One of the best selling things on the menu at The Thatchers is our pie of the day. We make proper pies, pastry all the way around, usually a shortcrust base and a flaky top. They’re filled with something different everyday, sometimes a classic like steak and kidney or chicken, ham & leek and sometimes more adventurous venison & beetroot or coq au vin. Thanks to our love of pies, a little luck, and a tip off from a good friend of my sisters I was recently lucky enough to spend a day filming with Heston Blumenthal for his latest series ‘Great British Food‘. The first episode on fish & chips (catch up on 4oD) was on last night which has made me even more eager to see the pie episode which I was invited along for, sadly we’ll have to wait until the new year. It was an incredible experience and after the show is screened I may write some more about the day… until then I’m sworn to secrecy!
Before you get too excited about the title of this blog though, I should mention that I have never eaten a badger pie, we have never made one at The Thatchers, and neither (to my knowledge) has Heston. However, Badger Brewery – Hall and Woodhouse have launched a competition “What’s the big pie-dea?” and with all this pie action happening simultaneously it felt like somebody was telling me to write a blog.
Badger aren’t local to East Anglia, but when I’m down on the south coast I love nothing more than popping into the Black Rabbit in Arundel for a pint of Hopping Hare or Tanglefoot. Badger Brewery’s Collectors Edition ale which they produced last year is absolutely stunning and I can’t believe I have managed to leave a bottle of it in my cellar to age for over a year! (It may not last much longer…) Apologies though, I digress. I really wanted to write this blog to bring your attention to their rather generous little competition from a rather talented little brewery…
You could win a prize package that includes having your pie professionally produced and launched as a ‘special’ in selected Hall & Woodhouse public houses next autumn; a two-night beach break for two at The Lulworth Cove Inn, including breakfast and dinner on both nights and exclusive sampling of the winning pie; a VIP brewery tour with Head Brewer, Toby Heasman with lunch at their Visitor Centre; a Badger Countryside Sett gift box; and £200 travel and subsistence. Not bad eh! Oh and the rest of the finalists will win a Badger Countryside Sett gift box and £50 worth of Hall & Woodhouse vouchers.
All you have to do is come up with a stonking pie recipe (which includes one of their delicious ales) by the end of January and enter on their website or through their Facebook page…
What’s your big pie-dea then?
Bite & Bottle 