Anna N

Time to taste test another steak and kidney pie. This one was from the British Grocer. Looking at the ingredient list I was surprised to see Bisto gravy. I’m not sure why that would surprise me.I als noticed the sodium content but it didn’t bother me. I don’t eat these every day. I reheated it in the Breville smart oven at 325°F for 50 minutes. @Kerry Bealis doing her level best to persuade me to use the Cuisinart steam oven on the steam bake setting. For reasons that I cannot explain even to myself, I can’t bring myself to do that. I did forget to take a pre-bake photograph. To please @rotuts, I attempted to transfer this from its foil pie plate to my bowl in such a way that it ended right side up. Instead I managed to pretty much destroy it proving once again that I’m right. The pie should be turned out of its pie dish so it lands bottom up and intact in the bowl. Again you can see there is no skimping on the kidney. In my opinion there was a little too much kidney. But the filling was tasty, tender and moist. The crust was excellent. It was crispy, flaky and tasty. Although I have not enjoyed the Bisto gravy I have made from the mix, it was perfectly palatable in this pie. Once again the compost bin went hungry.

Oh but you have so much to contribute even if it’s only memories! If it was feasible I would ship you boxcar quantities of pies and pastries and other crusty things. And after you had emptied the boxcar you could fill it with wonderful noodles and multiple varieties of mushrooms and bushels and bushels of fresh vegetables and fruits and send it on its way back to me.

That’s OK. But there’s a thought — perhaps you could start one. I’d be more than happy to tell you what is wrong with your crust, your filling, your choice of seasonings etc. etc. 😂

Fabulous.

You mean there is another way to eat them?😂

So, back to the subject at hand which is to compare savoury baked goods from various bakeries. For lunch today I thought I would try a chicken pie for a change. @Kerry Beal had brought two from Ernie’s Meat Market. Straight out of the freezer. After 50 minutes in the oven at 325°F. I’m sure you suspect that I have these two photographs reversed. The truth is that they were taken under very different lighting conditions and so are not terribly useful! Upturned into a bowl. Broken into. I found the crust to be flaky and quite palatable. Even the bottom crust was appealing in taste and texture. There was plenty of chicken and it was well flavoured. My choice would have been for considerably more vegetables and a little more “gravy”. I have been buying the Swiss Chalet chicken pot pie from the freezer case in the supermarket. I would have to say this pie was considerably better than those but still not quite the chicken pot pie of my dreams. But I did not leave very much for the compost heap. I know everyone has their own favourite recipe for a chicken pot pie but do let us remember that this is about commercially made pies.

I can defend myself only by pointing to the label. In my mind I hear “scotch meat pie“.

You were the very person I had in mind when I posted the photographs of the shelves in the store. I knew you would enjoy a good old browse. I have a recollection of a cooked dressing used on coleslaw which was reputed to last an inordinate amount of time in the refrigerator and that did remind me of Heinz salad cream. I think it was all the rage at one point in time — perhaps in the 60s.

I had not planned on dipping into my stash of crusty goodies so soon but by 6 PM yesterday evening I realized that I was downright hungry and that I had hardly eaten anything all day. Choices. Choices. Sometimes you can have just too many of them. But the Scottish meat pie won. I reheated it at 350°F for 30 minutes. It didn’t seem to take on very much color. When I broke into it I was a little disturbed by the color. I was certain that it was beef but this looked much more like pork. I checked the ingredients and it certainly said beef. As. you can probably see the meat is clumpy. That’s the best word I can come up with. But despite all these apparent anomalies (as compared to my expectations), the filling was well seasoned and quite palatable. It was a little like eating meatballs though. I had hesitated initially whether I should reheat one or two of these. I am glad I opted for only one because it was very filling. The crust is sturdy. It’s not horrible but neither is it particularly appealing either in taste, it has very little, or texture so I did not finish the bottom casing. Overall it was nowhere near my favourite but it did have its own appeal and I will certainly eat the second one.

The taste of a fine bourbon, I find, interferes with my enjoyment of a mouth-puckering onion.

I have a hard time getting my head around the idea of a curry pie but I’m sure I can get over it. Sooner or later I will be looking for a change of pace.

Now a meat pie with lamb would quickly find its way to the very top of my favourites list. No sign yet of any such thing though. Lamb is not highly regarded by much of the Canadian population.

