Mediterranean pie takes big bite out of the competition
A MEDITERRANEAN treat conceived in Macclesfield has been given national recognition at the British Pie Awards.
The butternut squash and Mediterranean vegetable pie, created by Mark Wilkinson of Macclesfield based Treacle Town Pie Company, was given a gold award and highly commended meaning it came second overall in the ‘Vegetarian Pie’ class.
Two other pies produced at the Charlotte Street premises – a beef, Guinness and Cheshire blue cheese and a chicken, pancetta and lemon thyme variety – also received bronze awards during the competition.
Mark, 42, a former executive chef at Mottram Hall whose previous culinary career saw him work internationally at Conrad’s in Sydney and in France, set up the pie making and catering business in 2009.
The British Pie Awards took place in the Leicestershire town famous for its crusty pork savouries, Melton Mowbray.
Mark said it was quite a logistical feat to get the pies there in prime condition.
He said: “I entered seven pies and they all had to be produced and transported down on the day.
“For food hygiene reasons they have to be thoroughly chilled and below 8 degrees centigrade and obviously I wanted them to be in perfect condition for the judges so there was a lot of delicate packing into cool boxes.”
The fact that the butternut squash variety was voted national runner up meant Mark was invited to the gala dinner at the end of the awards week which celebrates all things pastry.
Mark added: “To get three prizes was amazing. It adds to the other gold, eight silvers and seven bronze awards for my pies I’ve got over the past four years.
“The three that won for this time I class as my ‘speciality pies’ which vary week by week and are on sale on Fridays and Saturdays at the Macclesfield shop.
“I think the beef pie with Cheshire blue cheese is my favourite.
“I’m proud it has a local connection. The cheese has an orange colour and melts through the top of the pastry, which makes it look very striking.”
The awards saw 963 entries from 180 producers go before the judges.
They are organised by the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association.
For the purposes of the awards, a pie is defined to be ‘a filling wholly encased in pastry and baked’.