The Crusty Chronicles. Savories from Bakeries.

[Anna N]

On 9/15/2020 at 7:55 PM, haresfur said:

Here's an Australian Aldi contribution from the frozen section

I am having a hard time getting over the idea of chicken and leek in Camembert sauce as an appropriate pie filling. Probably I am just too damned old-fashioned.

[Anna N]

My freezer has been replenished!  

 

I asked for a pork pie. I should have been much, much more specific. What I had in mind was a Melton Mowbray pork pie like this.  Despite the pie being labelled “traditional” and despite my being born and raised in the UK, I admit to not being familiar with this strange hybrid.
 

 

Since it came with heating direction I knew that I was not in the presence of the kind of pie that I was hoping for. (Any pork pie that I have had has been eaten cold.) So I followed the heating directions — 350°F for 20 minutes.  
 

 

Hmmm.   I added a little of this chutney to the plate and made it at least sort of of edible. 
 

 

 

 

 
The pastry was really hard to get down. 

 

Curious to know how many of you have eaten a pork pie such as this. 
 

edited to add: @Kerry Bealsorry!  I’m not really the ingrate that I sound!  I should have been more specific. 

Edited September 26, 2020 by Anna N (log)

[Kerry Beal]

20 minutes ago, Anna N said:

My freezer has been replenished!  

 

I asked for a pork pie. I should have been much, much more specific. What I had in mind was a Melton Mowbray pork pie like this.  Despite the pie being labelled “traditional” and despite my being born and raised in the UK, I admit to not being familiar with this strange hybrid.
 

 

Since it came with heating direction I knew that I was not in the presence of the kind of pie that I was hoping for. (Any pork pie that I have had has been eaten cold.) So I followed the heating directions — 350°F for 20 minutes.  
 

 

Hmmm.   I added a little of this chutney to the plate and made it at least sort of of edible. 
 

 

 

 

 
The pastry was really hard to get down. 

 

Curious to know how many of you have eaten a pork pie such as this. 
 

edited to add: @Kerry Bealsorry!  I’m not really the ingrate that I sound!  I should have been more specific. 

Those were sadly the only pork pies they had! Search will continue.

[liuzhou]

Looks like no pork pie I've ever seen in the UK. It may be a pie containing pork, but it ain't no "Traditional Pork Pie".

[CantCookStillTry]

I made it to the bakery today, just for you guys. 

 

Went for the traditional plain steak. 

 

Its a good heavy little pie with no pesky tin tray. The pastry was a little under today. 

 

The steak is soft and quite chunky (which I prefer to a minced filling). 

 

It has been established I eat pies weird. Pastry Shell to chew. 

 

I even went so far as to buy their yukky sausage roll just to show you. I took the half unmushed side home for kid who is not fussy about sausage rolls. 

 

The pastry is really really great and flakey. Which makes the filling even more disappointing. Beef sausage littered with carrot, zucchini, heavy on the pepper and absolutely filled with these seeds. Its also drier than I like a sausage roll. 

 

 

Why? 

[Anna N]

 

 

So I had the curry chicken pie from Denninger‘s and truly enjoyed it. So I was quite happy to check out another one and make a comparison.

 

 

 

ready for the oven. 
 

 

A little too long in there I think. Or perhaps I should have reduced the temperature from 350°F to 325°F.

 

 

A bit of a disaster moving it from the oven to the plate!  

 

It was possible with effort to detect the faintest, and I do mean faintest, hint of curry flavour. It was horrible by any means but I’m sure if it hadn’t been labelled I would not have detected the curry flavouring. And aside from the chicken there wasn’t much else in there to tempt the taste buds. 
The crust might have been better had I not left it in the oven quite so long.

 

 

I managed to get through most of it. It will not appear on my list of favourites.  

