vernon
Harder than Ronnie Pickering
- Location
- Meanwood, Leeds
Today was destined to be a pie day on account of me driving to Darlington to see a friend of forty five years standing, his expectation that I will arrive bearing pies and the route passing Boroughbridge - home of my favourite pie shop.
John, the butcher on seeing me enter his shop disappeared into the back and rentered bearing a platter of hot sausage pieces which he offered to to the two customers already in the shop and me. The customers had several fruitless attempts to identify the filling but, die to my extensive Yorkshire-wide pie sampling, I detected a gameyness and guessed at pork and pheasant before nailing it down to venison. Jackpot! He supplies them to Harrods. They were not an 'everyday' sausage but would be great as an occasional treat at Xmas. They are quite 'rich'. 8/10
I duly bought some of his excellent pork pies along with a brace of pork and apple pies and some black pudding and Welsh Dragon sausage. As is customary I asked for a pie for the road; it never survives the short drive back to the A1. John handed me my pie for the road bag and said 'I've slipped my latest pie in for you to sample. It's a pork, black pudding and caramelised onion pie. Let me know what you think when you next drop in'
A texted change of plans from a pal coming over tomorrow received after I'd left the butchers left me with four surplus pies over and above the Darlington consignment and my two for the road. But hey ho they'd not go to waste I pledged.
Anyhow over to the pies.
Pork and apple: Standards have been maintained with the quality and spicing of the pork and the balance with the apple sauce, not too much or too little and the sweetness/tartness of the apple was just right. The crust was a tad on the soft side but tasty nevertheless. 9/10.
Pork, black pudding and caramelised onion: The caramelised onion's aroma overpowered the fragrance of pork filling and masked the sage-y earthiness of the black pudding's olefactory stimulation. The crust was spot on as was the pork and black pudding fillings but the balance with the caramelised onion was too much in favour of the onion. It was still an entirely satisfactory pie. Folk who like to eat their pies with Branston Pickle and the like will instantly take to the pie. I'd prefer to have the onion content reduced to give access to the subtleties of the pork and black pudding's spices and seasonings. 6.5/10 with scope to reach 10/10 if the fillings are rebalanced.
On returning home I discovered that my daughter had expressed a yearning for a 'proper' butcher's pork pie and was unaware that I'd be returning home with some. She was ecstatic, eating one immediately and annexing one for lunch tomorrow. That leaves two for me!
I didn't get to see the Boroughbridge anarchist but wondered if he was connected with the reported explosion near Catterick Garrison that closed six miles of the A1 from there to beyond Scotch Corner.
John, the butcher on seeing me enter his shop disappeared into the back and rentered bearing a platter of hot sausage pieces which he offered to to the two customers already in the shop and me. The customers had several fruitless attempts to identify the filling but, die to my extensive Yorkshire-wide pie sampling, I detected a gameyness and guessed at pork and pheasant before nailing it down to venison. Jackpot! He supplies them to Harrods. They were not an 'everyday' sausage but would be great as an occasional treat at Xmas. They are quite 'rich'. 8/10
I duly bought some of his excellent pork pies along with a brace of pork and apple pies and some black pudding and Welsh Dragon sausage. As is customary I asked for a pie for the road; it never survives the short drive back to the A1. John handed me my pie for the road bag and said 'I've slipped my latest pie in for you to sample. It's a pork, black pudding and caramelised onion pie. Let me know what you think when you next drop in'
A texted change of plans from a pal coming over tomorrow received after I'd left the butchers left me with four surplus pies over and above the Darlington consignment and my two for the road. But hey ho they'd not go to waste I pledged.
Anyhow over to the pies.
Pork and apple: Standards have been maintained with the quality and spicing of the pork and the balance with the apple sauce, not too much or too little and the sweetness/tartness of the apple was just right. The crust was a tad on the soft side but tasty nevertheless. 9/10.
Pork, black pudding and caramelised onion: The caramelised onion's aroma overpowered the fragrance of pork filling and masked the sage-y earthiness of the black pudding's olefactory stimulation. The crust was spot on as was the pork and black pudding fillings but the balance with the caramelised onion was too much in favour of the onion. It was still an entirely satisfactory pie. Folk who like to eat their pies with Branston Pickle and the like will instantly take to the pie. I'd prefer to have the onion content reduced to give access to the subtleties of the pork and black pudding's spices and seasonings. 6.5/10 with scope to reach 10/10 if the fillings are rebalanced.
On returning home I discovered that my daughter had expressed a yearning for a 'proper' butcher's pork pie and was unaware that I'd be returning home with some. She was ecstatic, eating one immediately and annexing one for lunch tomorrow. That leaves two for me!
I didn't get to see the Boroughbridge anarchist but wondered if he was connected with the reported explosion near Catterick Garrison that closed six miles of the A1 from there to beyond Scotch Corner.
