Pickerings medium pies

Pies returned this week: medium pies from Pickerings, Norwich market stall (pitch 102 & 103) an old favourite, last sampled on Valentines Day. We were joined for our pre-pie perambulation, by Luna and her mum, Grace. We also had Bert & Harris accompanying us on what was to be an eventful walk from East Tuddenham Village Hall. We crossed the Norwich Road to take the footpath north that passes by All Saints church. Our next challenge was to cross the busy A47. Achieving this we continued north, the dogs enjoying being able to run free. Luna never straying far from mum, but Bert and Harris taking the opportunity to get through a hole in a fence and explore a wood at their leisure... When they eventually came back they were lead-bound for the remainder of the walk! Footpaths marked on maps failed to materialise, but after a couple of failed attempts, we found a route west. King Canape then had a bit of a funny turn – a slight dizzy spell, so had a sit down while it passed. After no time at all, the Canape King was on his feet and we continued west past noisy kennels, our three dogs not reacting. On reaching Heath Road, Charles, accompanied by the Pie Master & Liz, took the slightly shorter and easier going route to the pub via the road, while the rest of the party continued west by footpath and then south to Hockering parish church. On route, the threatening skies then unleashed a good dose of hail. The party taking the road made for the shelter of a conifer, but on reaching it, the intensity of the hailstorm increased to such an extent, most of the hail simply passed straight through our shelter. When the hail eased and we had Charles seated in the pub, we joined the remaining walkers at St. Michael’s church. Here we ate our sandwiches “on the hoof” - as the church was being renovated and surrounded by fencing. The remains of one scratch dial was visible, to add to our collection. We then made our way to join King Canape in the Victoria Inn. Here we consumed various beverages and Grace and Luna took advantage of the open fire. Suitably refreshed and warmed, it was time to head outside, Charles sensibly accepted the offer of being picked up and stayed in the pub. We made our way back to East Tuddenham, modifying the original route to utilise more quiet metalled roads, as the going was so wet. Don in his Wellingtons, made the most of the conditions; splashing his way through the puddles. We had seen numerous fungi on our walk, but as we neared the cars, Paul and I thought we’d struck lucky; spotting some fine looking mushrooms. On closer inspection they proved to be Yellow Stainers! The feasting began once Charles had been retrieved from the pub and started with his canapés of King prawns with Rosemarie sauce. Cutting the good looking pies released little aroma and revealed a nicely textured pink filling with a little jelly. The pies tasted good with a peppery after taste, scoring a spot on 8.5 with a standard deviation of 0.55902, slightly better than their last sampling.
But the munching was not over - for Grace had baked a huge carrot cake especially for us. The cake tasted good too, with several munchers giving it a score of 10 and suggesting we should have cake instead of pork pies!

Jarrold’s deli

With the terrible pies of last week, the Pie Master went to a known good supplier of quality pies: the Deli in Jarrold’s, last sampled at Holkham on February 10^th 2008, where they scored 8.5. To sample these, 9 munchers and two dogs headed to Foulsham. Parking in the street we walked east, past the church that had a “Savage” manhole cover, to Batesmoor. From here we headed back west along Mill Lane a little way before heading north over what was the old airfield, passing the site of the former 60,000 gallon, Foulsham water tower. The field edge provided us with blackberries that we consumed as we walked along. We were afforded a lengthy view of deer before we stopped at 3½ miles for lunch in a field corner. Here we watched a couple of raptors overhead as we ate. We headed back south to Foulsham via a permissive path along side Wood Norton Road, taking in views of Stanfield and Bintree water towers at the same time. Then along Sneck Lane, calling in at the Queen’s Head for pints of Adnams. We returned to the cars and took our tea to the Holy Innocents church we walked past at the start. We looked around this dial-less church before having tea in the churchyard. Straight into the good looking pies that released an appetising aroma when sliced, revealing a nicely textured pink filling surrounded by jelly. This was a really good pie, very tasty and the pastry good too, though it wasn’t as crisp as some. All agreed and it romped in with a score of 9.05556 and a low standard deviation of 0.30046, so a normalised score of 9 – the highest this year, for Jarrold’s Deli. Canapés followed: stuffed baby peppers – these were quite hot, so a wise decision to have these after the pies, followed by the Shortbread finale.

