Source: Middleton in Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop
Lydia Sumter poses with her Minted Wensleydale Lamb & Potato Pie and trophies after being named Supreme Champion at the British Pie Awards 2024.
A Minted Wensleydale Lamb & Potato Pie has taken home the title of Supreme Champion at the 2024 British Pie Awards.
The winning product, made by Middleton in Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop near Barnard Castle in County Durham, was described by one judge as a “come eat me pie” while another declared “the pastry is a poem”.
It has already claimed top honours in the Lamb Pie Class at the 16th edition of the annual competition, which held its judging inside St Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray on Wednesday 6 March.
Lydia Sumter has been making her own pies for the past 12 years to sell at the Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop, she runs with her partner Jonathan Scott.
“I was very overwhelmed, shocked and quite emotional as well,” she told British Baker. “I was in tears when they made the announcement.”
All the meat used in her pies is sourced from a traditional hill farm in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, run by Sumter’s mother and brother. “The sheep graze on the heather moorlands and limestone pastures, so it has its own unique flavours,” she commented.
Source: Middleton in Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop
Minted Wensleydale Lamb & Potato Pie
As for the poetically flaky shortcrust pastry, Sumter claimed she makes it slightly different to how people would normally would.
“When you eat a pie, it’s the first thing that you put on your tongue, and it’s important to get the right thickness and even bake,” she said, adding that it had taken time to perfect.
All pastry is rolled by hand by Sumter with help from her team of seven at the shop. They only sell between 60 to 100 pies per week, with customers often taking them home for dinner after a fish and chip lunch.
Sumter admitted it had been a difficult start to the year, affected by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, but said she hoped the award would help boost trade a bit. “I’m not planning on expanding into any supermarkets or anything like that because we’re just a very small enterprise,” she added.
British Pie Awards chairman Dr Matthew O’Callaghan OBE, who is also chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association, noted that the number of pies sold in fish and chip shops is increasing. “That’s why we have a Fish & Chip Shop class,” he said, adding that Sumter hadn’t entered that category as she’d wanted to put her product up against the best in lamb pies.
Source: British Pie Awards
British Pie Awards chairman Dr Matthew O’Callaghan OBE displays some pies in front of the award trophies at St Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray
Around 140 judges had congregated in Leicestershire’s pork pie capital last week to scrutinise almost 900 entries.
O’Callaghan asserted that it had been a “cracking competition with a star-studded judging panel” that included former England cricket player and broadcaster Jonathan ‘Aggers’ Agnew and Royal Chef Mark Flanagan, who travelled up from Buckingham Palace. International judges had also flown in from as far away as Japan and California.
Winners were decided across 24 different categories (see the complete list below). The Fusion Pie Class, featuring the likes of chicken tikka pies and lasagne pies, was new for this year.
Along with Supreme Champion, there were also awards handed out for Small Producer (Bowring Butchers in Mansfield), Newcomer (Martins in Whitchurch), and Young Piemaker (Ethan O’Hare from WeeCook in Carnoustie).
Source: British Pie Awards
Turner’s Pies MD and The Apprentice contestant Phil Turner celebrates winning three British Pie Awards 2024 classes.
West Sussex-based Turner’s Pies was the most prolific with a hattrick of victories in the Meat & Potato, Vegan, and Dessert pie classes. Trophies were collected by managing director Phil Turner, who is currently starring in the series 18 of The Apprentice.
The lamb & potato pie succeeds last year’s winner, , and a gluten-free vegetarian pie, which triumphed in 2022.
”We eat a billion pounds worth of pies each year,” said O’Callaghan. “The British do pies like no other country and I believe the pie is Britain’s major contribution to World Food Heritage.”
| Class | Product Name | Company | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
Melton Mowbray Pork Pie | Tesco Melton Mowbray Pork Pie 440g | Samworths Savoury Pastry | Leicester |
Pork Pie | Pork pie | AE.Chambers Ltd | Nottingham |
Cold-Eating Savoury Pie | Robinsons of Stilton. Chicken and Ham Pie | Robinsons of Stilton Ltd | Stilton |
Pasty | Chicken Bhaji Pasty | Proper Cornish Ltd | Bodmin |
Dessert Pie | Turner’s Dutch Apple Pie | Turner’s Pies Ltd | Chichester |
Steak and Kidney Pie | Measures Traditional Steak & Kidney Pie | Measures Butchers | Huntingdon |
Beef Pie | Pure South Beef & Peppercorn Sauce Pie by Fuud Ltd | FUUD Ltd | Leigh on Sea |
Beef & Alcohol Pie | Martins Wagyu Beef & Ale Pie | Martins | Whitchurch |
Beef & Cheese Pie | The Crown Signature Steak & Stilton pie | Stine Hospitality Ltd | Asfordby |
Beef & Vegetable Pie | Ox Cheek & Shin of Beef w/ Root Vegetables | Mēs Pies And Wine | London |
Meat & Potato Pie | Turner’s Steak & Potato Pie | Turner’s Pies Ltd | Chichester |
Lamb Pie | Minted Wensleydale Lamb & Potato | Middleton-In-Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop Ltd | Barnard Castle |
Chicken, Chicken & Vegetable / Herb Pie | Chicken and Mushroom | The Outdoor Pig Company | Alcester |
Chicken With Other Meat Pie | Chicken Leek & Ham Hock Pie | Bowring Butchers | Mansfield |
Game & Speciality Meat Pie | The Bell’s Game Pie | The Bell Hotel & Pie Shop | Winslow |
Hot-Eating Savoury Pie | The Bell’s Christmas Pie | The Bell Hotel & Pie Shop | Winslow |
Fish Pie | WeeCOOK Fishwife Pie | WeeCOOK | Carnoustie |
Vegetarian Pie | The Bell’s Sweet Potato, Spinach and Coconut Curry Pie | The Bell Hotel & Pie Shop | Winslow |
Vegan Pie | Butternut Chilli & Vegan Cheese Pie | Turner’s Pies | Chichester |
Pub Pie | The Two Brewers Steak & Stilton Pie | Paul’s Proper British Pies | Buckingham |
Sports Pie | Cheeky Beef & Fondant Potato | Paul’s Proper British Pies | Buckingham |
Fish & Chip Shop Pie | Cheesy Potato & Onion pie | The Cods Scallops | Nottingham |
Free From Pie | Italian Job | Kavanaghs | Oakham |
Fusion Pie | Pieminister Harissa Chicken Pie | Pieminister | Bristol |
