Pie 'N' Mash Needs To Be Protected, Says Essex Mp

[naomi24]

//An Essex MP is to lead a parliamentary debate calling for traditional pie 'n' mash with liquor to get protected status, like champagne and Cornish Pasties.

Richard Holden, the Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay, said the dish was "part of that Cockney diaspora", describing it as "the original fast food".

He will lead the debate in Westminster Hall at 16:00 BST on Tuesday to stop producers claiming it - but with a different recipe.//

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9898lglepo

 

'Pie Mash' if you please Mr Holden - no Londoner worth his salt would ever call it Pie 'and' mash - but apart from that I'm with you on this one.  Having long ago left London I've not eaten it for years but to me it always has been the food of the Gods.  

 

Love it or loathe it - or have you never tried it?  

[douglas9401]

A novel idea, leaving something you're not keen on, it'll never catch on though.

[Old_Geezer]

Cheddar cheese should get protected status as it too is an original fast food.

[New Judge]

"Dont suppose people on here will be behind it though they hate anything Cockney it seems."

I'm not quite a cockney. But I was born within the sound of the bells of a church which is probably within the sound of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow (if the wind is in the right direction).

But I hate Pie Mash and (especially) the licquor with a vengeance.

I lived in Stoke Newington, North London and in nearby Dalston, F. Cooke had one of his (I think four or five) shop/restaurants, in Kingsland Road. The tables  were in fixed booths and were marble topped. Hanging from the outside of the shop, overhanging the pavement were a couple of tanks about six inches deep, containing the eels. There was little water in these tanks, just a mass of slithering eels. It was by no means unusual for one or two of them to slide over the edge of the tank and fall to the pavement. These eels were for sale raw and you could choose them from the tank. The assistant would take them out and decapitate them for you before your very eyes, so you knew they were fresh! You could take them away either whole, or they could be chopped up into manageable lengths for you.

I found the pies just extremely unpleasant. I don't think there was anything particularly wrong with them. I would eat all sorts of meat pies but they just left me cold. My mates and my family all loved them but I always had something else when they were on offer.

The eels? I love virtually all sorts of fish and seafood, but eels are an absolute no-no. I don't know what it is about them. Not far from where I lived Cooke's had a small lock up. In there they stewed and jellied their eels for sale in the shop. Inside were three or four large vats which would steam all day, accompanied by  most awful smell.

"'Pie Mash' if you please Mr Holden - no Londoner worth his salt would ever call it Pie 'and' mash "

This is interesting. Although not particularly interested in the fayre, I always knew it as "Pie n' Mash". I wonder if "Pie Mash" stems from "Pie, Mash & Licquor"? Interstingly Cooke's (who are still trading) and Manze's (where my mates would call in on the odd occasions we strayed south of the river) seem to be with me:

https://fcookepieandmash.co.uk/about-us/

https://www.manze.co.uk/

The Cooke's website is interesting. It explains that some of its shops are now listed buildings and also menttions the live eels at their Dalston outlet.

Anyway, whether its Pie Mash or Pie n' Mash, I wish Mr Holden well with his attempt to have it protected.

[Canary42]

A Pie 'n Mash outlet has recently opened just a mile or so from me (Hayling Island).   I've yet to try it.

[naomi24]

NJ, there are an awful lot of 'Cockneys' who would never be readily identified as 'Cockney'.  I'm one of them - but I'm working on me 'Gor blimey, me ol' China', as we speak.   😂

[Arksided]

Maybe the Conservative MP is abit aggrieved at missing out on the freebie band wagaon... well suppose he has time on his hands.