R. A. Cawdron & Son

To sample R. A. Cawdron's pies in their native environment, we headed to East Ruston - just two miles from the shop in Stalham. The eleven regular munchers were joined by the Walk Master's son Mark and Grandson Teodore - “Man of the Walk” back on the 4^th April this year. We also had the company of Bert & Harris, who were very lively on this outing. We started by following the Weavers Way, along the old railway line west, towards Brigate, passing under the wonderful Victorian road bridge. We headed north up Corner Common Road and then by footpath to the isolated Horning church of St. Peter & St. Paul. Here we had our lunch and failed to find a scratch dial. We then walked into the village and crossed the common on our way to East Ruston. Here local fruit was purchased prior to our visit to the Butchers Arms. Adnams was the beer of choice for most and this was enjoyed in the garden at the rear. A christening party were then vacating the pub and suggested to the bar staff that we should have the remaining nibbles. These were an appreciated accompaniment to the beer. Just a mile back to the cars and when we crossed Burnells Farm, we were greeted by a friendly and gorgeous Border collie that would normally have been photographed, but getting Bert and Harris over a style, I missed the opportunity. A short walk along Chapel Road reunited us with the cars. The Pies were then sliced, releasing little aroma, they were lacking jelly this outing but found favour with the munchers coming in at 8.45833 with a standard deviation of 0.81068. King Canape’s stuffed peppers were then consumed, post pie. The outing was completed with Scottish Shortbreads. So R. A. Cawdron scoring a normalised 8.5 as they did at Great Ryburgh on the 4^th April last year.

Waitrose Large Melton Mowbray pie

Eight pie munchers, plus Bert and Harris, headed for Aldborough to sample a large Melton Mowbray pie from Waitrose, last sampled on the 3^rd February 2008. From the green, we headed off westwards and then through a rapeseed field. The pre pie walk then headed south after about a mile and a half, mostly following footpaths along field boundaries. A stretch of quiet road walking followed by a short footpath brought us to St. Andrew’s church, Wickmere for lunch in the porch, at 3.75 miles. The single, upside down scratch dial on a buttress had been previously photographed an added to the collection last month. Leaving this church we headed eastwards back to Aldborough, stopping at its parish church of St. Mary the Virgin. Here we found one scratch dial on the west of the porch, but failed to find the second, to the east of the chancel door, we subsequently gleaned from the church guide. Leaving the church, and having a good look in the window of an antique shop, we returned to the green and decided to sample beer at the Black Boys, where we consumed pints of Adnams. Returning to the cars we sampled Spicy red lentil dip and Jalapeño Houmous with Celery Oval Alberts! The “comfortably reposed pie” was sliced releasing a pleasant aroma. The interior revealed a chunky pink filling and a little jelly. Portions of pie were then consumed after a slug of tea to restore the palate. This was an excellent pie finding favour with all munchers, coming in with a high average score of 8.5625 and a low standard deviation of 0.41726. Scottish Shortbreads completed today’s grazing. So Waitrose improved upon their previous score of 7.5 with a normalised score of 8.5.

Roll mouse over picture to see uncut pie

Bob Knights, Large Pies

The Walk Master could not walk this week, however he had devised a 6-mile route around Whitlingham Country Park. All six of us managed to squeeze into the Pie Master’s car, along with Bert & Harris and good-looking pies from Bob Knights, of Beccles. Parking at the far car park and finding that it was no longer free, we paid our £4 from the kitty – good job we were all in one car. We started with a clockwise loop up the south bank of the broad, passing Lime Kilns (now home to bats) and traversing the workings, spotting the first Snowdrops of the year. We then did an anti-clockwise circuit of the large broad, passing the former Norwich Union Sailing Club on the far bank of the River Yare and dinghies searching for wind. There were also many bird watchers peering through telescopes all round the broad. On reaching the Outdoor Education Centre, we continued hoping to walk around the small broad, only to find that this is now a private road with no right of way, despite being marked as such, on one of the public maps. We headed back and passing between the two boards, picked our way through the birders, to Whitlingham Lane, which we followed into Trowse. Finding the church of St. Andrew locked and without a scratch dial, we occupied the nearby bus shelter to eat our sandwiches. Looking forward to getting warm and some liquid refreshment, we were disappointed to find that two pubs in Trowse, the White Horse Inn and Crown Point Tavern, would not allow dogs. So we marched up Kirby Road, and then around Whitlingham Hall, before heading back to the broad and along Whitlingham Lane a little way, back to the car. Here we started off with Moroccan style houmous and oatcakes with our hot tea. Then the large pies, obviously cooked in a foil dish, had an attractive glossy top. When cut the pie released a faint roast pork aroma and revealed a granular pale pink filling with no jelly. They looked so good that the Führer said “they look as if they contain real meat” – indeed they did, Blythburgh free-range pork. The lightly spiced pies were let down by a slightly soft crust, despite the fact we had taken them out of their plastic bags. The pies scored a very respectable 7.66666 with the Führer making a return to the tasting panel! The standard deviation was 0.81650, so that means that Bob Knights gets a normalized score of 7.5 for his large pies.

