Frugal pie
What’s the filling of the pie shown below? Go on: take a good look and have a wild guess, you won’t get it.
It’s slices of juicy gammon knuckle, aka ham hock, potato, onion and dry cider. And that’s it.
The best part about this pie is going to the butchers and asking for a knuckle of gammon. First, he had to go into the back to get it, which always makes you feel that you are entering into a special meat-eaters’ pact, a la Leauge of Gentlemen. Second, it costs £2.70 for a kilo.
Rewind. Say what?
You heard me: £2.70. That pie comfortably feeds five. Ok, three if you’re having the Powells round. I don’t know about you, but if I’m buying meat for four or more, I expect to pay well over a tenner for lamb, nearly twice that for beef. This pie is frugal.
But’s it’s good, darn good, and very filling. Simple, effective, minimal, credit-crunch busting cooking at its best. It’s called fidget pie, which is an ace name, and its as English a recipe as you get. You can even use the hock bone afterwards in a black bean soup.
So there you have it. Proof that English cooking rocks.
2 years ago • 0 notes