Today's purveyors of pies were Greenwoods of Boroughbridge, Cockburns of Bedale and White's of Moreton-on-Swale.
I was greeted like a long lost friend at Greenwoods and my disappointment on finding that the pork and apple pies had sold out was soothed by being supplied with some oven fresh pork pies. The crust was perfect - dry, friable and not greasy. The jelly/gravy was a tasty enhancement to the spicy and lightly season pork filling that left a pleasant after taste. The pie could not be faulted in any aspect other than it being not being available in stand pie sizes at standard size prices.
10/10 - the first ever!
Moving on to Cockburns in Bedale 10/10 for salesmanship! I wanted pork and red onion pies. They had none. I left with pork and black pudding, pork and cranberry and a standard pork pie along with some millionaires shortbread and a bottle of Fentimen's orange jigger.
Only the pork and cranberry pie was consumed today. First impressions were not favourable. It was an open topped pie and the first bite had too much topping and too little pork and the balance was too much towards the sharpness of the cranberries. Subsequent bites revealed that there was a perfect balance between the pork, sharpness of the cranberries and the sweetness of the syrup containing the cranberries. I should have bought more! Great crust. Pie was served and eaten warm.
10/10 - the second perfect score
Finally White's of Moreton-on-Swale. The premises are easily overlooked as they are small and set back from the Bedale to Northallerton Road. Their hand made "Home baked pies" had grabbed my attention last year but I'd always had a full complement of pies before reaching the place. Today I forced myself and didn't regret it. The pie was duly bought and consumed further down the road in Northallerton. The crust was close to perfection but was a tad too dry possibly not enough lard in the pastry mix. The filling did what it should do - fill the pie with a pleasantly textured minced pork that was slightly peppery and pleasnantly spice. No jelly/gravy was present and this contributed to the dryness of the pie but didn't detract too much from its enjoyment.
9/10 - close to perfection
What a pietastic day!