Saturday, 15 July 2017

'Simple Simon met a pieman . . .'




A fool and his money are soon parted. This is especially true of a fool who loves pies. It’s why I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a food market. This little lot:
A packet of wild boar bacon (dry and disappointingly  tasteless)
A packet of traditional pig bacon. (Nice, one very happy fool.)
Four cheeses. Cheddar. Unpasteurised. (Hit the tastebuds running)
And five pies ranging from Chicken, ham and leek, Steak and Kidney, Venison, Beef in wine, and Wild Game pie.  I would still have been buying but someone with more sense pulled me back.

I love pies. Every kind of pie, though I draw the line at what I call the ‘adventurous pie.’ One that I still dream about we bought from our local butchers in Aintree and also local chip shops. They were small and round in hot water pastry. They contained a large dollop of peppery minced meat swimming in hot gelatine, and they were heaven. If anyone knows where I can buy them, please send me a line – better still a pie. *

The adventurous pie is an entirely different kettle of fish. They’re a bit like the previous mixed metaphor. They’re just wrong. I’m talking about pies like Beef and Stilton and worst of all – curry pies. Wrong wrong wrong, like Saris in Iceland, roast pork in Mecca, Gazpacho in Saskatoon, and Mars Bars deep-fried. There are also curry pasties, and they’re pretty foul too.

But enough of this, I have a fridge full of pies to get through and four solid weeks in the gym

*I’m wondering whether they were called Scotch pies but googling it, it seems they have gravy in them – not the hot succulent, gelatinous meat I remember. The search continues.

4 comments:

Maria Zannini said...

Most meat pies in the states are ethnic-based. I'm more of a fruit pie girl myself.

Tilly should be ready for the freezer by fall. Have you ever tasted fresh bacon without the preservatives?

Mike Keyton said...

I like fruit pies as well, as long as they are not too sweet. Can't abide over sweet pies, over sweet anything. Ref the noble Tilly, I'd love to sample some of that bacon - though I might block out the image of you two killing it 😃 Ref ethnic based pies - details? Sounds interesting 😀

Maria Zannini said...

I meant all the pies each ethnic group has, like English pies, Mexican, Indian, etc.

Most cultures have some sort of 'home' pie. In the US, I guess it's the chicken pot pie, though I've never cared for it.

re; sweet pies
Remind me never to make you a pecan pie. Most Southern pecan pies are sweet enough to put you into a diabetic coma. But what a way to go. :)










Mike Keyton said...

I know what you meant, and at the risk of contradicting my blog post, I love Indian Samosas and Pakora, as well as Chinese dumplings. I suppose subconsciously I don't see them as pies. Ref pecan pie a small portion might be nice, but anything bigger than a thumb, i'm not so sure 😋