The Art of Perfecting Pastry
Our pastry has always been highly praised by our customers, and hasn’t disappointed many judges in awards panels either! We’re often critiquing our products as we want them to be the best they can be – “better never stops” is often heard coming out of Simon’s mouth when he's being ‘Dad’ at tastings (cutting up and examining everything before dishing out to tasters). Pastry is one of the elements that we always pay extra attention to during tastings, asking ourselves questions like "is it too thick, is cooked perfectly?" etc. We decided to try a slightly different recipe for the upcoming limited-edition pies to give them that 'je ne sais quoi' 😜!
Umpteen trials were conducted and the kitchen hunks played with all sorts of ingredients, as is always the case when a brand new pie recipe is called for! Various combinations of fat and flour were combined in a bid to nail a special pastry... and we think the result is pretty wonderful!
Traditionally, pastry was made with super simple ingredients so we set the time machine and stole some age-old ideas in order to create a simple but super. If in doubt, we often find going back to basics is a great motto when making food that tastes really awesome. Simplicity is key!
And here it is... the secret that we're very happy to share! The reason for the incredible crunch of our new pies. Does this warrant a drum roll? We think so...
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Suet pastry, the unsung hero of the British kitchen. This humble yet magical ingredient has been the backbone of countless comforting dishes, bringing a touch of nostalgia and bags of flavour to our dining tables since the 17th century. For the uninitiated, suet is the hard fat found around the kidneys of cows and sheep, and while that might not sound particularly appetising, trust us – it’s the secret to some of the most delightful pastry you’ll ever taste!
Interestingly, suet is still used for both sweet and savoury dishes. The first mention of suet was in a cookbook dating way back to 1617. It was the key ingredient in a dish known as “Cambridge Pudding”, also containing dates, currants, sugar, and eggs. Throughout most of the 17th and 18th centuries, a boiled pudding consisting of suet mixed with spices and spinach juice (an intriguing combination!) was a popular dish. Indeed “suet puddings” (usually a steamed pudding with fruit and spices) are still around and may be the only reason you’ve heard of the wonderful stuff!
Now close your eyes (bear with us) and imagine biting into a golden, flaky pie crust that melts in your mouth! This is exactly what you'll get when you try our new pies launching oh-so soon. The recipe we've used for these chaps have these little tiny parcels of animal fat (we use beef) which are sandwiched inside the pastry. When the pie is baked in the oven, the parcels of fat explode and create that delectable crunch we pastry makers strive for!
The suet pastry we used for our new pies inspired by classic French dishes (they are coming very soon - watch this space!) received noises of satisfaction from around the tasting table when it was presented and for many it was an “aw mate moment”. If you're wondering what an earth an "aw mate moment" is, then let us explain. It's our special code phrase for tastings so we know when the chefs have hit the jackpot with a new recipe. In other words, it was pretty ruddy tasty 🤤! The kitchen hunks set to work to scale up the recipe so it would work for a whole batch of pies and (as always) aced it. We can’t wait for everybody to taste this pastry (and indeed the incredible new fills) in the coming weeks!
go on - take a Chunk!
