The Secret to Our Famous Pies: A Gourmet’s Perspective

Imagine biting into our handmade steak and ale pie: golden, buttery pastry and tender chunks of slow cooked beef combined with a rich local ale. The flavours are bold but comforting leaving you longing for the next bite. It’s no surprise that our steak and ale pie is one of our most popular pies, loved by our loyal customers. But what makes our pies so extraordinary? In this blog, I’ll be revealing the secret behind our unmatched flavour – how carefully chosen ingredients, traditional techniques and a passion for perfection come together to create Crowther’s Gourmet Pies and Savouries.

Our chef, Ian, has a long history of working with suppliers across Lancashire to source the highest quality ingredients. He prides himself on supporting local farmers such as Denham Springs Dairy, located only a few miles from our kitchen and local butchers including Brown’s Butchers in Chorley and Farnsworths in Whalley. It’s always been important to us to use the freshest of ingredients, which is why we get deliveries of meat, fish and vegetables several times a week meaning nothing is frozen and ensures our pies and savouries have a premium taste.

While the traditional steak and ale is one of our most popular pies, Ian also loves to create more unusual flavour combinations. Our Bombay Egg, for example, plays upon the tradition of the familiar Scotch Egg whilst adding the warming spices and flavours of the Indian subcontinent. The Venison, Stilton and Port pie, which featured on the menu before Christmas, combine rich but delicious flavours rarely seen together in a pie.

To us our pies are a labour of love. Many people wonder why we don’t offer a daily delivery service as some other companies do. The reason is all our pies and savouries are handmade. We have a small but dedicated team of chefs who rub together the butter and flour by hand to make our pastry. Up until very recently the pastry we rolled out by hand but just a few months ago we purchased a pie press to create the pastry cases. Still operated manually it allows us to be a little more efficient in the kitchen (our family sized pies are still all hand rolled). The fillings for our pies are all cooked low and slow to allow the flavours to develop and mature over time – you can’t rush a tasty pie!

Crowther’s Gourmet Pies and Savouries are often the first thing to be put on our customers’ weekly meal plan. For example, when our weekly menu goes live on a Sunday morning the first orders come flying in within just 2 or 3 minutes, we’re sure some of our customers are in competition to see who can order first😊.

We’re proud to have served our pies up at range of local business events including most recently at Chorley Football Club’s Business Club (which we’ll be back at on 28th February). They were so popular that delegates couldn’t decide which flavour to choose, and many were opting for a combination. They’ve also been popular at local events such as Brinscall Cricket Club’s Bonfire Night celebrations, where we sold out of all flavours of pies and sausage rolls despite producing even more than we did the previous year.

Our ever-changing weekly menu allows us to adapt to the seasons meaning that the ingredients we use are of the highest quality and taste. We also like to highlight certain events and holidays throughout the year (look out for our haggis, neeps and tattie pie in the next week ready for Burn’s Night). We’re also conscious of our customers dietary requirements which is why we can gladly create gluten free and dairy free versions of most of our pies on request. Ian has also worked hard to develop our recently launched vegetarian sausage roll and is currently working on a vegetarian Scotch egg. Whatever it is you’re looking for we try out best to meet your needs.

Have a I whetted your appetite with all this talk of pies and sausage rolls? Think it’s time you tried them for yourself? Head on over to our website www.thebusyfoodco.co.uk/delivery to check out our menu. A new menu goes live every Sunday morning and you can order online for delivery or collection from our restaurant The View Bar and Bistro. What are you waiting for? I promise once you’ve had a bite you’ll understand the secret too.