So today @Kerry Beal got right into the spirit of the Crusty Chronicles. First stop: From left to right: two chicken pot pies (one on top of the other), a steak and mushroom pie and finally a steak and kidney pie. I had a steak and kidney pie from here some years back and it was delicious so I have high hopes. Perhaps more importantly Kerry came away knowing that on Saturdays they make three different sausage rolls. One is made with their own sausage, one with a honey garlic sausage and one with what they described as a country sausage. Visiting Ernie’s on a Saturday will be made a Kerry mission for one of the weekends when she is not holding down the ER in Dunnville. Next up: I know at least a couple of you will enjoy browsing the shelves: On the top shelf you will notice Heinz salad cream. I almost asked for a bottle and then remembered that I had tried it again a few years back and found it quite revolting. Strange because I have only good memories of it when I lived there. I was especially interested in the pickled onions. I want the ones that make you pucker up. No wussie onions for me. I was really torn between the Thurston‘s and the Heywoods. (Damn, I just noticed the jar of piccalilli.) And I do wonder what those Tesco soups are like. Here is the loot: No worries. I will not be eating bourbon biscuits and pickled onions at the same time. The biscuits are a product of dear old Marks and Sparks.

Leftovers from here.

@shain— your lunch looks delicious. Thank you for sharing. Once again @Kerry Beal brought lunch to my house. This time, at my request, she found a place that cooks a whole pig Chinese style. I have been missing this tweet since lockdown began in March. She was able to find us in Nations in Jackson Square, Hamilton. She selected some dim sum dishes to go along with the pork. Mixed vegetables. Noodles with rice. Not quite sure what do use are called but they were stuffed dumplings and extremely tasty. The pork of which there was an abundance. There was also some squid which didn’t get photographed before it was served. My plate. Lots of leftovers in my refrigerator to enjoy over the next day or so.

Roasted carrots and sliced, smoked duck breast.

I was raised and try to adhere to the virtuous belief that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.😘

Toulouse sausages — homemade – but not by me! Sous vide from frozen for two hours at 68.3°C then dried off and browned in the oven at 450°F for 10 minutes.

Grilled sharp cheddar and caramelized onions with a side of pickled onions.

Had some eggs that were getting a little long in the tooth (what is this about “scarce as hens teeth”?) but really did not want to waste them. But I also wanted eggs on toast. So they were boiled for five minutes, scooped into a bowl, seasoned and then spooned onto toast. Quite satisfactory.

Before proceeding to the next chapter of the Crusty Chronicles, I want to back up a bit and show you the comparison between the sausage roll that I had and the sausage roll that Kerry just posted. The upper one is mine and the lower is Kerry ‘s. Bearing in mind that these are supposed to be fully cooked and only require reheating, it is obvious that the one that I had was not fully cooked. I only reheated mine for 10 minutes and Kerry reheated hers for 20. I’m guessing she was able to cook it through. Still, it’s a bit disconcerting that it is not fully cooked when purchased. so on to new adventures. Kerry stopped by the The Hamilton Meat Pie Company Here are their offerings. There are certainly some strange flavour combinations going on here. but for me it was the steak and kidney pie. A good choice so we could have a fair comparison. I was suitably impressed that it came in a lovely box rather than a paper bag. and equally impressed by the directions for reheating stamped onto the underside of the lid. The pie as it came out of the box. after 20 minutes at 350°F in the Breville smart oven. Upturned into a bowl. Does not have that pale, strange looking crust of my previous steak and kidney pie. broken into. and proof positive that this was a much better experience. 20 minutes was not quite enough to heat it to my satisfaction but that is easily remedied. The ratio of kidney to beef was perfect. The kidney was tender and in small pieces. The crust was just as it should be — not any strange franken hybrid of puff pastry and shortcrust pastry but just short crust pastry as it should be. This one will be hard to beat. I might have to give Kerry a shopping list for this company to try some of their other pies although I do think I will give the Emerald Curried Chicken Pie a miss.

I did try it and I despised it. What can I say? I was raised on the stuff.I had an uncle who called me and my brother the Bisto kids. Maybe I should discuss with with my therapist.

Interesting. Perhaps next time somebody pops into IKEA I will ask them to grab me a package.

This would probably not work for me since milk is not anything that I normally keep in the house. I neither drink it nor use it in my coffee and for baking I use powdered milk. What thanks for sharing. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen the veal version.)

It wasn’t great. This was the McCormick Mix mentioned in another thread.