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

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.

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

Butlers Choice pork pies

A new pie for the pie munchers: Medium size Butlers Choice pork pies, homemade by award winning Mrs. Leeks! Purchased from R. A. Cawdron & Son in Stalham. The Walk Master, inspired by the recent Boldero walk, had us heading out to Great Ryburgh to sample the pies. This walk started as the last walk left off... We headed south down a muddy bridle way, the majority following the Walk Master down the left hand side. The Führer led a small party down the right-hand side! They all had to turn back, other than Don, who climbing through the bushes, managed to climb the embankment. Walking along the top of the embankment, passing obstacles on the way, he then met up with the main party via a decent through more bushes! We all eventually regrouped and continued south, observing a buzzard riding the thermals and passing the west gatehouse of Sennowe Hall, we arrived at the church of St. Helen, Gately - this was our lunch stop. Having consumed sandwiches and looked around the church, finding no scratch dials, we made our way back to Great Ryburgh along footpaths that followed the road. In the distance we observed a barn owl hunting and then later rabbits scurrying in the undergrowth, close to our path. We had a quick look around the exterior of St. Andrew’s as it sounded a service was under way. We crossed the road for pints of Adnams in very good condition at the Blue Boar Inn. We returned to the cars parked in front of the village hall, to sample Vintage Houmous with Celery prior to sampling the pies...These good-looking pies with good chunky meat filling and little jelly, released a beautiful aroma when sliced. The meat filling was very tasty and not really enhanced by mustard. The attractive pastry looked better than it tasted. However, these pies were a hit with the massed pie munchers; they were judged to be the best pies this year, with a score of 8.58333 and a standard deviation of 0.79296. The last pie to beat this was Hewitt's small pies sampled on 8th June, when the Führer was absent. The Walk Master then produced Shortcake to complete proceedings! So a normalised score of 8.5 for Butlers Choice pork pies.

Massed Pie Munchers at Great Ryburgh