Who ate all the pies? Who ate all the pies? You ... as the song goes… This Week is BRITISH PIE WEEK (5th to 11th March 2018) and us Brits love a good pie – in fact 2016, the 'Make wrongly describing a casserole with a pastry lid as a pie a criminal offence' petition earned over 5,000 signatures arguing that a 'pie' with a puff pastry lid is not actually a pie, and is a casserole instead: "For too long customers in pubs and restaurants have ordered what is described on the menu as a pie only to be served with casserole in a pot covered by a puff pastry lid."
As a kid, I was lucky enough to live in the sunshine capital of the UK, for those of you that don’t know - that’s Bognor Regis! Although, the sunshine is not the best part, oh no! Bognor Regis is the birthplace of Turners Pies (known locally as pips pies). These pies are the world’s best pies – but that not just my opinion, but before I get into all that… let me tell you about Turners Pies…
OVER 80 YEARS OF
PIE-FECTION
1933 - Eva and Reginald Turner made and sold their first pies in a hotel in the seaside town, 30 years on…
1960’s - Mrs Turners Steak & Kidney Pie had become famous throughout the town.
1985 - Turners youngest son Pip, took all he had learned and started to make the pies to sell at local butchers, then...
1990 - they opened the first Turners Pie Shop.
2011 - Turners Pies received recognition in abundance, including; ENGLAND'S BEST STEAK PIE, BRITISH PIE AWARDS PIE CHAMPION and GREAT TASTE - 3 STARS
2013 - Turners Pies were not only named in “the guild of fine foods top 50” but, Harrods - probably the most famous store in the world made the decision to stock Turners Pies.
Turners Pies seem to have the recipe for success
They have won a mass of awards and gained well deserved recognition. They now operate in Chichester and Rustington as well as Harrods and the original Bognor Regis shop!
You can also order to online at www.turnerspies.co.uk
1. The worlds most expensive pie cost over £1000 a slice
The Guinness World Record for the most expensive meat pie ever sold goes to the Fence Gate Inn in Lancashire which sold its pie for £8195 - or £1024 a slice - to eight guests on November 14, 2005.
It was made from £500 worth of Japanese wagyu beef fillet, Chinese matsutake mushrooms (which are so precious, they're harvested under guard), Winter Black truffles, French Bluefoot mushrooms (sold at £200 for 1kg), gravy made from two bottles of vintage 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine, topped with edible gold leaf.
2.There's a world-famous pie-eating contest in the UK!
Held at Harry's Bar in Wigan, the annual World Pie Eating Championship has been going since 1992. Originally, contestants had to attempt to eat as many pies as possible within the given time limit, but this was changed in 2006 - in order to meet government healthy eating guidelines - to a race in which competitors vie to eat a single pie in the least amount of time.
3.The real-life Sweeney Todd?
The tale of Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett, the murderous duo who baked their victims in pies and then sold them, might be fictional, but it appears people have been taking inspiration from it in real life.
In 2010, a Russian chef was arrested on suspicion of killing his father-in-law, and serving his remains in pies to customers in a popular cafe for three days before anyone realised.
4. Pie used to be illegal
Sort of. - In 1644, Oliver Cromwell banned pie as he decided it was a "pagan form of pleasure". It wasn't a complete and utter ban on pies, though - just a ban on Christmas celebrations and foods that were associated with the "pagan" holiday, such as mince pies, turkey, and Christmas ale.
The ban was eventually lifted in 1660 - phew!
5. Turners Pies are THE BEST
FACT!