Currently a hit amongst the pie-lovers of Fuerteventura, we've been alerted to the existence of Sad Pie. Mark writes:

"Hi Pie-Man

Thought you might like this picture of my friend Sad Pie, he was a tasty little pastry but was just a little bit sad about the whole oven thing.

He has had many adventures, such as pie-diving, deep sea pie-ving, playing pie-rates, he's even been to see the London Sad P-eye, and the L'arc de Pie-umph and the Pieffel Tower in Paris.

Pie love for all."

Keep your eyes peeled folks, you never know where he's going to pop up next.

Labels: comedy pies

Our intrepid reporter spent Monday evening in London in the company of some nice people from Pork Farms Bowyers. In case you're wondering, that's not as strange as it seems - they make pork pies of all sizes and persuasions, and, if you were listening last year (keep up at the back), were big in the whole European regional status for Melton Mowbray debate.

Ooh, look at us. It's all gone serious. The next thing you know, we'll actually be following the news and writing proper analysis and everything.

Anyway, where was I? Yes, pork pies. And tasting thereof.

Our man down south says their Medium Pork Pie is rather respectable - "excellent" in fact. How does he know? Well, it's a long story, involving an invite to a party at Jongleurs, a while spent listening to some rather good comics (Dom Joly, Paul Tonkinson et al), several pints, a huge buffet and a goody bag of rather good (and large) pork pies.

But let it not be said that here at pie-man towers we can be swayed by the delights of a PR junket. Our man assures me he was sober (ish), and escaped before the disco dancing started. We believe him...

He reckons his freebie pies were pretty good - not too much fat, or jelly, and some nice meat (no chewy bits or gristle). For a mass-market pork pie, the boys done ok. Shame about their disco dancing, but you can't have everything.

Labels: comedy pies

It's a perennial topic, this one. Summed up beautifully by Mary, who emailed us this week to say:

"My problem with Fray Bentos pies is the tin they come in. You can't open the damn things. I have arthritis and trying to open a pie of theirs is like climbing Mount Everest. I have used 4 different kinds of opener and in the finish my husband used metal cutters..."

Mary, we feel your pain. Take a look at what happened to Dave...a phone call to Fray Bentos customer services on 0800 7310989 may be in order.

UPDATE

Another intrepid Fray Bentos eater, Sam, suggests a way to take out your tin frustration:

"If after all the effort, you finally eat the pie and feel disappointed with the reward, you can take out your anger on the pie-tin lids by making them into a drum kit! I even wired them up to my computer to trigger real drum sounds. The pie-tin lids are perfect as component parts for an electronic drum kit. I am greatly indebted to Fray Bentos for this.

Labels: fray bentos, tin openers

It's not a subject that pie-man's explored much, given our northern origins. But Kevin has emailed us asking

"Please can you help! Do you know of a recipe you could email me on how to make authentic "Pie, Mash, & Liquor"?

A quick search of Google revealed a beautiful picture of same, and a short history of this East End of London speciality complete with liquor recipe. Does anyone have any others they can recommend? Or know of a good pie and mash shop we can point Kevin in the direction of?

Labels: green liquor, pie and mash, pies

Dear Pie-man.com,

Yours is a fantastic website, great fun, very funny and all about pies. What's not to like?

I did notice that there is a distinct lack of information regarding piephilia outside Tyneside and the north, and nothing wrong with that, of course. Down here in the shandy-drinking bed-wetting south, the pie is possibly not as highly regarded as in the north but there are notable exceptions.

Coming from the East End of London (it has to be typed like that for reasons of tourism), pies were an important part of childhood. Pie and Mash Shops (tourism again) might seem like a cliche but done properly it is a true and genuine local food with a history and integrity. I have tried and failed many times to recreate the pie shop pie but to no avail. No amount of Google-ing provided any answers. I imagine that the recipes are jealously guarded family secrets.

I found a very fine regional dish on a market stall in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk (who incidentally sold only this). Freshly baked and still hot home made minced beef and onion pies into which you add mushy peas, vinegar, and get this, mint sauce! Crazy dish, crazy town.

If any of your readers venture even further south to the port towns of Kent I would recommend the finest "cornish" pasty I've ever tried. Seek out an independent family chain of butchers called Rook and Sons who do the best pasty. They do two types. Both hot and ready to go. The slightly more expensive one is larger and has puff pastry (a Bafta winner, say of Kevin Spacey status), but the Nobel peace prize and Oscar winner (de Niro, natch) is the smaller shortcrust cornish pasty. Superb, no-eggwash short pastry, with a thin veneer of crust concealing moist and gravy-laden pastry with a filling of finely minced lean beef, onion, a little carrot (sorry Cornwall) a little seasoning and the richest, almost black, gravy ever to be found in a baked, shop-bought product. Truly wonderful.

I enjoyed your pie reviews. I have experienced (tasted would be incorrect) the same pies as in your review. You are quite correct. Make your own, already!

Regards, Glenn

Labels: pies