2018 Craft Butcher Scotch Pie Awards
Sunday, 7th Jan 2018The butcher who first introduced Edinburgh customers to the delights of the tasty Scotch Pie nearly 60 years ago has been judged to make the best pies in Scotland!
Crombie`s of Edinburgh has scooped the coveted Diamond Award in the Scottish Craft Butchers Scotch Pie Awards 2018 - the highest possible recognition from the industry evaluator.
And delighted owner Sandy Crombie (77) said he was “absolutely elated” that the pie he pioneered in the capital in the early 1960s was now the nation’s favourite.
“When I first joined my father’s butchers firm in 1956 the Scotch pie was frowned upon in Edinburgh - it was seen as too down-market for the Edinburgh customers of the day,” explained Sandy.
“In the west, however, the Scotch pie was proving a real favourite, so myself and a colleague visited fellow butchers Chapmans of Wishaw and asked for their recipe.”
54 Scotch Pies entered the product evaluation held at Dewars Centre Perth on 1 November. After mystery shopping the main contenders and the second stage judging at Heaven Scent in Milnathort, the judges awarded: 1 Diamond, 15 Gold, 29 Silver
BUSINESS NAME. | TOWN |
DIAMOND AWARD | |
Crombies of Edinburgh | Edinburgh |
GOLD AWARDS |
A E Brown &. Son | Turriff |
Ballards Butchers | Castle Douglas |
Blackwood of Kilmacolm | Kilmacolm |
Blair Drummond Smiddy | Stirling |
Boghall Butchers | Bathgate |
D H Robertson | Arbroath |
Fergusons of Airdrie | Airdrie |
Hugh Black &. Sons | Bathgate |
Patricks of Camelon | Camelon |
Shaw the Butcher | Glasgow |
T H Stevenson &. Sons | Stanley |
Thomas Johnston | Falkirk |
W F Stark | Buckhaven |
W Reid | Hopeman |
Wright Butchers | East Kilbride |
SILVER AWARDS | |
A J Learmonth | Jedburgh |
Anderson Quality Butchers | North Berwick |
Bruce of the Broch | Fraserburgh |
D G Lindsay &. Son | Perth |
David Faulds &. Son | Kilmarnock |
Duncan Fraser &. Son | Inverness |
Dunnabie Farm Shop | Annan |
Elderslie Butchers | Elderslie |
Fleming Butchers | Arbroath |
G J Sanderson Butchers | Coldstream |
Hastie &. Dyce | Inverness |
Hunters of Kinross | Kinross |
J B Houston Butchers | Dumfries |
James Aitken Butchers | Alloa |
James Pringle | Hawick |
John Lawson Butchers | Uphall |
John Marshall &. Son | Johnstone |
Kenneth Allan Butchers | Blairgowrie |
Linton Butchers | East Linton |
McCafferty Butchers | Forth |
McCaskies | Weymss Bay |
Murdoch Brothers | Forres |
Richards Family Butchers | Grangemouth |
Ross Neilson | Glasgow |
S Collins &. Son | Muirhead |
Scott Brothers | Dundee |
Stuarts Bakers &. Butchers | Methil |
The Butcher Shop Kinghorn | Kinghorn |
Tom Courts Quality Foods | Burntisland |
Crombie`s adapted the Scotch pie to their own recipe and, after encouraging local people to taste the results, the meaty favourite of west Scotland began to take off among Edinburgh customers.
“Crombie`s Scotch pies are still fairly true to that original recipe,” said Sandy. “We are one of very few butchers in Scotland who still make our Scotch pies with only lamb, paying lip service to the old mutton pie which was a forerunner of the Scotch pie.”
Sandy, however, keeps the exact recipe for his national winner a closely guarded secret.
Being judged to make the best Scotch pie in Scotland will turn the national spotlight on the Edinburgh business which currently sells around 1,000 Scotch pies each week.
The annual Scottish Craft Butcher Diamond evaluations have been known to double, treble and in some cases quadruple production due to public demand for the country’s finest meat pastry products.
The long-established Broughton Street butcher also secured three Silver Awards for their sausage rolls, sausage hotpot pies and handheld steak pies.
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