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

Greens butchers and Chapmans butchers

After a humiliating pie procurement last week, the pie master was able to present two pies: One from Essex and a new Norfolk pie. The Essex pie was made by Greens family butchers of Town Street, Thaxted, kindly supplied by Duncan Donaldson-Davidson. The Norfolk pie was from Chapmans family butchers of The Green Martham, just by the pond. The Walk Master had a bracing walk lined up for us to ensure we had an appetite for two pies! Parking on the cliffs of Mundesley, we headed east pausing to inspect the church of All Saints, noting its scratch dial and Norman slit window. We continued eastwards along the coast passing over the River Mun, or Mundesley Beck, where it headed into the sea and past the Mundesley inshore lifeboat station, where the RIB was having a wash. We continued as far as the Mundesley Holiday Village with its 1933 water tower, where we turned inland to Stow Mill. We headed back into Mundesley, passing the water works, from where the Walk Master had laid an 8” main to the water tower for Anglian Water. We headed up Heath lane, passing close to the 125,000-gallon water tower and past the Golf course to Gimingham. Here we turned south, passing the old diesel engine that provided power to the mill and onto Gimingham church of All Saints for our lunch stop. After consuming our sandwiches and looking around the church, photographing its scratch dial, we retraced our steps northward to the coast. Here were “bird men” floating in the sky, suspended from kites. We followed the cliff top eastwards back to the car accompanied at one point by a yellow Sea King helicopter. Back at the extremely windy car-parking venue, we decided that it would be best to relocate to the shoppers’ car park in town, for pie tasting and tea. First we sampled Quails eggs with celery salt then the pies: first was Greens outdoor reared Gloucester Old Spot pie, this was small on aroma but big on taste, the meaty filling had a good texture and was well seasoned, predominately with sage then pepper. The pastry did not find favour with all and this pie came in with a score of 8.1875 with a standard deviation of 0.84251. The second offering was pies made on the premises of Chapmans butchers: Three good-looking 8oz pies were sliced into thirds and released a wonderful aroma... The nice marbled pink filling was surrounded by air and not a hint of jelly. Unfortunately these pies had little flavour and needed mustard. The pastry too, was bland so a poor score of 4.9375 with a standard deviation of 1.02. Thankfully we had the Shortcake to rejuvenate the taste buds. So Greens outdoor reared Gloucester Old Spot pie scores a normalised 8, Chapmans scores a normalised 5.

      Greens of Thaxted                                     Chapmans of Marthham

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

Picnic Fayre Feast

After the apology of a pie last week, Manola offered to source a pie from Picnic Fayre, Wells-next-the-Sea. Manola came up trumps with not a single pie but four! To work up a healthy appetite for this feast we set out on a 6.25 mile walk around Narborough, first visiting All Saints church and failing to spot a scratch dial that was apparently on a tower buttress. We headed northwest to Pentney to the church of Mary Magdalene for our lunch stop, again no scratch dials were found. A final 2.25 miles back to the car without a drink - the Ship Inn, our planned stop, was now a Chinese restaurant. We'd had a pleasant walk, crossing and following the Nar on several occasions, now as we approached the cars, our walk master spared us crossing the A47 by going under the road bridge over the river. This was a very low bridge requiring all to duck down, however as we went under the bridge it got lower - getting us walking on all fours at the end! Thankfully, we had not consumed our cup of tea and feast: First Smoked Salmon Tsar Slices with Soy & Honey dip and Wasabi. The two medium pies (apparently made in Norwich) were next consumed, these had no jelly and a soft meat filling, sausage meat like and well seasoned, tasty but maybe not what you would expect in a pork pie. These scored a very respectable 7.375 with a standard deviation of 0.744. Next, we sampled the Gloucester Old Spotís, we sampled these on the 11th May at Salthouse, today they didnít have such a high gloss pastry and not quite so crisp. They did have a very small amount of jelly, I personally preferred these to the medium pies but they came in with a score of 7.125 with a higher standard deviation of 0.79057. Finally, we finished with authentic Turkish Delight ñ not as sweet as the UK version and with hazel nut. So thatís a normalised 7.5 for Picnic Fayre medium pies and 7 for their Gloucester Old Spot.

Picnic Fayre Deli, Gloucester Old Spot

Yet another new pie to sample on our second week of May! We headed to Salthouse to enjoy some sea breeze in the exceptionally hot weather. Then we discovered that we were on one of Ricky’s extreme walks, as we climbed Great Hulver Hill in the baking sun under fire! We were beside a clay pigeon shoot and the shot was raining down around us... It then occurred to me that Ricky may be putting us through his series of extreme walks on the orders of Colonel O' Shaunessey-Patel, to form a crack commando unit of the Bombay Irish Regiment? We took shelter and refreshments in the cool (18.8ºC) porch of St Mary, Kelling, before returning to Salthouse to sample local pies from just along the coast. These were Gloucester Old Spot from the Picnic Fayre Deli in Cley next the Sea. They looked fantastic with a high gloss finish and I was sure these would be cooked – unlike the Gloucester Old Spot pies from the Champion public house on the 8th July, last year. Manola had purchased a standard pork pie from here and it scored a healthy 8.5 on the 26th November 2006. Cutting into the pork pies revealed a crispy pastry and a dark pink mottled filling, but no jelly. The proof of a pie is in the munching and boy did these taste great, but not what you really expect from a pork pie. This and the lack of jelly ensured they didn’t displace Mrs. King from the leader board but came in with a high score 9.071429 with a quite high standard deviation of 0.7868, so a normalised 9 for Cley’s Deli Gloucester Old Spots.

Gloucester Old Spots. Photograph ©2008 Juan Luis

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.