product update
speciality pies
Can’t keep a lid on it ANNE BRUCE rounds up the latest launches and newest bakers in the ever-growing speciality pie market Pies launched this year by Norwichbased Silent Partners Catering include steak & ale with horseradish, vegetable breakfast pie, game pie with cranberries, free range Blythburgh pork, lamb with mint & tomato, chicken & ham with leek & potato and a Welsh rarebit pie. These hand-raised hot and cold eating pies can be ordered in 70g, 150g, 220g and 350g portions and upwards. All pies are made by hand in a SALSA approved (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) factory in Norfolk. Silent Partners, whose customers include Fortnum & Mason, has also developed a range of sweet pies including Parkin pie with salted caramel crust and an After Eightinspired tart. www.silentpartnerscatering.co.uk
Cornish savoury pie company Grumpies added three new pies to its range in April. Its venison & red wine and chicken, sweet chilli & chorizo are now both listed at Harrods. It also added The Beast of Bodmin – a steak & ale pie made with Beast Ale from the local Pen Pont Brewery – to the range. The producer is currently introducing a fish pie in collaboration with upmarket Cornish fish company Tregida Seafood. Pies retail at between £2.90 and £3.50. www.grumpiesofcornwall.co.uk
New Yorkshire-based start-up Voakes Free From produces a gluten- and wheat-free range of pies. All products are made by hand using locally sourced ingredients, including pork reared on the Voakes family’s Whixley Grange Farm. All of its pies are available in individual or large sizes. The range includes pork pies (£1.50 or £3.20 for large), special pork pies with pork, chicken & stuffing (£1.95 or £3.40), steak & chicken pies (£1.80 or £3.40) and a traditional pasty (£1.60). Pies can be supplied baked, frozen raw or frozen cooked, with a minimum order of 36
units. Voakes Free From is a sister company to four times Yorkshire Supreme Pork Pie Champion Voakes Pies and was founded due to director Laura McGowan being diagnosed with coeliac disease. www.voakesfreefrom.co.uk
London’s Square Pie chain is to offer its “canapies” in retail packs. The mini two-bite pies come with three fillings: spinach, sweet potato & goats’ cheese, steak & Guinness and chicken & mushroom. The “canapies” are currently on sale in its canteens. www.squarepie.com
Northamptonshire’s Moulton Pie Company launched in April with its first creation: a tall, layered leek, potato & Stilton pie. Founder Mark Stevens has since added pork, leek & cheddar, spinach & Parmesan, pork & Stilton and pork & chorizo pies to his range. His Moulton Pasty pie – a take on the Cornish Pasty – is the latest launch. Pies are available in small (230g), medium (450g) and large (900g) sizes. www.facebook.com/ pages/The-Moulton-PieCompany/153456588152476
Pieminister’s three limited-edition Christmas pies are available from November until the end of December. The Three Kings pie is made with free range British turkey, smoked bacon and cranberry stuffing in a creamy sauce. The Vegetarian Society-approved Christingle pie features honey roast parsnips, West Country Cheddar and chestnuts while the Deer Santa pie is filled with British venison, dry cured bacon, red wine and puy lentils. The Bristol-based firm has also just launched a 270g Moo & Blue pie this month, made with British beef steak and Stilton. All Pieminister pies are made in-house in Bristol using British ingredients including British beef, outdoor-reared bacon, turkey and fresh vegetables and herbs. Fresh and chilled Pieminister pies (270g) arrive with an eight-day shelf-life and trade prices start from £2.50.
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www.pieminster.co.uk
Jolly Pies was set up earlier this year in Belfast by two old friends and pie fans, Stephen McComb and Jamie McAlister. The company uses local ingredients, with meats sourced from the directors’ families’ farms in the area. The range includes Aberdeen Angus & Guinness; chicken, ham hock & parsley sauce; pulled pork, apple & red cabbage; chicken, leek & tarragon and butternut squash, roasted red pepper & goats’ cheese. Pies are available in two sizes: 225g in retail boxes (trade £1.80, RRP £3) and a 375g loose product for chilled display (trade £2.25, RRP £4). Pies are available in mainland Great Britain through wholesaler Hendersons. www.jollypies.com
Simple Simon’s Perfect Pies’ newest recipe, beef & horseradish pie, has proved such a hit that the Lanarkshirebased producer has decided to make it a permanent fixture on its roster. Like all of the company’s pies, it is made using demipuff pastry and features a bottom layer of steamed skin-on Rooster potatoes topped with hand-diced beef shoulder from Scotland’s Southern Uplands casseroled with fresh horseradish and cream. www.simplesimonspies.co.uk
Vol.14 Issue 9 · October 2013
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