Reminded me of traditional pub fare in the UK. Cold pies were always on offer. Relative to the quality of some of the ales the pies were really all very good. I preferenced Guinness as it was always cold and seemed to cut through the richness of many of the pies.
Many were more a family tureen pie with a jellied mix of different meats and or vegetables. Game pies were the most interesting, often with references to anything feathered included. Pigeon, blackbird, goose, etc but never ever swan.
Expect @draughtrider was on the money without realising it:
Some might be keen given itās swooping season. I could add Butcher birds to that list at present. Neither are usually a problem. Blame the weather again?
I was being a little opportunistic with the topic given we were discussing meat pies, to introduce the ābutcherā-bird to the end line.
To be succinct.
Pied butcherbirds (To do with their colour and not culinary use) and grey butcher birds are the most common at our end of the state.
With one exception they are all related to the magpie. Along with magpies they will swoop when nesting. The behaviour is not unique to just these birds. But with their high intelligence, low fear of humans and hooked beaks they are effective attackers. Iām not recommending they become pie meat, they are protected. Perhaps a mock āRevenge game pieā or mock āsmart bird pieā with a matching colour scheme of black and white or silver grey might be a springtime seasonal homage to these birds?
P.S.
Iād be guessing which varieties you have up north. Wikipedia provides only some of the answer:
I tried the Four and Twenty āPlant based Meat Free Pieā the other day for something to doā¦ and was rather surprised!
It does a credible imitation of a regular Four and Twenty ābeefā pie. The taste wasnāt bad and the texture was good. Admittedly Iāve been eating 100% vegetarian for the last couple of months (from a more flexitarian past) and my tastes are probably different than the average meat eater. Itās definitely not nutritionally superior to a ābeefā pie - still high in sodium and saturated fat, and its got a shockingly unintelligible ingredients list, but its not bad for an occasional thing. https://fourntwenty.com.au/Our-Range/Hot/Plant-Based-Meat-Free
Some articles claim that the brown ones are immature and will turn black, but our sonās father-in law. a retired enginner and an avid bird watcher and expert told me that the brown ones stay brown.
I believe him as I regularly see pairs of black and brown ones chasing and following each other around our area as part of their mating rituals.
When we lived in Herberton when I was little, the pied butcher birds, magpies and kookaburras would gather on the handrail on the back landing outside the kitchen in the afternoon when my grandmother would be cutting up the meat to cook for dinner and she would throw scarps out for them.
One species would actually come into the kitchen but I do not remember which one it was.
The blackbirds will be pleased!
One of the local bakeries does a pretty good lentil curried pie with a short crust base and flakey top. Iād send you a thrice to try, but Aust Post being what it is one is likely to be eaten, another mashed arriving late, and of course the third lost in transit.
I see we also have a new challenge for October.
Happy pie eating everyone.
Off the topic.
Both our grey and pied butcherbirds are happy to be hand fed. And both - in particular the younger ones are adventurous and cheeky enough to fly into the kitchen if the screen door is not closed. Weāve regular nesters at the front gate and Maggieās near the back door. And not a problem for us.
I have a clan of pied butcher birds that sing from the power pole near my room most mornings at dawn. They are trying out a new song this spring, it is very sweet but a little repetitive. One does the pure tones and the other does the harmonics and warbles. They have displaced the magpie clan from this favoured spot as the magpie clan was hit very hard in the drought. Neither swoop me. Magpies have been shown to be able to recognise individual humans and to be selective and not attack those who are no threat. Magpies seem to be more studied, I donāt know of any study that would tell us about the PBBs.
So I have no conclusive answer, they may swoop some people but are not notorious for it.
I read an article a few years ago which claimed that magpies can recognise up to 200 persons and do not usually attack those persons that they recognise as being residemts of the area they nest in.
Whilst the local black and brown butcher birds have some melodious sounds, they also have an annoying series of calls that they continually repeat when they chase each other around our area.
They do not possess the singing qualities of either the pied butcher birds or magpies.
Hey posters, can we get back on topic. As much as bird species can be interesting, my stomach is far more interested in PIES and my eyes are looking for good brands to try.
Come on @Fred123, you know I want BEEF PIES, not bird pies.
But while you mention four and twenty pies, wouldnāt even consider them unless they were giving them away for free.
Unexpectedly or not the real traditional English pork, game meat and blackbird pies usually served at approximately room temperature are not included in the competition. Hot meat pastries are not that traditional, unless itās an Aussie footy match orā¦
This may be Melbourne specific, but years ago I used to go to almost every golf clubhouse after a round and there would be Patties pies in the oven. Loved them. But now Patties just seem to do party pies and sausage rolls. They are good, but not the real two-handed, third degree burns as gravy spurts out, PIE. The closest I can get at the moment from a supermarket is National Pies from Tassie.
While they make some great pies in Tassie, i am not sure about this oneā¦
Double cheeseburger pies?
This pie has everything you would usually find in a Cheeseburgerā¦ TWO delicious homemade Australian beef patties, cheese, tomato sauce, onion, pickles and tangy American mustard, encased inside our signature flaky pie pastryā¦ YUM!
The first time we visited Tassie was in 1993 when our kids were still at school and we stopped at a little seaside town in NE Tassie which had a pie shop on the western side of the main road with a sign promoting their scallop pies.
Another bakery chain, currently Tasmanian family owned, with a growing network of franchisees.
Weāve sampled products from several in Qld including the one strategically located adjacent to the Beerwah Woolies entry. Highly popular with locals at certain times of the day. Much more so than the opposite sushi shop it has also outlasted a well known curry chain several shop fronts away.
Itās not a surprise we are spoilt for choice with places to purchase great Aussie pies in the area. Although a worrying trend is tree changers with children boasting of the burger dash to the M1 Motorway service stop.
I tried my first National Pies last week, based on many recommendations above. Nice Pies! Very traditional for hand held eating without making a mess. Not a nasty bit to be found. But all the packaging was labelled for the rubbish not recycling, so reached out and received the following:
Thank you for getting in touch.
I will start by saying that yes, you are correct in noticing that unfortunately our packaging is not recyclable, as a business we do have plans to improve this across our range.
As a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant Association this is something that we are working with our packaging suppliers behind the scenes to make better. There are many challenges for us when it comes to maintaining food quality and consistent shelf life with packaging, this is always a core deciding factor when it comes to choosing the packaging products that we do.
Always looking for a replacement and more environmentally friendly option, this is an ongoing process as packaging technology continues to improve.
