It is cold, it is very cold. It is so cold that I’m afraid to stay in one spot for too long for fear of being frozen to the ground. So what better way to warm up than partaking in one the most unusual Leagues that London has to offer. The Pie-n-Mash club is what it says on the tin, the plan is to meet, greet and then plough in to the finest cuisine that has epitomised the cockneys for so long.
The Rules are simple. Eels and Pies are 4 points, Mash 2 points and Liquor 1 point. Eat as much as you can without leftovers and the points are yours. Then, over the course of a “season”, spent visiting various establishments around London, the winner is the person with the most points (funny that).
Now, i know what you’re thinking. Why! And to be honest there is no right answer. Sitting in Cookes Pie house in London Fields, you would be just as likely to see a sharp suited ‘city boi’ walk in as you would a bricklayer. And herein lies the secret, Pie and Mash is....... wait for it..... just food. Yep that’s it. It’s just a pie with some mash (not forgetting the liquor) nothing fancy, nothing to get Heston Blumenthal worked up about, it’s just meat, pastry and potatoes.
What was originally seen as the cheap filling meal of the 18th century, has gradually found its self a niche market in modern London. Cockneys for far and wide will travel just to get a decent one, locals will pop in for something warm, tourist’s will try it ‘with the green stuff’ and all will enjoy it, well most will. So widespread is the appeal that if you should happen to walk into Bow Locks pub in Tenerife on a Saturday, you will find yourself surrounded by a swarm of West Ham fan’s all tucking into a pre-match pie’n’mash, freshly shipped in from London that day.
The quintessential British meal is always a Sunday roast, the north has chips and gravy and the south east has the greatest of them all Pie and Mash, and here in this very pie house the word is spreading nationwide. BBC cook show The Great British Menu is here to cover the story, talk to the people who eat it and the people that cook it and to try and work out why on earth people like it to the point where they would join a club and eat it to get points. I’ll be dammed if I know but one thing’s for sure: I’m having 3 pies, 2 mash and plenty of Liquor. 17 points, easy!!
http://www.pie-n-mash.com/
