The highlight of any pie lovers year has to be British Pie Week. It falls at the beginning of March and there are lots of things to look forward to. One of my favourites is the annual debate about what constitutes a pie and I have had many a disagreement on social media about this very topic…let me just get this out there with rule three from the British Pie Awards:
“All Pies in all Classes of the British Pie Awards must comply with being ‘a filling wholly encased in pastry and baked’. Entries which do not comply e.g. lattice topped, fruit topped, potato topped, samosas or any fried products etc will not be submitted for judging.”
So I’m sorry Kidderminster but your ‘pies’ are actually potato bakes or casseroles with lids! I don’t need to debate this again by the way…*sigh*
Anyway, talking of The British Pie Awards, following my foray into judging in 2017, I had been invited back for another year and I’d been excited about it since around 8th March last year!
Held in Melton Mowbray since 2009, this year was the 10th anniversary of the awards and in that time over 7000 pies had been submitted and judged! That’s a lot of pastry…you can read more on their official website here.
This year’s awards were back in St Mary’s Church (there was a different venue last year while the Church was undergoing repairs) and I have to admit, it’s a beautiful setting. It feels almost wrong to describe it as such, but it’s so so British and that’s something to be proud of I think (and no, I’m not a raving Brexiteer).
My category this year was ‘Beef and Any Flavour Combination’ which meant I was in for some weird and wonderful creations! I was mostly thrilled about being reunited with my 2017 judging partner, and #PieHusband Eric. He doesn’t have social media so I can’t like you to him unfortunately, but spending the day doing our patented ‘pie walk by’ test and eating copious amounts of pastry-based comestibles was a complete joy.
There were few pies that stood out on the day for me, and due to the incessant schedule of judging it’s almost impossible to photograph them and catalogue while you’re judging. I took plenty of photos, but I couldn’t possibly tell you which ones were which now! Here’s a little montage:
I probably have around 20 photos on my phone from the day, but they all look fairly similar to these and there’s only so many beef pies you can look at!
My favourite on the day was definitely a steak pie with mushrooms, bacon and maple syrup. Yes it sounds weird but it worked, and I’ve even tried to recreate the flavours at home since…close, but not quite! The winner of the category was a Beef Bourguignon from From Ben’s Kitchen. Not one I had the pleasure of judging, but I did get to taste it and it was delicious.
I was lucky enough to meet up with the pie loving bloggers from Pierate again and even feature in their blog post from the day which is here.
After all that pie though I was in need of something sweet and I can’t visit Leicestershire without a detour via Nice Pie who had the honour of being crowned champions in my category in 2017 with their chicken and black garlic pie.
It wasn’t pie I wanted though, it was a huge wedge of this and it was to die for…
Nice Pie are tucked away in Old Dalby, just outside Melton Mowbray and should you ever find yourself in the area, I heartily recommend a visit to their quaint, cosy and welcoming tea rooms.
It’s always a little bit of a come down after the awards are over although getting an email from the organisers a few days later inviting me back for 2019 more than made up for it…just 331 days to go!
#ADPG
#AwayDayPieGirl 