 

 

[Kim Shook]

Well I finally got to the pie shop I’ve been wanting to go to for ages.  We’ve been before with houseguests to get some of their sweet items, but I hadn’t had any of their savouries yet.  It is called Proper Pie Co.  The owner/chef is a New Zealand native and they make NZ-inspired pies – sweet and savory.  Mr. Kim and I ate the same things and we should have shared.  We each ate exactly half what we ordered.  They aren’t making their full menu right now, but Mr. Kim and I got sausage rolls and beef and vegetable pies:

 

The sausage roll:

The crust and sausage are so magnificent that I forgive that little layer of underbaked crust next to the meat.  The pie:

 

Jessica got the pork and peach BBQ pie:

 

We also shared a couple of pieces of sweet pie.  Sour cream and plum streusel:

These were some of the best plums I’ve ever tasted in my life.  Their suppliers are super!

 

Chocolate mousse:

 

Every single thing was absolutely delicious, and I can’t wait to try their other savory pies.  They haven’t had Lamington pie for a while, and I hope they do soon.  It is a favorite of mine. 

 

[rotuts]

@Kim Shook 

 

Wow  you are so lucky 1

 

this is just killing me !

 

underbaked , based on your pic

 

would do fine by me

 

this post is going to drive me to 

 

drink !

 

what ever it takes 1

[Kerry Beal]

Thought I'd posted this the other day.

 

These Cornish pasties from the British Baker could be used as trusty doorstops. The pastry was firm - very firm. Even a large quantity of gravy didn't serve to soften it in anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

I got thinking about the Cornish pasties they served in the cafeteria of the hospital I did my med lab training in quite a few years back. They were fabulous. I had a rather serious MVC while I was there and ended up in Intensive Care for 9 days - the day I was leaving they were serving the pasties and I seriously considered staying another day!  (those were the days when they didn't rush you out of hospital)

 

[Anna N]

Had I been heading down a silver mine I might have been better mentally prepared to appreciate the unique qualities of this Cornish pasty. At least I might’ve had a pickaxe handy to break into it!  
Since these pastries were supposedly intended to be carried down the silver mines in Cornwall to provide a hand-held meal for the miner, they definitely needed a sturdy crust and a fairly dry filling. In this example these qualities were exaggerated to the nth degree. 
 

 

 

r

Out of the package, my suspicions grew that I would need help with this crust so as I warmed it up I prepared some gravy.

 

 

Out of the oven. 
 

 

“Pastey” was the perfect adjective to apply to the meat. Very very peculiar texture and very, very little flavour. 

Close up of meat. 
 

 

Swimming in gravy. 
 

Lest you think @Kerry Beal and I are ganging up, I was talking to her on the phone while I was eating this and telling her we were not going to buy any more of these. And at that point she asked me if I had read her post about how awful they were. I had not. And I had a very good excuse why not — she only thought she had posted it! 
 

But it is always good to have one’s opinions backed up by somebody else. Thumbs down to these. The worst pastry so far. I hope it doesn’t get any worse.

[Kim Shook]

I have a question about savoury pies.  When served at our house when I was growing up, they were served hot, with gravy.   But I've seen that pork pies are served cold or room temperature.  Is that ONLY pork pies - or other pies also.  Would it be ok to eat them hot?  Or not.  I'm toying with trying to make a traditional hot water pastry pork pie, but I don't think I'd care for cold pork pie.  

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

I have a question about savoury pies.  When served at our house when I was growing up, they were served hot, with gravy.   But I've seen that pork pies are served cold or room temperature.  Is that ONLY pork pies - or other pies also.  Would it be ok to eat them hot?  Or not.  I'm toying with trying to make a traditional hot water pastry pork pie, but I don't think I'd care for cold pork pie.  

Until I posted here I have never eaten or heard of a hot pork pie. In my opinion it is much more of a terrine than anything else — terrine in a pastry crust.  Terrines are served cold. I would love to get @liuzhou’s take on it. I would expect a slice of pork pie to be served on a plate with an assortment of pickles, perhaps a little mustard. 
 
Looky what we have here Click

Edited October 2, 2020 by Anna N
To fix a poor word choice. Then to add a link. (log)

[liuzhou]

I've only ever seen pork pies served cold. Well, room temperature. Usually in the manner @Anna Ndescribes. I guess they were invented to be eaten that way - perhaps in the fields after a long morning's farmwork. I had one last summer as part of a ploughman's lunch in the UK when I visited.

