Pies and similar...

Hi all, I'd like a bit of Northern assistance if possible... I am currently engaged in a relationship with a homesick wiganner (Orrel,I believe) So have to endure the daily tirade on how the North is far superior to the South, how the people are friendlier, you can get decent food, etc etc... (I'm sure you all get the gist)
And for Christmas I was hoping to suprise him with a few homely treats. I'm trying to get hold of some Barm cakes, meat and potato pies, black pudding, butter pie and just about anything else anyone can think of. Especially brands which are specific to the area he grew up in (I understande the old bakehouse is a great favourite??) So, a) if anyone can suggest some more typically northern goodies, that would be very helpful and b) if anybody can suggest a method of transportation (eg, shops which offer a mail order service etc..) I would be eternally indebted! Help me bring a smile to this pastry deprived mans face! Cheers, Anna (long suffering southerner)

I don't know whereabouts you are 'Darn Sarf', but, on my recent travels, I have found the shortage of pies/barm cakes etc. to be a bit of a myth. I have 'savoured'(?) pie, sausage roll, etc. pastry products, in Cheshunt, 20 miles north of London, and Ashford, in Kent, 20 miles north of Dover. The girl called the barm cake a 'batch', and I saw no black puddings for sale. Mind you, I don't see black puddings for sale up here either, most Northerners would have to be force fed to eat such crap!

i think santus do a postal service they make mint balls and your friend should know about these if he comes from orrel.if your friend likes to read about wigan you can get a magazine called past forward which comes out every quarter and tells you alsorts about wigan.you can order this from the history shop in wigan.

What are you on about Tonker every supermarket round Wigan sells black puddings, and if you want connoisseur stuff visit the market hall. Its even on the menu in quite a few good restaurants including one or two Italian ones

the french lap em up monseur le-tonk.

/

With the regulations now in force in the meat industry, regarding blood and the diseases that can be carried in it, I'm surprised anywhere still has it, considering it's made of blood and fat.

/

Don't tell me Wiganers have never heard of CJD, (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). It's a disease carried in cattle blood. Invest in a brain, getwom. Re: St.Helens/Wigan, I wouldn't know, because I neither 'come from' or Llive in either of the two places.

dear Wonker since when have pigs been cattle cos since I was a lad I always thought `Black Puddings` were made from
pigs intestines and by the way some though not all are quite tasty

/

I love bury black puddings and even though i dont go very often i always buy some to bring home and also walk round eating one as a lot of other people do.i really dont care what they are made of,but i would rather have a black pudding than a burger from mac donalds.
p.s.what about the white puddings they sell,never had one but wonder what they are made from.

Try Haggis Plum, there is not much difference and that is a very nice dish made mostly with oatmeal barley and mutton, I suppose every thing is what you get used to, I for one could never get used to jellied eels. Have tried them, for me a big no no.

plum47 said ".what about the white puddings they sell,never had one but wonder what they are made from."

I think they are the same as black pudding without the blood.

plum47 said ".what about the white puddings they sell,never had one but wonder what they are made from."

I think they are the same as black pudding without the blood.

I don't think many of these posts have helped Secretsouthener.

/

sorry marken your right, but a lot of us go off on a tangent.i'm the worst,i start to tell my daughters something and before i know it i have gone all round the town,never the houses.

well...not much help, true (other than getwon, cheers) but v.entertaining! white pudding is just made with oatmeal and various seasonings I believe.

Anyway....

Back on the pie front - there isnt a shortage of pastry based goods in the saaf so to speak, it was more the nostagia I was aiming for.

The packaging etc, if you see what I mean. Something traditionally 'wigan', a famous pie outlet for example or a popular brand. ohh and a pack or barm cakes that say 'barm cakes' instead of baps or buns. I'm sure you catch my drift....

cheers

Or 'Batches' ?

