar in a car” with a different selection of tipples including “Prune Brandy” from Transylvania! This was supplemented by the Pie Masters Blackberry Whisky. Now onto the pie... a uniform pie with glossy pastry, its large vent hole revealed that this pie was nicely jellied. Cutting the pie revealed a good-looking pink interior with little aroma. The meat filling was pleasant and not improved by the addition of mustard. Unfortunately the pie was let down by the chewy, non-lardy, piecrust, perhaps the result of storage in its plastic wrapper. The pie therefore, only scored a spot on 7.5 with a reasonably high standard deviation of 0.86603. Quality Street & Italian Amaretti biscuits concluded the last pie munching of 2008.

Sunday 21 December 2008

Christmas Pies

What do pie munchers do at Christmas? Munch pies of course! Josie had provided festive pies from the pie emporium at Bakers & Larners. Just as on other weeks of the year, we could not sample the pies until we had gone for our stroll around the countryside. Starting from the Victorian St. Peter's church at Haveringland, with it's round Norman tower, we headed westwards across the old wartime, Swannington aerodrome to St. Nicholas church at Brandiston. On past Guton Hall and Little Witchingham Hall to Ketts Lane – Robert Kett was captured in Swannington after the rebellion. We passed the lumpy bumpy yew hedging of the 1675 Swannington Manor as we approached our lunch stop, the church porch of St.Magaret. After recoding the church's fine scratch dial and eating our sandwiches we headed east, past Swannington Hall (scene of many Bystander parties, hosted by Bob Wyles, in the 60's). We continued passing fields of pie filling, before returning to the cars. No pub on the route this week, but our Walk Master soon got us into the festive spirit, producing a “bar in a car”,
to provide a tipple to go with mushroom quiches. Two types of “novelty” pork pies this week: Pork pies with Leeks and Stilton and Pork Pies with Smoked Lancashire cheese and piccalilli both from Lune Valley Real Foods – Yummy! No scores as these were just festive foray into non-mainstream porkie delights. Shortcakes completed proceedings.
Pork pies with Leeks and Stilton and Pies with Smoked Lanc. cheese & piccalilli

Sunday 14 December 2008

R T Harvey Ltd

Our first pie of the month was from R T Harvey Ltd, last sampled at Ormesby St. Michael on the 25th February 2007. The highlight of our pre-pie walk from North Tuddenham, was the return of Giada, who last walked with us on the 28th September after being diagnosed with Kidney failure on the 26th June. We headed north in the mist to Elsing, observing a hare hossing across a field at break-neck speed and three deer. It was not all plain sailing, as a dike crossed our path; a detour to where it was not quite so deep provided a very muddy and slippery crossing. Arriving at the church of St. Mary for lunch, a note on the door requested that we did not enter as it was awaiting police inspection. It appears that this was one of the churches that were ransacked this weekend – several windows had been broken. A short walk over the road took us to the warm and welcoming Mermaid Inn, where a good pint of Golden Jackal or Wherry was served. We returned to the cars via footpaths that took us over fields of heavy clay soil that even stuck to Giada’s paws! We arrived at Poppy’s Wood to be reunited with the cars in failing light at just past 4 O’clock, for Sweet potato and Coriander & lemon Houmous, to be sampled on nairn’s mini oatcakes. Then on to the pies that could be barely seen – the fine looking pies released no aroma when cut and revealed a dark filling with a hint of jelly around the edges. These pies hit the spot, even more so with the addition with a dab of mustard. The pastry was good and crisp, the filling having a good meaty texture, lightly seasoned with a gamey flavour. They scored a very respectable 7.57143 with a high standard deviation of 1.17 gives Harvey’s their third normalised score of 7.5. Shortcake appeared to completed proceedings before we headed home in the dark.

Sunday 7 December 2008

Bystanders Christmas meal

Sunday 7th was the Bystanders Christmas meal at the Marlingford Bell, so no Pork Pie tasting this week. The Walk Master provided some of the entertainment... staring as "the hole in the Elephant's bottom"!

