Canapés and Shortbreads

With King Canape and José Luis away, Don was believed to be still in Londinium, the Pie Master thought our numbers would be small. He took the easy option and purchased some canapés. In the event, Don was here, as was Manola and we were joined by Charles II. The Walk Master had devised a walk around Cantley and we set off in two cars for the village hall. From here we took the footpath south to the church of St. Margaret, our first visit, but found no scratch dials. We continued south, crossing the railway line to the river, where we walked along the bank a little way before heading inland past fields of bullocks. We crossed the railway line again and walked through the village. From here we set off north west, and then north, over Swill's Meadow following a long straight path through a field of wheat. Quiet roads then took us to Hassingham church of St. Mary for lunch at 4 miles. We had previously visited this church and found no scratch dials. Now a mile and a quarter along Church Lane and permissive footpaths, took us to the Cantley Cock - the scene of the "Prussic acid" Christmas cake incident in 2005! Here we had pints of Wadworth’s Henry's Original IPA, that was on special offer. While consuming our beverages, we were joined by Cath, who then walked the last mile back to the cars. We stopped to purchase various local fruit & veg before returning to the cars. Thankfully, Paul had realised there would be no canapés, so had brought some French bread and Parma ham. This supplemented the single pack of smoked salmon crescents brought by the Pie Master. Scottish Shortbreads completed the post walk munching.

Too hot for Pork Pies!

The hot weather not finding Favour with the Pie Master, he had failed to procure pork pies earlier in the week! Josie had decided it was too hot to walk, so the Pie Master thought it prudent to stay at home too. Other pie munchers too called off due to the heat. Four intrepid pie munchers, sans pies, headed for Sheringham. Parking by the approach road to Sheringham, they made their way through Upper Sheringham and through Sheringham Park seeing many butterflies. Crossing the North Norfolk Railway line to the beach, they headed east where they took refreshment in "The Lobster" public house. Here they observed a chap playing with his model railway set up, complete with a locomotive and carriages with "Say No Tesco" livery. Leaving the town, they headed towards Beeston Regis, following the beck to Back Common. Then back into Sheringham woods where they got a little lost! They made it back to the car for tea with Spanish omelette.

Photographs by José Luis

José Luis also alerted the Pork Pie News to this wooly pie by Kate Jenkins:

Mickey

Mickey in the church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Mautby, on 31st August 2008

Today, the Pork Pie News learnt that Mickey was put to sleep last week. Mickey occasionally joined us on our pie munching expeditions with his “girl friend” Giada. Mickey had lived a long healthy life and deteriorated quickly at the end. I know all pie munchers will be saddened by this news and our sympathy goes to Wendy and Tim.

Laurels Farm Butchers

More Suffolk pies this week, two medium pies from Laurels Farm Butchers in Eye. We were sampling them in their home county: the pie munchers headed down to Reydon to walk by the coast. Parking in the shade, in the car park of St. Margaret’s church, we had a little quiet road walking, as we made our way east. as we made our way east. We passed several interesting buildings, including the twin turrets at the entrance to a rest home for the aged in Covert Road. We then took footpaths to the coast at Southwold, emerging through the barren landscape, just north of the pier. Lunch again this week was taken above the very choppy waves, on the pier, after visiting the “Under the Pier show”. Continuing our walk south, along the sea front, we paused by Gunn Hill while José and José Luis went swimming and the Walk Master had a paddle. We followed the coast along The Denes to the river, where we headed inland by the River Blyth to the Harbour Inn for pints of excellent Adnams. We then headed north over Busscreek Marshes and then up Shepherd’s Lane, passing St. Felix school. Crossing the Halesworth Road, we continued north by a footpath to return to St. Margaret’s church, where we examined it unsuccessfully for scratch dials. Then the raison d’etre for this Sunday’s outing: King Prawns with a marie rose sauce were today’s canapé, preceding the pork pies from Laurels Farm Butchers. The Pie Master, eager to sample these good-looking pies, did the pie photography without Svinjski Sudal! King Canape realising this oversight alerted the Pie Master who then re-photographed the, now sliced, pies with our mascot. These excellent pies delivered on all counts: nice aroma, well jellied, crisp tasty pastry with a flavoursome meaty filling, further enhanced with a dab of mustard. Not surprisingly, these pies found favour with all eleven pie munchers, resulting in a score of 8.45455 with a standard deviation of 0.87905. The traditional shortbread returned this week, completing the munching. So Laurels Farm Butchers score a normalised 8.5 on their first outing with the pie munchers.

