Clarks Pies
Peter my son, now 40 and recently moved to“The land of Pasties” Devon, was weaned on Clark’s pies. This addiction he acquired from me. I did not considerer a Saturday night complete without six pennuth and a Clarks Pie from the Pie Shop in Staple Hill. All pie eaters in the fifties and sixties were easily recognised by the third degree burns on there lower lip and chin caused by the dribbling of the hot gravy. We were too impatient to let our pies cool down. It was not unknown for some lads in the dark of the back row of The Regal cinema, Staple Hill, to seriously jeopardise there chances of parenthood by being over greedy on the first bite and unleashing a stream of boiling lava into there laps.
I made the mistake of waxing lyrical to the Incontinence Dining Club Members about this Bristol delicacy and was subjected to a huge amount of abuse about the ability of soft southerners (Note, Tom, a founder member and prolific writer comes from Halifax or somewhere north of Gloucester and knows what proper food is!!!) to produce such a culinary wonder. Stung by this slight I deviated from our normal route home from Saturday rugby and tried to find a Clarks pie shop. Having traversed from Old Market to Kingswood muttering “I know there is a shop here somewhere” I had to finally concede defeat and suffer their barbs all the way back to Thornbury and it cost me a round. N.B. Clarks Pies have now moved to Ashton Gate and may be the reason for Bristol City's current promotion challenge!
My one highlight was when another friend of mine (I use the word friend advisedly, as he once cling filmed my house from eaves to damp proof course when we were on holiday and he shut the cat in!!) A Mr David Baines who is a food scientist, assisted Clarks Pies some years back during the "Foot and Mouth Scare" when they were developing a new product and he used me as Chief Pie Taster “Bliss” They were launching a chicken pie at the time and every so often he would pop into our kitchen with three or four pies for me to sample and give an opinion. However, he soon cottoned on to my “I not too sure and perhaps I could try another three or four” ploy.
2 comments:
I too was a Clark's pie addict, only I knew them as "Clak pie 'n' chip" as they were available in the Chinese chip shop at Filton junction. I was in danger of producing a "hair lip" and had to go to Pies Anonymous when I moved to Thornbury and was staggered to learn that the local fish and chip shop did not sell them.
Why were they so hot? They could have changed the course of history if they were used in medieval days to pour over the walls of castles onto the invading infidels.
Sorry I digress.
I found the best way of eating them was to turn them vertical, bit off the top pastry and add some Colemans Mustard. (I develop a nervous twitch when I think of it).Allow to cool for three days.
I have done much research into the subject of pies and find that our colonial friends in Oz (what think they can play cricket) and NZ are big pie eaters.The name of their best pies are "Mrs Macdonalds". They are filled to the brim with solid meat but with Clak's pie sauce they could have been a world beater.
We sleekit timorous beastie,
To eat ye is a treatstie.
Wi your Golden Broon Coat,
You're like a tiny Welsh boat.
Tis a wondrous joy to unlid ye,
Your rich broon fillin to then see.
To be dipped to be knibb-led,
To be slurped and to be sipp-led.
Forever a beacon of delicious crusty hope,
To be revered and eaten by both genius and dope.
Ye are a Prince amongst pies,
Your legend fadeth not nor ever dies -----
For further info go to web site below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/listings/food/pages/food_takeaways_clarks.shtml
Post a Comment