Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
PIE HEAVEN!
A mouthwatering new documentary lifts the lid on the annual British Pie Awards – where the judges don’t mince their words
Traditional steak and kidney, plump and handsomely crimped pork pie, even a vegan pie – they’re all part of a great British tradition. As a nation we’ve never held back from sticking pastry on top of a filling, and every year our best butchers and bakers descend on the Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray for The British Pie Awards, the BAFTAs of the pie world.
Melton Mowbray is historically famous for pies, says Stephen Hallam, managing director of pork pie makers Dickinson & Morris but known as Mr Pork Pie of Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe. Lush Leicestershire pastures produce Stilton cheese, he explains, and the by-product is whey, which is good for fattening pigs. Sadly, his is now ye only olde pork pie shop in the town, although a generation ago there were 20. ‘It’s part of our heritage,’ he says. ‘From the 17th century, when the hunting folk descended in autumn and winter, they’d take the field workers on as grooms and their lunch would be a chunk of pork crudely wrapped in pastry.’ In 1831, baker Edward Adcock started producing a more refined version, and that was the birth of the Melton Mowbray pork pie.
Now a new BBC1 documentary, Life Of Pies, lifts the pastry lid on the pie industry’s event of the year as bakers vie for the coveted ‘Pie of Pies’ award, the Supreme Champion’s silver cup. ‘Electing a pope has nothing on this,’ says awards chairman Matthew O’Callaghan. Competitor Phil Turner, a third-generation pie-maker from West Sussex, was last year’s champion with a steak and ale pie that scored an almost perfect 99/100 from the judges. His family business dates back to the 1930s when his granny Eva was renowned for the steak and kidney pies she served at a Bognor Regis hotel. Phil is keen to defend his title, but no one has been champion two years running.
From Blackburn, Zainab Bilal is something of a pie- oneer. Having had her pies commended at the competition in the past she believes she’s the first halal baker to triumph in the contest, undaunted by the fact that her religious faith prevents her from tasting much of the opposition. Zainab’s pie factory began in her narrow kitchen in a street of terraced houses. She’d had a bad day at work, she recalls, and came home and made a creamy chicken and mushroom pie ‘ for some “me-time”’. She was so pleased with it she posted the result on social media – and within seconds people were asking where they
could buy one. ‘That was the moment I thought I could turn something I do for fun or to feed my kids into a business. It’s easy to put pastry on top of leftover curry,’ she says. ‘That’s how it started. I look back and we’ve come so far.’ Two years ago Zainab, 40, moved her pies into a factory unit with three staff, but the mother of five still works full-time as a teacher.
Zainab’s best-seller is her chicken taco pie. She has huge respect for traditional pie-makers, she says, but people and flavours change. ‘I think there’s room for newcomers. We want to celebrate diversity.’ Her eclectic pies reflect this, embracing Italian calzone, veggie masala and Philly steak. And she’s planning to launch a hangover pie. ‘Sometimes I’ll be eating something and I’ll think, “That would go really well in a pie!”’
There are rules, however, that must be obeyed: an eligible pie must be fully encased in pastry, any fancy lattice work and it’s out. Village butcher Tom Deakin, who resembles a plump, pink sausage, has his motto ‘Never trust a skinny butcher’ emblazoned on his van. At his shop near Alfreton, Derbyshire, he sells up to 600 pies a week, and he knows exactly what goes into them. Viewers see Tom, who keeps 400 sheep and 350 goats, pinching lambs on his farm to select the one that will end up in his lamb, mushy peas, gravy and mint sauce pie. ‘Put your hand on its back, see if you can feel the meat. If it’s too lean, it’s not fat enough for the job.’
Tom’s whole family is involved on the farm: that’s wife Samantha and their five children, aged 20 to six. ‘They all have their jobs, they’re not frightened to do what they have to do. We’re one of the hardest-working families you’ll come across,’ boasts their dad. As for pie-making, ‘My mum taught us when we were kiddies,’ he says. He uses his mum’s recipes, ‘and then I just tinker a bit’.
The judges are looking for a pie that stops you in your tracks, says Stephen Hallam, who was Supreme Champion two years ago. ‘They’re looking for the wow factor, is it worthy of being Supreme Champion? It needs to look good, not over or underbaked. Then there’s the aroma, and you haven’t even cut into it yet. You’re listening to your knife, feeling the pastry as you cut it. Does it live up to its name? Is the filling in harmony with the pastry? There’s something joyous about baking a pie that passes satisfaction on to somebody else.’
Some pies fall at the first hurdle. Tom sees a friend’s disqualified for being overweight. (‘Tek a bite out of it,’ he says.) The judges don’t mince their words either. ‘One pie was a disgrace, it looked like a child had made it, only three bits of chicken and it had a soggy bottom!’ said a judge.
At the end of the day, Zainab is thrilled that her calzone pie is highly commended, only narrowly beaten by a chicken, brie and cranberry pie. Phil’s steak and mature Cheddar pie was best in class, and Tom’s flocks have done him proud – bronze for his steak pie, silver for his curried goat pasty and gold for his lamb. ‘It’s a big achievement for a little butcher’s like ours to take on the big boys,’ he says.
As for the Supreme Champion, the ‘pie of pies’, 2019? Well, you’ll have to tune in, but suffice to say the pie world may be flipping its lid!
‘Electing a pope has nothing on this competition’ MATTHEW O’CALLAGHAN
Life Of Pies airs on Monday at 7.30pm on BBC1.