Football fan and pastry connoisseur Martin Tarbuck has scoffed over 400 pies in his search for pie-fection. Here he puts forward six of the best for JOE…
Morecambe Football Club
“When Morecambe’s Head Chef Graham Aimson decided to take the matchday catering back in-house, they already served up bloody decent pies from local firm Potts. However, he set about cranking this up a notch with a range of fantastic, award winning flavours.
“The chicken, ham and leek is pub gourmet standard, the contents of the meat and potato taste more like a casserole – nay a Lancashire Hot Pot – and the gravy in the steak and ale is so rich it has its own offshore bank account. Skip lunch and breakfast until you get to the game if you’re Morecambe bound this weekend is my advice.”
Yorkes (Dundee)
“We all love a steak pie and we love peppered steak so what’s not to like about a peppered steak pie?
“It’s a traditional Scottish tin-shaped affair, packed full of tender strands of braised steak and possessing the sort of kick that any ‘keeper at either Dens Park or Tannadice would be proud of.”
Clarks (Cardiff)
“Ian Holloway once modestly opined that Clarks Pies were the best thing to come out of Bristol (apart from himself obviously). However, the Bristolian Clarks are merely a surrogate brother of the Cardiff original.
“The pie is fashioned into an unconventional rock cake style shape. Upon biting into the dense apple pie style crust, you are instantly hit with a sumptuous beef, veg and gravy filling that explodes on to your top lip giving rise to the popular facial condition known locally as a ‘Clarks ‘Tache’.”
Killie Pie (Kilmarnock)
“You’ll have to forgive me if I appear to be insinuating that the pies at football are better north of the border but…they are, they really are! I can only speculate as to what big beefy beauties they must serve up at Inverness or Ross County, although there’s many places within the major conurbations capable of knocking up a fine Scotch Pie (minced beef or mutton).
“However, I’ll plump for a renowned classic of Scottish football: the Killie Pie – essentially a steak and gravy with high meat content, thus giving it a narrow victory over the cheaper, salty but no less titillating Scotch pie.”
Piglets Pantry (Brighton)
“Much like Morecambe, Brighton & Hove Albion are another football club bucking the tragic trend of shipping in frozen, mass produced, identikit pies by inviting local producer Piglets Pantry to feed their matchday hordes.
“The quality and the flavours are simply a cut above the usual fodder with my favourites being the Steak and Blue Cheese Pie and a fantastic Chicken Balti. Wash it down with a pint of hand pulled real ale and you’ll be left wondering why on earth all football clubs can’t follow Brighton’s lead and actually treat football fans as a valued customer rather than a cheap meal ticket.”
Macaroni Pie (Aberdeen)
“Finally, a pie to polarise opinion: there’s no meat in it, there’s not even a proper top crust; but you try telling that to Aberdonians who like nothing better than to devour these beauties. If you can procure them away from the ground, I find them even more delicious eaten fresh out of the oven while the cheese is still bubbling and the pasta is soft.”
Martin Tarbuck is author of Life of Pies, a guide to the nation’s best pastry products which is available from Amazon or www.lifeofpies.co.uk priced at £9.99.