Something 'traditionally' Wigan, can only be some Uncle Joes Mintballs, as previously suggested. They are made in Wigan only. (mind you, they're not as good as they used to be).

I am a wiganer living in the saaf and i can buy tins of uncle joes mint balls at shops named past times i know there are a few of these shops in the south at the big shopping centres like Lakeside for instance also you can get meat and potato pies at morrisons stores which i can reccomend there are a few morrisons down here now they have taken over from Safeway good luck kathy

Booker distribute Uncle Joes, so I don't see a reason why any shop can't stock them.

/

Neither are pies!

It will be very hard to find anywhere around here that says barmcakes ,about the only one I know of which are baked locally are Edwards which are baked in Platt Bridge,mostly what you see on sale are sold as baps, oven bottoms, muffins, not one which are local, the barmcakes from round here are very doughy and have a bread like consistency whereas all the rest are very light.

I always have uncle joes in getwom, sod the dentist! I also send em to my ex father in law down south when my kids visit......he uses them to entice the sheep in from his fields hehe.

/

Try to see if Edwards pies of wigan have a web site Bill sends them everywhere good luck

I'll have a look at 'Edwards' Cheers!

Failing that I have found a "contact" in the North who lives just down the road from where Jamie (pie deprived bloke) used to live in Orrel (ll?) so I might get them to entrust some pastry baked goods to the British postal system. Hmmm. No. 1 bakery/pie vendor in that area anybody???

These replies have had me chuckling this morning. Welcome back to the town of humour Getwom!
You state that you "don't think they use human blood for black puddings in Bury ( but probably in St Helens"). Now thats a bit insensitive, is it not Getwom?
Come on, i'm waiting for the link that proves St Heleners are a secret species that are vampires.

Getwom said: ....regarding blood and the diseases that can be carried in it,
I suspect that relates to human blood. I don't think they use human blood for their black puddings in Bury (but they probably do in St Helens).
Then discodiva said:.. Now thats a bit insensitive, is it not Getwom?

No. It's not insensitive, it's just a lack of knowledge, on Getwom's part, regarding the fact that disease which is carried in animal blood can be passed on to Humans.
Rio caroni also has the wrong idea, thinking that only pigs blood is used to make black pudding.
I suggest you type in 'black pudding' and read, and inwardly digest, what it says.

/

Getwom when I eventually need false teeth I'll likely use steradent.......works wonders on cups too! In the meantime colgate after me uncle Joes is fine hehehe! After all a bit of what you fancy does you good so they say

black puddings fat free from bury.salt pepper vinegar, aint nowt like em unless thar talking about trotters, cowheel and tripe off seam.why am i sudenly slavering at the chops.[;D]

Getwom, don't try and get out of it, at this late stage! You, clearly, got mixed up and tried to take the mickey with a comment about Human blood and St.Helensers. Now you say I'm trying to put people off eating meat and black puddings. What a load of bo****ks!

/

OH ECK. THE POOR GIRL ONLY ASKED ABOUT PIES AND FOOD.I BET SHE WONDERS WHAT ALL THIS IS ABOUT.

/

We weren't talking about HIV, or Human blood, or even St.Helensers. The subject was black puddings and my contribution was to question how safe it is to use animal blood to make them with, in the light of the CJD scare. You tried to, and are still trying to, come the smart-arse with something that is not related to topic.

/

CJD is a neurological disease and it has been passed Human to Human via. blood transfusion. Animals are blood tested to see if they are carrying the virus in BSE form. So, if it can be found in animal blood it must be able to be transmitted to Humans via animal blood. Offal is most infected ie. liver, kidney, etc., which is the type of stuff used for crap like black pudding, burgers, sausages etc.. Isn't it ironic that, since the BSE scare, the regulations for meat produce and sale have been tightened so much that you can't buy a piece of beef dripping with blood anymore, it is totally drained and chemically treated. The red stuff you get, in the bottom of the plastic tray isn't blood, it's red dye.