G. F. White

Pies from G. F. Whites in Aylsham – “Butcher of the Year” in the Eastern Daily Press, Norfolk Food Awards 2008. We had tasted their pies on the 18^th February 2007, when they didn’t fair particularly well. After 6 miles of walking up an appetite around Worsted, we would find out if they had improved. Parking at the Weavers’ Way car park near Briggate Bridge, we headed east for about a mile, following the Weavers' Way along a former railway cutting, passing under the attractive iron bridge. Then going south, we crossed the disused lock on the Dilham canal. The “boys” Bert & Harris were walking with us and soon found a new friend: Max - a black Labrador who then decided to join us on our walk! After a little way, Max would not leave us and return home, so he was put on a lead and returned to the house from where he originated. We regrouped and the boys had now made another friend Bertie: a Border Terrier – thankfully this one was attached to his owner. Dilham church of St. Nicolas was visited at just over 2 miles – no scratch dials here as it was completely rebuilt in 1931. Now heading west, with Don trailing, attacking brambles with his secateurs, we sampled the last Blackberries of the season. Lunch was taken in the large porch of the church of St. Mary the Virgin in Worstead. This large church has two scratch dials, already in our collection, and after perusing the interior; we headed for the comfort of the New Inn. Here we where all made welcome and served pints of Adnams and Wherry. Even “Bisto” the pub dog came down to welcome us, but Bert and Harris were not that impressed. From Worsted, we headed north to once again join the Weavers’ Way path along the railway cutting that we followed east back to the cars. Prawns with mayonnaise were again the starter course, prior to the pies. The pies, unique in appearance with lose fitting tops, looked promising. Cutting revealed a pink filling with good texture. Aroma and jelly were both lacking, but the real disappointment was the munching. The crust was soft and bland and the filling not really tasting of anything. The pie did score 5.83333 with a standard deviation of 0.93095 so normalised to 6 – just below the 6.5 on the previous outing. Yummy Chocolate slab cake was slipped in before Shortbread that concluded our post walk munching.

P. B. George Quality Meats.

Yet another new pie for the pie munchers to sample on the 51^st anniversary of ‘Smoot day’. First we had to negotiate 5,674 Smoots of Boldero walk, over the boarder in Suffolk, around Syleham and Wingfield. We had to do this without the skills of the Walk Master. Parking at Syleham village hall, a dozen of us, including new Sunday walkers Bert and Harris, headed east along a short length of road. Then heading north for almost a mile, along a footpath to Syleham House, we passed beautiful cattlebeautiful cattle. Another short length of road, east and a half-mile of footpath south east. Here Bert and Harris had great fun chasing anything that moved and rummaging under bushes. Now at two miles, or 1,891 Smoots, we again headed east along the road to a long footpath south to Wingfield. Here we had our lunch in the grounds of St. Andrew’s church. Finding no scratch dial we made our way across the road to the delightful De La Pole Arms. Here we were refreshed with good local beers as we enjoyed the good weather outside. A huge friendly dog came to greet our new walkers, but Bert and Harris were not interested in making a new friend and let her know very vocally! Our route then took us west through an equestrian centre, before we came to Syleham Road. We had to walk north along this very quiet road for about a mile, passing cows grazing on the green. From here we could see Woodlands water tower above the trees at Fressingfield. Further along the road we were greeted by an elderly Spaniel, Bert and Harris were quite happy to make friends this time. Before we turned left down Windmill Lane, we passed farm buildings and the squeals of indoor reared porkers - the like, we hoped, had not found their way into our pies. On reaching the stump of the former post mill, severely damaged in Great Storm of 1987, we headed north across a field back towards the cars. The sting in the tail (or the sting in the legs, in my case) was we could not initially find the final footpath, as it was the heavily overgrown with stinging nettles! Back at the cars we started with Spanish canapés – Tapas: Octopus Chunks, Squid Pieces and Anchovies with Manchego cheese. Then onto small pies from P. B. George Quality Meats of Norwich. The pies had no aroma when cut and only a hint of jelly as visible. The crust was good, sweet and crisp, the filling having a reasonable texture but lacking any punch. Scoring 7.2857 with a high standard deviation of 1.0746, normalising the score rounds it up to 7.5 for P. B. George. No Shortbread or even Hobnobs this week. On the way home, we stopped at Park Farm to purchase Jumbo free range eggs at just £1 for six - a bargain!