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06
Mar
Which butchers sells the best pie in the Harrogate district?
Possibly one of the world’s worst-kept secrets is that Yorkshire loves its pies.
So this week's National Pie Week may well be up there with Christmas for some Harrogate district residents.
It certainly felt like Christmas in the Stray Ferret office yesterday when meat pies, rather than mince pies, were piled high as we set out on the not-so-difficult task of sampling some of the finest local offerings to try to find the best.
Readers' views
We narrowed our search down to four butchers — one each in Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough and Pateley Bridge — after receiving nominations on our Facebook page.
Our thanks go to K Addyman Butchers, Appleton’s Butchers, Huttons Traditional Butchers and Kendall’s Farm Butchers for supplying the pies for sampling. They were all fantastic and certainly pushed any fitness goals back.
For the sake of (somewhat) fair judgement — we are journalists, after all, not the panel on The Great British Bake Off — we based our assessments solely on the pork pies provided.
Huttons also kindly sent us a steak and ale pie, and Kendall’s a hog roast pie. Both were delicious.
Think your favourite pie came out on top? Read on.
K Addyman – Harrogate
Keith Addyman.
K Addyman on Harrogate’s Commercial Street is a family-run business, run by Keith and Sue Addyman, famed for its pork pies. It dates back to the 1800s.
On display was a wide range of pies, pastries and sweet treats.
Keith told the Stray Ferret why he thought his pies were the best:
Because we are the best! They’re all handmade, the old-fashioned way, from scratch. We use a hot-water crust, and all of the meat is from outdoor Yorkshire pigs. We know exactly what goes in them. It’s all good English pork.
Appleton’s Butchers – Ripon
Hayley Metcalfe.
Appleton’s on Ripon’s Market Place was founded in 1867, making it one of the oldest in the city. It also has sites in Knaresborough, Wetherby and Boroughbridge.
On display in the window were a range of pies and pastries, such as pork pies, steak pies, chicken, ham and leek pies and sausage rolls.
Speaking to the Stray Ferret yesterday, butcher Hayley Metcalfe explained why they thought their pies were the best:
Because it’s our traditional, original recipe that we use. We bake them all day long, so they’re coming out hot. Our customers come back because they want a hot, fresh pie out of the oven. They’re all handmade by our team at the factory.
Huttons – Knaresborough
Emma Brierley.
Huttons is located on Castlegate in Knaresborough and is one of three butchers in the market town.
The shop sells everything from pork pies to steak and ale pies.
Shop owner Emma Brierley told us why she thought their pies were the best:
They’re made fresh in-store every day by our finest butchers, and they’re the best value. Our pork pies are only £1.50, and our steak pies are only £2. We don’t scrimp on ingredients – we use the best quality ingredients, but we’re the best value.
We make our own special recipe pastry, which I’d have to kill you if I told you! The steak is stewed for nearly four hours before we put it into the pie, and the pork pies are made with special ingredients and are jellied after they’re cooked.
Kendall’s Farm Butchers – Pateley Bridge
Adele Scott.
Kendall’s Farm Butchers is located on High Street in Pateley Bridge. The company was established in 1967 and has locations in both Pateley Bridge and Harrogate.
Founded by Thomas Kendall, the business has seen four generations of the family pass through it.
Francesca Kendall, one of the fourth generation, vouched for its pies:
Our pies are the best because we make everything here. All the meat we put in our pies is bought at local auctions. We buy everything from Yorkshire and support local farmers, so there’s no foreign meat that goes in our pies; it’s 100% Yorkshire.
We’ve used the same recipe since my great-grandad opened our shop. We’ve never changed and stuck to the old-school way of making pies, which I think is the best, and we make all of our own pastry.
We make everything in our Pateley Bridge shop in the back. We do our own hot-water crust pastry in our bakery, and the pork pie meat is made in our cellar using the meat that we’ve butchered.
The Stray Ferret deliberates
Choosing a winner was even more difficult than polishing off the pies.
In a brief but crazed frenzy, rarely seen outside a shark documentary, a flurry of hands piled in until the only evidence of what had just happened was a few crumbs.
It was clear to see that the pies had been crafted with an impressive degree of care and personality.
Each one had a beautifully crunchy crust, with tender, flavoursome meat fillings and a succulent jelly.
The six of us in the office at the time (sorry, Tamsin, Flora, Jane, Debbie and George) served on the pie jury.
We can now reveal that the winner of the Stray Ferret Pie Tasting Competition, by only a few points, was…
Kendall’s Farm Butchers in Pateley Bridge.
The public decides
To keep it as fair as possible, we also totalled up the results of our Facebook poll.
At 12.30pm yesterday (March 5), this is what the public regarded as the best pie in the district.
Kendall’s Farm Butchers – 20 votes
Appleton’s Butchers – 17 votes
K Addyman – 16 votes
Huttons – 7 votes
Elite Meats – 6 votes
JE Audsley Family Butcher – 6 votes
H Weatherhead & Sons – 3 votes
Voakes Pies – 3 votes
Beavers Butchers – 2 votes
Do you agree? Have your say in the comments section below.
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