Roll mouse over picture to see uncut pie

Wm. Morrison (star shaped) hand raised pies

“Star shaped” hand raised pies from the in-store bakery of Wm. Morrison, were the pies of choice for the final munching of flaming June. As it was so hot, we headed to Overstrand for a walk near the coast. Parking by the cricket ground we walked west along the main road to the church of St. Martin, but not visiting it, before we headed up Newman’s Hill. Descending by Suffield Park to join the Paston Way, we passed Cromer lighthouse that featured prominently in the classic 1960’s film “The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter”. We headed towards and walked through Cromer, to the zigzag slope on the west of the town, that goes down to the prom. Now walking east, we made our way to the pier to consume our sandwiches above the sea. The Walk Master then led us up a steep ascent of the cliffs to the Red Lion with it's good selection of beers, of which we sampled “Stripey Jack” from Bees brewery, Woodforde’s “Sundew” & Wolf’s " Straw Dog". We made our way back to Overstrand on the firm sand, thanks to the low tide. Heading back to the town centre via The Londs, we passed the impressive clock tower at The Pleasaunce - designed by Edwin Lutyens and dating from 1897-9. We took our tea and pies to Overstrand cricket ground to utilise the seating. Only Six munchers this week, no King Canape, so straight into the pies: cutting revealed a bright pink interior with no jelly and no aroma. Munching proved the crust to be both crisp and tasty, the filling less so, tasting faintly of unsmoked ham. Mustard didn't really enhance the flavour. The pies were judged to have an acceptable score of 7.25 – marginally higher than when we last sampled these on the 31^st May, last year. The standard deviation was also slightly lower at 0.68920 and with one less muncher! While consuming the post pie Shortbreads, José noticed the cricket club's fixture list and that Overstrand were playing the Bystanders Cricket club on 12^th June and ^14th August. Wm Morrison’s star shaped pies get a normalised score of 7.5 on this outing.

Pork Farms Vintage Melton Mowbray

A new pie for the pie munchers this week: Pork Farms Vintage Melton Mowbray mini pork pies. After being let down on pork pies in the west of the county, the Pie Master was unable to source quality local pork pies from that part of the county on Friday. Finding these “Vintage” pies in a supermarket, he thought they should be sampled – CAMRA’s “Beer” magazine (Autumn 2009, p42) had rated them above their original pies. The munching was well attended, three cars heading to Wiveton and parked on the green. We didn’t explore the church of St. Mary, as we’d visited it several times in the past. We made our way east over Wiveton Bridge, over the River Glandford, and then north to the church of St. Margaret, Cley. Here we admired the naughty carvings in the roof and porch. Continuing north and using the facilities of the village hall, we passed the “Picnic Fayre” and its wonderful delicacies before heading out onto the marches, with great views of Cley windmill. During this exceedingly bracing portion of the Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast path, we spotted a Kestrel hunting over the marches and a yellow, search and rescue, Sea King helicopter. Lunch was taken in the lee of the bank, by the duck pond at Blakeney. Here a clever Tern managed to stand on the wire fence – not easy for a bird with webbed feet! Next the pie munchers Beer kitty took a serious denting with a visit to the Kings Arms. Horrendously expensive pints of warm, lifeless Wherry and awful Adnams (exchanged for Wherry) were purchased. After our not so refreshing, refreshments, we ascended the B1156 and then a bridle way, to the Wiveton Downs. As we descended from here, a Marsh Harrier was spotted being harassed by a sea gull. Later, we came upon a toad in the road, which we relocated to the safety on the grass bank. Juan Luis, thinking there was a chance that this was a princess, had to be restrained from kissing it. We completed our decent at the cars. Our first course were ricotta-stuffed cherry peppers, quite hot, possibly affecting the pie munchers palates. One pie was sliced open, revealing the grey filling with a soupçon of jelly. The pie had no aroma and a soft crust, the filling was exceptionally bland and desperately in need of mustard. The pie scored an unbelievably high, spot on 6.5 with a high standard deviation of 1.19659.

Samphire pies

Award winning Samphire pork pies, last sampled by the pie munchers way back on the 11^th March 2007, were this week's porky delight, purchased from their Wymondham Shop. Potter Heigham was the chosen location for this week’s sampling. We parked by the parish church of St. Nicholas, and then started by searching for a scratch dial, finding a faint example by the priest’s door. The church was locked so we were unable to explore the interior. We headed north towards Hickling broad and then walked east, spotting several hairy caterpillars, believed to be that of the garden tiger moth. The Walk Master, coming to a notice regarding flood defence work, had to make a quick revision to the proposed route. Our passage south, along the River Thurne, was blocked, so instead we headed south down Middle Wall. Lunch was taken on the seating provided by the old bridge at Potter Heigham. We then walked down the west bank of the River Thurne, behind the assorted holiday accommodation, including the “Dutch Tutch” formed from a cut-down Helter skelter. We then turned right, down Horsefen Bank and then made our way to the welcome Falgate Inn. The day had warmed up and it was very humid, we were all starting to flag. Pints of Adnams Broadside rejuvenated us for the last mile back to the cars and pies. The Führer being on holiday, tea duties fell on Josie. King Canape was back this week with healthy carrot sticks with Lemon & coriander and Moroccan style Humous, to sample before the pies. The good-looking small pies had obviously been baked in foil cups and appeared to have Parmesan cheese on the top. Cutting the pies released a little but good porky aroma. No jelly was visible but the filling looked meaty. Munching confirmed this, a tasty crust enclosing a good textured filling, nicely spiced with herbs. This pie held its head up high without the application of mustard, and its addition distracted from the flavour. The pie munchers rated this pie 8.22222 with a standard deviation of 0.79495. Slightly better timed than last week, the Walk Master’s Scottish Shortbreads were consumed just before the rain came. These were good pies from Samphire scoring a normalised 8.