Saturday 6 December 2014

Cooking Crimes - In Defence of Fray Bentos Pies

Fray Bentos Pies - best served with some roast potatoes, gravy and a generous helping of nostalgia.

Over the last few months while I've been recovering from my broken ankle, I haven't been able to do any of the cooking and Andrew's staple is the good old Fray Bentos pie.

Fray Bentos pies


Here's your pub quiz info...

The name 'Fray Bentos' is actually a port in Uruguay where the 'Liebig's Extract of Meat Company' began producing meat extracts, canned corned beef and other food stuffs in the late 1800s. They trademarked the name in 1881 to market their 'Fray Bentos Compressed Cooked Corned Beef'. The canned meat pies came along in 1958 and shortly afterwards the company was sold, sold and sold again, all the while the iconic name moving with it.

The Fray Bentos brand is currently owned by Baxter's and all the production takes place at their factory in Fochabers, Scotland (and if you're ever up there, the factory has quite a good exhibition in the shape of a 'Highland Village' complete with lots of free soup samples!)


At the moment there's 10 different pies available (plus a range of suet puddings) from their 'boozy' steak and ale pie to their 'just chicken' pie - my favourite is their 'just steak' pie (which I can't seem to find on their website, boo hiss).

Fray Bentos pies


They get quite a bit of bad press, being seen as one of those 1970s joke foods but we can't see anything wrong with them. They're quick to cook (just bung one in the oven while you're doing your potatoes), pretty tasty and quite filling too.


What do you think of Fray Bentos pies? 
 

2 comments:

  1. I lived with my Nan a couple of years ago and she loved these pies - a weekly dinner staple. I hadn't really had them until then and I don't see anything wrong with them. They filled us up, were quick to make and have such a lovely flaky crust.
    :-)
    Bits & Bobs

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love a Fray Bentos, they totally remind me of lunchtime at my grans and I use to have them with brown sauce (I was a weird child lol)!

    ReplyDelete

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