I'd eat those with or without Stilton! Mmm...
Point of order.
Surely if one is to get ones knickers in a twist over "non traditional" mince pie lids surely one must also insist upon actual animal bits in the mix?
To the OP. You know there’s a lack of empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of lids don’t you…?
The evidence for their efficacy in raising the ratio of pastry to filling ratio is self evident is it not? In. The. Book.....!
Point of order.
Surely if one is to get ones knickers in a twist over “non traditional” mince pie lids surely one must also insist upon actual animal bits in the mix?
Isn't that just a Scotch Pie? I'd give it a go. My undercrackers remain correctly orientated.
I told you she’s a wrong un!
"The evidence before the court is
Incontrovertible, there's no need for
The jury to retire
In all my years of judging
I have never heard before
Of someone more deserving
Of the full penalty of law"
I shall be issuing a seizure order for that contraband!
Mitigation M’lud, the lidless pies are damson jam tarts.
I’m not complaining though, the pastry has orange jest in it. They’re delicious, but ultimately wrong.
I was in Waitrose earlier - dropping son off for his shift and we needed to resolve an online shopping issue* and I checked on the mince pie situation. I can report that the Heston one's above don't seem to be going like hot cakes; there were shelves of them at half price. I resisted.
* we had a delivery today and they were out of beef gravy. Instead they'd substituted with ..... smoked mackerel pate? Now that's a flavour fusion I'm not willing to risk my forerib of beef on.
I've just been told off for making a start on a box of mince pies. "They were for Christmas!" Erm, no, I bought the bloody things on a whim. "Oh so it's like that now is it?!"
So now I've got back from Lidl with another dozen.
“They were for Christmas!”
Ugh! Always the way! Right up until the last minute it's "They were for Christmas" meanwhile in the shops, TV, and radio, it's been Christmas for the past six months while we've been accused of being Grinches!
I feel the need to unburden a little 🫣 I have been living on a diet of Tesco, Aldi and Sainsbury mince pies. Just the bog standard ones, none of your 'finest' or 'taste the difference'. All perfectly acceptable. Normally Mrs Bloke does make some, but she's been mega busy this year.
She's brought a load of these. Handmade in our local farm shop. They are good. Very good ☺️ I'm not quite sure what to say? Sorry (not sorry). I'm still not letting any Stilton near them mind!
Now that’s a flavour fusion I’m not willing to risk my forerib of beef on.
I thought we shouldn't judge before we've tested?
Tried the cheese. Not for me.
I thought we shouldn’t judge before we’ve tested?
Your threat of incest convinced me that there are some things that are beyond reasonable.
I thought we shouldn’t judge before we’ve tested?
Oof!
Wanted to update this thread with some hot (well warm) news.
Home made mince pies made from our local pub. Served with a side of Butty Bach. All killer, no filler 👍
I am reconsidering my culinary dismissal of mine pies.
note: no cheese was ruined in the creation of this post.
Those home made mince pies ^^ look scrummy. My own culinary delights made last night were a little, shall we say over cooked, the lids shrank to reveal a lot of filling (obviously not pinched together properly), meaning they ended up with their own holes, just not in the centre.
I am going to try one later with some blacksticks blue cheese.
Anyone else addicted to water biscuits?
> https://flic.kr/p/2o7CaYn < See if we get the image this time. I was forced* to try all the different versions on offer. The fancy, the plain, the 'one gobber' that could be dispatched in a single bite, etc. At the end of which I am both a full on convert to the joy of a well made mince pie and in the midst of a full on sugar rush. *in that 'would you like another mince pie?' is a synonym for 'forced' 🙂
Anyone else addicted to water biscuits?
Only as a cheese platform. Often tho they lack the radius of say a cracker. For me it's more about surface area than taste. I'm really just critiquing a biscuit/cracker on its efficacy to support the largest stack of a cheese / chutney combo.
Water biscuits are the best for show casing cheese.
Mince pies are heinous. Never seen one with real mince - just this fruit concoction of mincemeat. Hanging is too good for them!
Knocked these up tonight.
Extra brandy added to the mincemeat, lemon zest and spices added to the pastry. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself. Oh and complete lids.
Happy to report that eldest daughter didn't bring one box of mince pies, but two!
Somebody asked me today if my mince pies had a shelf life..... as if 😉
They barely last a day.
It's almost as daft as "Sharing Bag" etc.
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That was amazing. I’m converted!
Extra brandy added to the mincemeat, lemon zest and spices added to the pastry. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself. Oh and complete lids.
I wholeheartedly approve.
One for the Nice List, OP.
Had a half of Butty Bach yesterday. Like a step back in time. Mind you, the whole area is, isn’t it!
We were at a friend's Christmas Eve drinks and nibbles and they'd been suckered in to the HB festive fig mince pies in cheese pastry.
I wasn't sure, but after four I think I can say I'm a convert.
And welcome Docrobster. You are now one of us...... enlightened.
Gone Already. Cant make them fast enough 🙂
Had a half of Butty Bach yesterday. Like a step back in time. Mind you, the whole area is, isn’t it!
They serve it in half pints? Well everyday is a school day 🙂 Enjoyed being back in the shire Kelvin? Had any bloke on a horse gesticulating to your 'new fangled motorised carriage' and castigating your lack of a man out front with a flag? 🙂
I am both fascinated and appalled by @docrobster 's "Brutal Sillton Injection". Most of me just wants to mind-bleach the whole thing, but a small part wonders what it'd be like. A couple more beers and I may fall into the dark side.
I only tried cheddar. Didn’t add anything for me. Perhaps you have to go in with both feet and use Stilton… will try tonight.
I stop and pull over for horses Alex. That bit of the past I still fully embrace. What’s the rush…? Also, I’d forgotten how narrow and high sided some of these “roads” are.
@Alex re the “brutal injection”
I think I under-dosed slightly. Wasn’t overpowered by Stilton really. Made the pie more tangy. Definitely in a good way.
I’ll try again with a bigger chunk when I’ve finished digesting turkey and bread sauce…
Experimented with gingerbread lids as there was some dough left over from making the gingerbread house and quite happy with the outcome.
I think I under-dosed slightly. Wasn’t overpowered by Stilton really. Made the pie more tangy. Definitely in a good way.
It looked a healthy slab of cheese to me! Obviously keen to hear about a followup, but still tentative about trying it myself and being notarised in Blokeuptheroad's books of wrong'uns!
Experimented with gingerbread lids
😮 Say what?
Experimented with gingerbread lids
I think it’s ok if he didn’t inhale ingest any?
I tried the Stilton. Absolutely no way will I make that mistake again. Awful. Worse than the cheddar. The whole idea is rank… wish I hadn’t bothered. Sorry.
At least you lot were only missing the lids, been to the sister in laws for Christmas dinner and there weren’t ANY mince pies. Lidded or otherwise 😳
No Christmas cake or pud either.
Our local bakery does mahoosive mince pies with a Viennese Whirl lid. Lush.
How do we feel about 'cheat buying' the normal (no cheese) filling?
I bought organic filling, but added lemon zest, tiny bits of fresh apple and satsuma, as recommended by Paul Hollywood, but this needs to marinate/steep (not sure of the correct word) for a good few hours. Sweet pastry is a must.
