141. Can You Tell Your Pie From Your Pithivier?

Kings Norton Farmers’ Market 2019 pre-pandemic

 

 I attended recently the rather unlikely Farmer’s market on Kings Norton Green in my own south western part of the city. I say “unlikely” because present-day Kings Norton is rather unlikely itself being as it is a great swathe of various estates of modern-housing dating from the 1940s onwards with, at its centre a green dating back to medieval times beside a 13th century church and other ancient buildings including the Saracen’s Head inn and The Old Grammar School, also medieval and where the local Tory MP, a well-nourished young man whose critics have named him Big Dinners after he supported the government’s plan not to provide free lunches to schoolchildren during half-term holidays (see Blog 129), has his constituency office. 

The Old Grammar School where you’ll find Big Dinners

 

 Kings Norton Green itself is the location of a minor Civil War battle - the Battle of Kings Norton - in which, on 17 October 1642, royalist forces under Prince Rupert of The Rhine, marching to link up with a force led by King Charles I, ran into a Parliamentary force led by Lord Willoughby and, in short, Rupert’s lot received a sound beating with fifty of the Royalists being killed and buried in an unmarked grave in Kings Norton parish churchyard. As the battle is said to have been fought on The Green we must conclude that where men once fought and died, those with a little more to spend on food now buy cakes, charcuterie, samosas, organic vegetables and dainty pies.

  The market is still a somewhat sorry sight, pretty in its location but still relatively diminished in its number of stalls as the pandemic peters out in the area. There used to be a stall which sold fabulous Banbury cakes, another which offered delicious chutneys for sale and years ago, the Halfpenny Green vineyard used to sell its Penny Black and Mercia wines at the Kings Norton market. Hopefully it will not be long before the market discovers a new spring in its step. Hopefully it won’t be long before we all discover a new spring in our step. So where am I heading with this?

  Well, I did discover a new stall at the most recent market - that of Rourke’s pie makers who have a shop in Kings Heath. And pretty little pies they looked too. There were pies with slightly exotic flavours on sale - you know what I mean, the inevitable chorizo, balti chicken, the necessary vegan options such as spicy ‘Middle Eastern’ beetroot - but there were also good solid English pies - steak and ale, ham hock and lamb and mint. I opted for the latter two, it was a cold spring morning with flecks of snow in the air and it seemed right to be taking home good solid comforting English fayre on this particular spring morn.

 

 So how have I got on to this subject? After 3 weeks of the BBC’s current series of The Great British Menu, including the London and South-East regional final judge’s round, the broadcast of which was postponed by 24 hours due to death of the Duke of Edinburgh, some trends are becoming clear. One of the most pleasing is the rarity of the appearances of a water bath so far, and the consequential paucity of dishes cooked sous vide. 

  However I have noticed the increasing number of pithiviers turning up as elements of some dishes. Chefs are becoming pithivier-mad. Not pie-eyed but consumed by pithivier hysteria. In my reading I discover that to the French at least, the pithivier can be a controversial subject. Pithiviers, named after, it appears,  the town of Pithiviers in the département of Loiret, are classically round, domed pastries with a rich almond cream filling. The puff pastry (pâte feuilleté) is glazed and decorated with curving lines which some, rather inaccurately to me, describe as ‘spirals’. The pastries are said to date from the 17th century when puff pastry was invented though the use of almond paste dates back to the Romans. Three types of pithivier have evolved - Pithiviers feuilletés, classic pastries filled with almond cream, Pithiviers fondant, with icing and glacy fruit and Pithiviers salé (dirty pithiviers - sounds good to me), savoury filled with poultry or game birds or pork and vegetables). 

  The Pithiviers feuilletés are a bone of contention being similar as they are to Galettes des rois, frangipane-filled pastries, glazed and patterned once more with swirls but with the addition of a fava bean hidden inside, served at Epiphany, the finder of the bean being nominated as Lord of Misrule for the day (well, that was the case in the past, nowadays there are far too many Lords of Misrule to need a fava bean to pick one out). In the south of France the galette becomes the Gateau Parisienne, to add to the confusion. Aficionados in France will argue whether or not the pastry is a pithivier or a galette des rois, the French always have the right priorities when it comes to issues to be debated.

  Anyway, chefs here in The Midlands now must decide when their pies are their pithiviers and when and when not to stick a fava bean in their pastries. No amount of swirling patterns is going to justify this pithivier outbreak.

    So as far as Kings Norton market is concerned the question is clearly not whether Big Dinners ate all the pies but whether or not he consumed all the pithiviers. Not to be confused with galette des rois of course. Hopefully he saves that for Twelfth Night.