Sunday 30 November 2008

Henry Walker & Son

The final pies to be sampled this month were Leicestershire pork pies from Henry Walker & Son ­ "the pride of Leicestershire since 1824" but new to us. To get us chomping at the bit, our walk Master took us down to Pulham Market and the heavy clay soil of south Norfolk. Finally, after a Spanish walker gave up his struggle to put on his waterproof trousers, we set off, first south from the car park at the village hall, then westwards to cross the A140. Continuing westwards to Tivetshall St. Margaret, across ploughed fields where our boots picked up a vast amount of clay, made it feel we were walking with lead boots. After scraping the detritus from our boots, we made it to the isolated church of St. Margaret for lunch. Failing to find a scratch dial, we pressed on to Tivetshall St. Mary, to visit the Old Ram. The lure was such that we did not detour to examine the ruined church of St. Mary. Cleaning our boots best we could, on route to the pub, Charles spotted a gentleman cleaning his car with a broom attached to a hose and requested he give his boots the once over. He duly obliged, but Charles had to finish off. Arriving in good order at the pub, we were served with a decent pint, or hot chocolate for some. Crossing the A140 we returned to Pulham Market, meeting "Dill" ­ the friendly Border Collie / Brown Labrador cross from the Crown. Today we sampled King Prawns with a Marie Rose sauce, before sampling our pies. Since we had ten munchers and only three pies, samples were small. The lattice pies released no aroma when cut and revealed a pale pink filling with a slight amount jelly. It's the munching that matters, the pastry was good and crisp, the filling pleasant with a good meaty texture. The flavour was OK rather than special, the addition of a little mustard bought out the flavour a little more and they scored a respectable 7.15 out of 10. Opinions varied widely so a high standard deviation of 1.22588 accompanies the normalised score of 7 for Henry Walker & Son. Shortcakes completed proceedings before we headed home in the dark.

Sunday 23 November 2008

Pork Farms medium pies

Poor weather hampered pie procurement and partaking. This week we were to sample Pork Farms medium pork pies, last sampled 24th June 2007, when they scored 6.3. After several delays due to snow and bad roads, six dedicate pie munchers set off from the car park of St. Mary & St. Margaret's church, traversing westwards across countryside and suburb, passing the Old Hall (late 1600's) in Old Catton, we eventually stopped for lunch in the warm church of St. Margaret in Old Catton. On to Catton Park, where Charles enjoyed the open space to practice his Nordic walking. Onwards to the Royal Oak for an indifferent pint of Wherry, spoilt by being served through a tight sparkler. We headed back to the cars in the failing light and found that we had narrowly escaped having our vehicles locked in! We returned to chez Pie Master & Josie to sample the pies, after Waitrose smoked salmon and smoked mackerel pâté with mini oatcakes. The pies uninspiring external appearance, revealed a good pink filling and well jellied, when cut, and a good aroma. The filling was unfortunately bland and the pastry had a lardy finish, so only scoring 5.666 with a standard deviation of 1.08012. We finished of with a second round of tea and short breads. So, Pork Farms scoring a normalised 5.5 this time.

Sunday 16 November 2008

J. & D. Papworth Farms

In order to try and halt the decline in pie standards, since the 8.5's of late September / early October, pies were sourced from the Sheringham Shop of J. & D. Papworth Farms (Butchers & Graziers) who were voted Norfolk's best butcher in 2002 & 2004! But before we could start munching on these promising pies, we had to hoss around Holt: We eventually found parking at the Holt Country Park visitors centre and set off east, towards Little Thornage via the ford on the Glaven. Then north on to Letheringsett and the church of St. Andrew, taking (in) the piscenae, of which there were three, but no scratch dials. We passed Letheringsett Hall with its five Doric columns, on our left, then passing Letheringsett brewery mill on our right, as we headed back towards Holt. Pausing at the springs at Spout hills, once the source of Holt’s water supply, for lunch. We emerged from the hills passing one of the taps for the poor, on route to the Victorian Methodist church, but it was locked, so we were unable to admire its low false ceiling covered in polystyrene tiles! We headed into town via a convoluted route, passing the remains of the other surviving tap for the poor, at the entrance to Weston Square. We mourned the loss of the 1855, 56ft high, red brick, 15,000 gallon water tower in Shirehall Plain, demolished in 1957 two years after it went out of service. We drowned our sorrows with a freezing pint at the Feathers Hotel, before we concluded the walk, exploring another St. Andrew's church. Heading east we saw the Walk Master’s former residence (yet to get its blue plaque) then south, across the bypass, and back through the country park for tea and pies. The good-looking hand raised pies revealed a reasonable amount of jelly when cut. A pleasant aroma preceded the tasting of the nicely seasoned meat filling contained within a very pleasant, non-lardy piecrust. These pies, surprisingly, only scored 7.664286 with a fairly high standard deviation of 0.80178. This may have been due to the absence of one of our core seasoned pie tasters and novice taster joining our ranks. So, that’s a normalised 7.5 for J. & D. Papworth Farms. No Canapés this week, but the shortbread made a welcome return to round off proceedings.

