The humble meat pie is an Australian institution sadly unappreciated by our North American friends. I have to admit that the situation in Calgary is much better than in Ithaca, with frozen meat pies of reasonable quality readily available in the supermarket. However a weekend lunch of hot meat pies from the local bakery is generally not an option.
Simple Simon Pies brought a happy end to my meat pie wasteland theory. A trip to the Calgary Farmers Market is well worth the effort for the pies alone. I walked up to the counter and was immediately offered a taste. My request for “something that tastes like an Aussie meat pie” brought two offerings, steak and tourtiere. The steak pie was a fantastic open faced pie filled with real pieces of meat in enough (but not too much) gravy. Tourtiere is a French-Canadian pork, beef, and potato mixture, which was delicious in a lidded pie. Simple Simon make fruit pies too, and the mango pie we tried was a welcome taste of summer in the cold weather. Not too sweet, but sticky enough to satisfy.
We came home from the markets with a dozen frozen pies, and it won’t be long before we go back for more.
Simple Simon Pies brought a happy end to my meat pie wasteland theory. A trip to the Calgary Farmers Market is well worth the effort for the pies alone. I walked up to the counter and was immediately offered a taste. My request for “something that tastes like an Aussie meat pie” brought two offerings, steak and tourtiere. The steak pie was a fantastic open faced pie filled with real pieces of meat in enough (but not too much) gravy. Tourtiere is a French-Canadian pork, beef, and potato mixture, which was delicious in a lidded pie. Simple Simon make fruit pies too, and the mango pie we tried was a welcome taste of summer in the cold weather. Not too sweet, but sticky enough to satisfy.
We came home from the markets with a dozen frozen pies, and it won’t be long before we go back for more.
sounds great! i pine for the cinnamon honey i found in ithaca...
ReplyDeletei'm well-looking forward to learning more about your gastronomic explorations. keep us posted!
if only i could help you out with the cinnamon honey - i believe it's still illegal to import honey into australia. have you tried queen vic markets for honey? there is a honey place in milawa too, if you're ever exploring north.
ReplyDeleteI likes pies!!!! Yous should feed everyone pies.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll have some cherry pie for dessert, cos no one makes good cherry pie round here.
Caity J