Pork Pies?

I'm curious as to what is considered a proper pork pie. While in England I had a "Plowman's Lunch" in a pub in Trafalgar Square. It included a small meat pie with ham inside. But I also hear references to pork pie wrappers being hid by men in the car after visiting the petrol station. Can anyone help me understand?

Thank you in advance,

William

Back inthe 1960s I used to serve petrol in a petrol (gas) station.
There was a machine in the gent's toilet that dispensed packs of 3.
They were Durex brand. :)

I've never heard them called pork pie wrapper but where I lived they were called pork sword wrappers, johnies or noddies!
 
Well this thread's certainly taken an interesting turn!

I'm partial to a pork-pie (in fact virtually anything in pastry) - they're often seen as a salad-related product (that's how I came across them first as a child in the 1970s).

Pork pies are big up in my area amongst the French and the Italian communities, and in some places they're available in the supermarkets in the ethnic foods sections of the frozen foods.....

I wonder if the pork-pie counts as English ethnic food?

Paul
 
Well, the "Melton Mowbray" name applied to a pork pie is limited to those produced in a limited area so it has protected status - although those not carrying that description can be made elsewhere. I believe the same applies to Stilton cheese, Cornish pasties, etc.

Ray
 
This thread obviously got me thinking as I bought a Melton Mowbray pork pie at Sainsbury's the other week and had it for my lunch. The first one for a long time - thanks for the inspiration William! (And, would you believe, I had it with some stilton cheese.)

Paul
 
For those who do not know, Beef Wellington is beef steak baked in a puff pastry crust.

Continuing the theme of local foods, I must mention Norfolk Dumplings - which is also a nickname for us locals. Thwy are not those made with suet as described in online recipes.

Ray
 
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It is my understanding that the term gravy can include broth, gelatin or sauce like made with flour and meat drippings. I guess the gelatin helps to keep air out of the pork pie?

William
 
I would think the gelatin injected into pork pies is meant to keep the meat moist, I could be stretcched to ask on my weekly visit to Melton, lockdown permitting. :)
Telling a 'porkie' seems to be cockney slang: pork pie - lie.
 
And just to bring this back to topic, I brought a first class something or other unlimited first class travel, and they served pork pies on the train as a free refreshment. Very nice it was too.

Cheerio John
 
And just to bring this back to topic, I brought a first class something or other unlimited first class travel, and they served pork pies on the train as a free refreshment. Very nice it was too.

Cheerio John


Sounds like a perfect meal on a train trip. Thanks.

William
 
Certainly, my mam would pack a pork pie with the sandwiches went I went train spotting in the 1970s (and crisps!)

Paul
 
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