Pie charts success for midlands butcher
At the prestigious Great Taste Awards a midlands' butcher founded in 1885 was crowned Supreme Champion 2007 for their Free Range Pork Pie.
The annual event, organised by The Guild of Fine Food, saw Walter Smith (Birmingham) Limited win the coveted top prize.
Regarded as the industry Oscars, the awards are the UK's largest independent evaluation of fine food and drink.
Director, Robert Jones was thrilled with the award, but keen to emphasise this was a team effort.
"More than 20 of our shops make their own extremely high quality pork pies," said Robert. "The pie that won was made by the butchers in our Cannock shop, but the recipe has always been a winner. In fact it was marked at 99 out of a 100 at the Malvern Food Festival in October 2006."
Robert and his team were supported in their efforts by Heart of England fine foods, of which Walter Smith is a member. The organisation promotes and raises awareness of food and drink produced across the West Midlands.
HEFF marketing executive, Neal Harris added: "The Great Taste Awards are a mark of excellence that consumers can trust and rely on. Winning Supreme Champion is testament to the high quality of food and drink produced by our members."
The Guild of Fine Food is the UK trade association for anyone making or selling top quality local, regional and speciality food and drink. Each year, 4,500 foods are blind-tasted by up to three separate teams of experts before the awards are made.
To produce the winning pork pie, Robert explained that nothing is left to chance.
"We use the best free-range pork belly, because you need some fat, and pork shoulder because it's a flavoursome cut. Together they give the filling a dark and light fleck and when cooked, you get this lovely contrasting coarse and soft texture when you bite into it.
"Every single pork pie is made by hand. We spoon the meat in to the pastry shells, put the lids on, crimp them and jelly by hand.
"We currently produce a 450g and 1.5kg pork pie, and are looking to introduce a 1kg version. We won't be tinkering with the recipe though, it's perfect as it is."
