This started (as all the best things do) in the pub. One of my favourite pubs in the world is the Coppa Dolla in Broadhempston, Devon , it a fabulous old pub with beams, low ceilings, horse brasses and an open fire which burns even in the middle of summer. The best thing about the Coppa Dolla is the gorgeous 2 in 1 pies they make. Half pie have cauliflower cheese, it’s a win win in my book.
One cold and rainy Sunday afternoon we were sat a the bar waiting for our table (we’d arrived an hour early so several pints of real ale had been consumed during the wait) when a conversation started about how good the pies are. Kate said “I could never make a pie as good a the pies here”, Trista said “Yes you could, I know I definitely could”, Rich said “I can make a better pie ” I said “no you can’t” and so on and before we knew it a pie competition was being planned.
We set the ground rules for our pie competition (or the Paignton International Pie Festival as it later became known) and in year 1 there were very very straight forward
1) All pies must contain pastry
2) You must make your own pastry
3) The pie must be savoury
Each attendee (whether a pie maker or not) gets to judge and the judging was based on marks out of 30 (10pts for taste, 10pts for appearance and 10pts for creativity)
As far as we can recall in the first year 2007 there were 8 pies and Trista won with a steak pie with puff pastry.
In 2008 we changed the rules slightly to allow for sweet pies to be included and a lemon meringue pie came second after my very pretty gala pie.
In 2009 there were 14 pies and Julia won with individual pork pies, the creativity element of the marking scheme became contentious as it lead to some very unusual pies the worst of which was a now infamous pie created by Amy which included lamb, fruit and spices and became known as the lamb and Christmas pudding pie. I think it would be more than fair to describe it as disgusting.
As a result of the runaway creativity I held discussions with the founding pie festival members and we decided to change the marking scheme, removing creativity entirely and weighting the scoring in favour of taste. We all agreed this was the best way forward because surely only the best tasting pie should ever win?!
In 2010 there were 32 attendees (and 16 pies) at pie festival (all crammed into my kitchen diner, it really was a squeeze – we even had a couple of bemused Spanish people to help with the international element of our festival). We went back to our roots and acquired a barrel of real ale to help proceedings along. The range of pies was enormous there were - 4 steak pies, 2 chicken (one with cajan spices), 1 tomato,1 stargazy (a total triumph complete with lots of fish heads, I’m sure that were it not for the fish loathers in the group this would definitely have won), 1 breakfast (the only cold pie) 5 apple (including one with cheese – Amy again, will she never learn!!), 1 chocolate and 1 custard.
I was the very proud winner (after 2 recounts) with a steak and mushroom pie with puff pastry (we seem to have come full circle back to 2007). The engraved plate which we have been awarding since the beginning has pride of place in my kitchen.
This thing seems to be growing and in 2011 we are thinking we may need to move out of my kitchen to allow everyone who wants to come to come.
We wondered if you would be interested in having some participation in our event, we’d be happy to let you enter a pie, but be aware the competition is fierce and many of us spend the whole year researching and planning our pies!!
We have not yet set a date for the 2011 Paignton International Pie Festival, we usually hold it in the Autumn (hence the large number of apple pies this year).
It is an evening of much fun and frivolity and we’d love you to be part of it.
(apologies for the confusion of I’s and we’s in the narrative above but this really is a team effort but I do get very excited about my part in it)
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