Sunday 9 November 2008

Mini Melton Mowbray pies

Another new pie to taste this week: Mini Melton Mowbray Pork Pies from Tesco’s Finest range. But first we headed south from Lingwood across fields to St. Mary's Church Hassingham, this was closed and had no scratch dial. Aluminium cans in the hedgerow were abundant so we started collecting these as Charles filled his bags with various mushrooms. Heading west to Buckenham passing the magnificent 1827 old rectory, we came to St. Nicholas church. This church had two scratch dials by the main entrance and judging by their location this had been rebuilt – one dial facing east!
The two scratch dials at St. Nicholas church - the one on the right faces east!
The church was open and this provided a convenient location for lunch. The church boasted some great tombs on the floor, an ornate piscina and wonderfully piscina and wonderfully decorated ceiling. On the octagonal font, I spotted a carving of a former Pie Master with his chopping board and knife. After lunch, we ventured north over Strumpshaw Hill and to St. Peter’s church (closed and no scratch dials) so we made a beeline to the Shoulder of Mutton where we sampled a selection of their beers. Finally, back to Lingwood passing Uncle Stuart's microbrewery on the way, we returned to the playing field car park with a collection of 32 Aluminium cans for Don. Tesco’s Finest Mini Melton Mowbray pork pies did not find favour with the munchers; a dry pastry with a filling of little flavour other than pepper scored 5.57143, with a standard deviation of 0.60749. So a normalised sore of 5.5 for the Mini Melton Mowbray pies.

Sunday 2 November 2008

Marks & Spencer Melton Mowbray pies

The month started with us tasting, for the first time, Marks & Spencer Melton Mowbray medium pork pies. This is thanks to Jorge; who wrote to me asking why our score for M&S pies were so low, when the Independent's review had scored them so highly? I investigated, and found that we were not comparing like with like – the Independent were reviewing Melton Mowbray pies and we had been munching on cured pork pies. This was rectified this week after walking up an appetite following the Boldero’s walk, recently published in the EDP. From Gunthorpe Green, we headed east to Briningham passing Bellevue tower, a former mill that was once used as a water tower. As we approached this, Don spotted Baconsthorpe water tower in the distance. The church of St. Maurice was our lunch stop, we had previously photographed it’s scratch dial with a porch door hinge attached! We headed back in a westerly direction, the pace quickening when a group of walkers with two dogs got in Josie’s sights! We visited St. Mary’s church at Gunthorpe, prior to returning to the Green. The nairn’s mini oatcakes with Waitrose supreme houmous and their supreme red pepper & feta dip made a return appearance. To appreciate the pies fully, the tea service was restored, the award winning pies were then sampled: An OK appearance with a reasonable amount of jelly failed to set the taste buds alight. Peppery seasoning helped, the texture nothing special, the pastry leaving a lardy after taste did not impress. These pies were judged to have a score of 6.4375, with a rather high standard deviation of 0.9797. So a normalised sore of 6.5 for Marks & Spencer Melton Mowbray medium pork pies. The walk, without a pub, was completed in good time enabling all the munchers to get home for the delayed start of the Grand Prix and see Lewis Hamilton snatch the World championship in the last few seconds. I bet he had a celebratory pork pie!

