Pork pie piffle

[further]

I worked in a brewery years ago didn't stop me drinking.

 

[BoldonLad]

Those stories about someone working at factories and never eating this or that ever again - are they true? I've heard so many over the years, if I believed all of them I'd be living on only fresh air through fear

I don't know if they are ALL true, but, my ex-son-in-law worked in a cheese factory, at one stage, and would not eat cheese. Personally, I worked at a crisp factory for. about a year, it didn't stop me eating them, but, it certainly diminished by enthusiasm for crisps, particularly flavoured crisps.

I like eating... so... the moral of the story, for me, is do not work in food processing plants...

 

[Gunk]

A downside to being an expat is missing certain things from back home, and one of my yearnings is pork pies - but no more. Recently discovered that they are available here at the malls, albeit frozen, and in the guise of a new brand to me - Stobarts. The packaging says 'Made in Yorkshire', so no doubt all you folk from oop north are familiar to it. Now I must say they are most delicious, and even Mrs Crank approves. She's often heard me mention this delicacy, and has finally had a taste for herself, but preferred hers warmed up in the microwave, my preference is cold.
Here's a pic of one I just consumed, and enjoying a cuppa now to wash it down:
View attachment 574744

I prefer the next size up from these, as you get a better pastry/meat ratio, but beggars can't be choosers eh.

Another thing I miss is decent chocolate, and I recently found Ikea's own branded stuff, and what a find.
About the same price as a bar of Cadburys back there, and just as scrummy.
View attachment 574749
I normally get back there twice a year, spring and autumn, but this will be the second Easter I have to miss.
Next to no chance of getting any choccy eggs here..........oh well.

Friends of ours live in Singapore for 5 years, he missed a proper pint of real ale and Revels!

 

[Gunk]

I worked in a brewery years ago didn't stop me drinking.

I worked in an Abattoir for two years, I still eat meat.

 

[slowmotion]

My daughter treated me to a tour of the Griffin brewery in Chiswick eighteen months ago. The guide told us that the brewery workers used to be given beer vouchers in their pay packets. These could be fed into a slot in a wall-mounted vending machine which dispensed a set volume of beer. Alas, Elf & Safety did for that wonderful idea. She said that the atmosphere at work was always very jolly.

 

[randynewmanscat]

downside to being an expat is missing certain things from back home, and one of my yearnings is pork pies

This. I've spent the last hour chatting with my Mrs on the phone and Melton Mowbray pies got a mention.
The heathen French do not indulge in anything you or I would recognise as a pie.
She has put suet in a crate of stuff I am sending over and I intend to try my hand at crafting pork pies.

 

[byegad]

Those stories about someone working at factories and never eating this or that ever again - are they true? I've heard so many over the years, if I believed all of them I'd be living on only fresh air through fear

OK! You asked for this.
A lady I worked with had previously worked in a crisp factory.
When they fired up the heaters for the fat, they had to wait until it got to the prescribed heat and then....
Someone had to remove the fried mice who had burrowed into the cold fat during the weekend, before they fried the sliced potatoes. Offer her a crisp and she turned green.

 

[Chris S]

The cream and the jam vats were open at the top and everybody who passed dipped their fingers in for a lick, I kid you not.

I was at college with somebody who used to work at Fox's Biscuits. He told me that somebody there used to masturbate into the custard cream mix.

 

[randynewmanscat]

Those stories about someone working at factories and never eating this or that ever again - are they true? I've heard so many over the years, if I believed all of them I'd be living on only fresh air through fear

In 2004 I was in Burgundy for the vindage. A friend in Nuit St George is a negociant recoltant and was busy processing the mounting harvest.
He asked me if I wanted to tread the chapeau down in the cuves. The fermentation causes the skin mass to rise to the top and they push it back down in the time honoured fashion.
So I found myself immersed in stainless steel fermenter wearing just a cotton slip and treading and pulling down thick carpets of grape skins.
Somewhere in the world a rich Japanese or Texan has marvelled at his $200 bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin blissfully unaware that an Englishmans testicles got dipped in his wine.

 

[figbat]

This. I've spent the last hour chatting with my Mrs on the phone and Melton Mowbray pies got a mention.
The heathen French do not indulge in anything you or I would recognise as a pie.
She has put suet in a crate of stuff I am sending over and I intend to try my hand at crafting pork pies.

What's the suet for? Pork pies traditionally use a hot water crust pastry, made with lard. It's one of my favourite pastries to work with as it is so pliable and shapeable if dealt with when still a little warm. For proper authenticity you should hand-raise them around a 'dolly' former, leading to the characteristic barrel shape as they are shaped and baked with no external support.

This is as good a recipe as any.

 

[MichaelW2]

The Spaniah have empanada which is a pretty literal translation of pie but they fill it with tuna. Found throughout the Splanglosphere.

 

[pawl]

I worked in an Abattoir for two years, I still eat meat.

Does tend to get under ones fingernails u

 

[randynewmanscat]

What's the suet for? Pork pies traditionally use a hot water crust pastry, made with lard. It's one of my favourite pastries to work with as it is so pliable and shapeable if dealt with when still a little warm. For proper authenticity you should hand-raise them around a 'dolly' former, leading to the characteristic barrel shape as they are shaped and baked with no external support.

This is as good a recipe as any.

Long story short, rendered beef fat seems to be another mystery ingredient that perhaps is kept under the counter and must be asked for with a code word.

 

[randynewmanscat]

What's the suet for? Pork pies traditionally use a hot water crust pastry, made with lard. It's one of my favourite pastries to work with as it is so pliable and shapeable if dealt with when still a little warm. For proper authenticity you should hand-raise them around a 'dolly' former, leading to the characteristic barrel shape as they are shaped and baked with no external support.

This is as good a recipe as any.

I watched a program with a piece about Melton Mowbray pies last year and thought about them for days.

 

[Pale Rider]

A dish best served cold in my opinion.

I've had a couple of pies from an 'award winning' butcher in Bedale, north Yorkshire, but being warm seemed to add to the greasiness.

Neither did the clever flavours work for me.

My preference is a simple Melton Mowbray from the supermarket chiller with tomato ketchup.