 

 

Cornish pasties are normally eaten at room temperature and were also designed to be eaten at work in Cornwall's tin mines.

 

Sort of bag lunches with edible bags. Pork pies are also a staple of picnics.

 

Note exception: Yorkshire pork pies are eaten hot.

Edited October 2, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[donk79]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Looky what we have here Click

Anna, that thread contains some serious gold.  Excellent digging!

[Kim Shook]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

Until I posted here I have never eaten or heard of a hot pork pie. In my opinion it is much more of a terrine than anything else — terrine in a pastry crust.  Terrines are served cold. I would love to get @liuzhou’s take on it. I would expect a slice of pork pie to be served on a plate with an assortment of pickles, perhaps a little mustard. 
 
Looky what we have here Click

@Anna NThank you and @liuzhou for the information.  I think I could deal with room temperature and it does help to think "terrine".  But, I must say, that photo of Adam's looks awful to me.   

[liuzhou]

@Anna N@Kim Shook

Don't forget Gala Pie. Basically a scotch egg reimagined as a pork pie. Also eaten at room temperature or on picnics

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Cornish pasties are normally eaten at room temperature and were also designed to be eaten at work in Cornwall's tin mines.

This makes perfect sense. I don’t think I could have even dreamed of tackling this pasty cold. But I obviously did not have my thinking cap on. 
Thanks for chiming in. 

[Anna N]

6 hours ago, donk79 said:

Anna, that thread contains some serious gold.  Excellent digging!

Thanks. I was pretty impressed with that thread. 

[Anna N]

6 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

@Anna NThank you and @liuzhou for the information.  I think I could deal with room temperature and it does help to think "terrine".  But, I must say, that photo of Adam's looks awful to me.   

Yes I was not all that impressed with the appearance of Adam’s pie but I’m wondering if that was photography/lighting related. I always think of a pork pie as being a very soft pinky colour but I haven’t had one for so very long. 

[Kim Shook]

11 hours ago, liuzhou said:

@Anna N@Kim Shook

Don't forget Gala Pie. Basically a scotch egg reimagined as a pork pie. Also eaten at room temperature or on picnics

That looks amazing.  I could certainly imagine eating that room temp.  I've always eaten Scotch eggs that way anyway.  Thank you!

[Anna N]

22 hours ago, liuzhou said:

@Anna N@Kim Shook

Don't forget Gala Pie. Basically a scotch egg reimagined as a pork pie. Also eaten at room temperature or on picnics

That is a new one to me. But I certainly wouldn’t turn it down!

[Anna N]

On 10/1/2020 at 9:24 PM, liuzhou said:

Note exception: Yorkshire pork pies are eaten hot.

Another one I am not familiar with. Wondering if there is any such beasty to be had here in southern Ontario. May have to set @Kerry Bealthe challenge!  . 

[MetsFan5]

This cookbook was recommended to me by bookbubs today-

 

[Anna N]

 

I really wanted to love this pie. 
 

 

Out of my freezer. 
 

 

Out of the oven. 
 

 

The innards. 
 

When a pie is labelled steak and onion I want there to be no doubt about the onion part. This definitely had onions just not nearly enough. The beef was just a little on tougher side but not inedible. 

 

It was not so bad that I needed to drown it in gravy but it’s gravy, eh?  Sometimes the pie becomes the supporting beam for the gravy and not the other way around. 
 

I liked the crust. It was not soggy even with the gravy but neither was it hard and brittle. I would definitely eat another one but if I found a steak and onion pie elsewhere that was better then I would abandon this one. 
 

 

 

 

 

[haresfur]

Pasty from my usual bakery. It had been in the fridge overnight so I warmed it in the oven. As near as I can tell, the filling is potato, cabbage, and carrot. Not bad for peasant food.

 

So the discussion in this thread made me realise that your bakeries seem to sell the pies cold. They keep them warm here so you can eat them right away.