Sunday 26 October 2008

Large Vale of Mowbray pie

The final pie to be sampled this month was a large Vale of Mowbray pie – after a confused start! Eventually, about half the pie munchers set off for Flordon with no tea ladies or tea! To get ourselves in prime pie munching condition, we set off on our designated route, once we eventually established exactly where on the route we were! From Flordon, we headed south down the Upper Tas Valley Walk to Hapton and the church of St. Margaret. This was locked and we didn’t spot the scratch dial we photographed when we visited in June of last year. We then headed west towards Fundenhall where we all got involved in harvesting the abundant supply of fungi for Charles. St. Nicholas church was closed so not investigated. Heading north to Ashwellthorpe, we made a little diversion into the village to have lunch in the porch of All Saints church. This not only provided a lunch location but a new scratch dial for the collection. This church too was locked. We then headed east where our attention switched from collecting fungi to collecting cans for Don. We made a short diversion down the B1113 for a rather poor pint of Wherry at the Kings Head. Resuming our can collecting, we continued our walk back to the car at Flordon. We ended our walk with a carrier bag full of cans and a good haul of fungi plus a new scratch dial. We then commenced the tea-less tasting, first nairn’s mini oatcakes with Waitrose supreme houmous and their supreme red pepper & feta dip. Don then produced a large Vale of Mowbray pie sourced from the Co-op, we had sampled small Vale of Mowbray pies in North Walsham back in March where they did not fare well. This pie when cut revealed a pleasing pink filling with a little jelly. The piecrust was OK, the filling odourless but having an OK flavour, slightly salt and enhanced by the application of mustard. The average score of 7.25 gets ‘normalised’ to 7.5, the standard deviation was of 0.28868 and completes this months pie tasting.

Sunday 19 October 2008

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.

Sunday 12 October 2008

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.

Sunday 5 October 2008

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.

Saturday 4 October 2008

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.

Sunday 28 September 2008

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.

Sunday 21 September 2008

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.
   

Sunday 14 September 2008

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

Sunday 7 September 2008

Chambers Meat Services

Off to Barnham Broom with pies from Chambers Meat Services of Beccles for the first pie tasting of September. The Weather Wizard could find no dry location for the pie tasting warm up. We set off from the church of St. Peter & St. Paul, in light rain on a four church walk. The rain soon eased and by the second All Saints church, it had completely stopped. Lunch was taken in the forth and final church of St. Michael, Coston, yielding our only scratch dial. Even though the weather was cool, Giada made good use of the puddles! From the church we returned to the cars via the Bell in Barnham Broom – the Green King IPA had just gone off, so we made do with a half of frothy John Smiths Smooth. Thankfully, King Canape had provided Panamanian King Prawns with a Marie Rose sauce to get the taste buds back into shape, before we sampled what were claimed to be “The best pork pies in Beccles”. The pies had a good appearance, with a dark meat filling and a little jelly. The pastry was rather bland and the filling very meaty, some questioned if it was 100% pork. The flavour was OK and enhanced with a little mustard. Not a bad pie, coming in with a score of 6.875, but leaves you wondering if this was really the best Beccles can do. The standard deviation was quite high at 0.99103. So a normalized sore of 7 for Chambers Meat Services. On the way home we stopped to have a half of a decent beer, Elgoods Cambridge and Adnams Bitter, at the Marlingford Bell.

Sunday 31 August 2008

Roys Hand made pork pies

The last pork pie to be tasted in August were small hand made pork pies from Roys, purchased by Josie, from the deli counter in their Hoveton branch. To work up a good appetite – and boy did we need one, we set off on a clockwise circular walk from the West End Caravan club site in West Caister. We were accompanied by Giada, who took every opportunity to get wet regardless of the state of the water, and Mickey, plus masses of butterflies, mainly Tortoiseshell.
   
Tortoiseshell                                                   Peacock    
The lunch stop was at the church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Mautby, round tower with thatched roof, but no scratch dial. Just under a mile to the Kings Head, Filby only to find it was closed due to licensing problems. We returned to the cars for another feast to accompany our cup of tea... First up were two huge bags of tortillas to dunk into Butter bean & roasted Garlic, and Lemmon & coriander Houmous. After tackling that, we had to squeeze in a portion of pork pie! These looked the part, but opinions varied widely - scores ranging from 2 to 8, giving in a massive standard deviation, even greater than last weeks! The pies were judged to be better than last week’s coming in with an average of the scores of 5.44444 and a standard deviation of 2.11312. So a normalised 5.5 for Roys. But we hadn’t finished; shortcake from Clarkes Quality Meats to finish off with – it was very good. So a pint on the way home, at the Filby Fox and Hounds was called for to wash it all down!