Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Pie hopes for baker in global competition
An upper crust Airdrie bakery has made the shortlist of the 22nd world championship Scotch pie awards.
Christie the Baker is in contention for a prestigious prize following an annual judging day held earlier this month, when more than 70 butchers and bakers delivered 400 of the nation’s best pies to more than 50 experts in their field.
Under the watchful eye of head judge Ian Nelson, each entry was carefully assessed for its “appearance, consistency and, of course, taste”.
The judges selected a series of “best in category” pies including the 2022 world champion, although for this ultimate category there is still one final stage to determine the winner – a “mystery shop” to ensure the pie entered into the awards is exactly the same as that sold day in and day out to happy customers.
As always, the judges were looking for pie perfection across 11 categories: Scotch pie; football pies and savouries; macaroni pie; steak pie; sausage roll; cold savoury; hot savoury; vegetarian savoury; haggis savoury; bridie; and apple pies.
Christie the Baker will find out if they been successful when the winners are announced at a prestigious lunch on January 18 at the Westerwood Hotel in Cumbernauld, hosted by television personality Carole Smilie.
Alasdair Smith, chief executive of competition organisers Scottish Bakers, said: “Announcing the shortlist is such a momentous moment as it’s the first inkling our entrants get that their pies have been judged to be the best of a very good field.
“It’s with great pleasure that we can announce that Christie the Baker has made it through.
“We took delivery of over 400 entries this year, so to be on the shortlist is a huge achievement.
“And for me it’s great to be recognising products which have been lovingly made from scratch from locally-sourced ingredients, freshly made daily by skilled craftspeople.”
Christie the Baker is no stranger to success in the competition after it won the overall best Scotch pie prize in 2013 – and its pie and bridie picked up gold awards at the following year’s event.
Following the hugely impressive 2013 honour, owner Andrew Chisholm told the Advertiser: “Words cannot express how delighted we are to have been given the ultimate accolade and to be able to call our pie the world champion as judged by a panel of experts is just fantastic.
“I only bought the business a few months ago so this award is a testament to the JB Christie’s team, who are the best.
“As a former supplier, I spent the last 10 years as a judge so the shoe’s very much on the other foot now. But I’m pretty sure it’s better being on this side of the contest.
“And it was funny, when we brought the pie-shaped trophy back someone asked if that was the actual winning pie.”