13 May 2008

Age old County rivalries between Lancashire and Yorkshire will be set aside this week when catering bosses at the City of Manchester Stadium kick-off the ‘pie-fect’ reception for hospitality guests at the UEFA Cup Final. The conference, hospitality and events team will serve up the UK’s first, mini Lancashire Hot Pot Pie made in… Yorkshire by speciality Doncaster pie maker, The Topping Pie Company!

The pie has been created from a family recipe by Maggie Topping of Doncaster-based The Topping Pie Company in conjunction with City’s award-winning executive consultant chef, John Benson-Smith, to provide a true taste of Manchester’s culinary heritage to football fans across the globe.

Served to guests at the ground’s 1,000-seater luxury marquee, as part of a post match, mini Manchester hors d’Oeuvres platter, the pie will accompany bite sized portions of the region’s most famous dishes including; Lancashire Ham and Egg pie, Manchester Tart and Manchester Eccles Cakes.

It sees the traditional contents of the hot pot dish, which includes delicious pieces of British lamb mixed in a red wine jus, teamed with carrots, onions and potatoes, encased in a hard and crispy pastry – resembling a mini pork pie with a difference!

Maggie Topping commented: “We are absolutely delighted to be approached by the Stadium’s executive chef and catering company, Event Management Catering, to develop a bespoke Lancashire Hot Pot Pie for the UEFA Cup Final. We adapted a family Lancashire hotpot recipe and used a pork pie pastry shell to create the finished article, which I am sure guests will thoroughly enjoy. It is particularly pleasing, as a Yorkshire company, to set aside age old County rivalries and be invited to create something which is so steeped in Lancashire tradition!” 

 

City's Consultant excutive chef, John Benson-Smith takes bite out of UEFA Lancashire Hot Pot Pie

Said City of Manchester Stadium’s head of sales, David Chell: “Pies are synonymous with football. We wanted to take this concept and fuse it with a traditional dish from the region, creating something that would give our International hospitality guests a true taste of the County, which used to be located in the County of Lancashire until 1974.”

The Lancashire Hot Pot remains a traditional household favourite across the UK. It was originally created in the mid 19th Century, at the height of Lancashire’s booming cotton industry, as a quick, nutritious dish that would feed all the family.

It was prepared in the morning and left to cook all day, ready for consumption when the mill families returned home. The original recipe included oysters (in the days when they were more affordable) and legend has it that a Lancashire woman’s prowess in Hot Pot making determined the marriage prospects of her daughter.

David continued: “The hot pot itself is steeped in tradition and whilst we won’t be adding oysters to our hard pie recipe, it will still have all the delicious qualities the dish is famed for. We’ll also be serving pickled red cabbage alongside for the perfect accompaniment.”

John worked with multi award-winning, family-run The Topping Pie Company, to convert the traditional dish into a hard pork pie style format – ensuring it retained all the flavoursome qualities of the original dish itself. John joined forces with Maggie Topping, whose talent for home baking changed the landscape of the original Toppings butchery business, which was taken over by husband Roger in the late 19802, and introduced Maggie’s pies to the public in the early 90s.

Doncaster-based The Topping Pie Company has won numerous industry accolades for its bespoke pies and offers a premium range of products made to family recipes from Apricot & Poultry pie and the Yorkshire Farmers Pie to a tasty Pork, Duck and
Guinea Fowl Pie. It prides itself in using home cooked, traditional recipes created by Maggie, using only 100% natural, high quality ingredients. Its premium products are available in a number of supermarkets across the UK, together with the food halls of Harvey Nichols. It has also previously supplied products to Harrods.

Said John Benson-Smith, executive consultant chef at City of Manchester stadium: “The pie has been some months in the making, from concept to creation. We worked with one of the best premium pie makers in the UK to ensure the end result is top crust, just like the football on the night. The pie will be the highlight in the Manchester hors d’Oeuvres post match platter and we hope it provides the perfect taster to football fans across the globe.”

All tickets are now sold out for Wednesday night’s UEFA clash when Rangers take on Zenit St Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Hospitality guests will be able to enjoy award winning hospitality across the City of Manchester’s range of luxurious suites, executive boxes and exterior marquee. It is fast becoming the venue of choice for major sporting events and later this month will host one of the biggest boxing clashes of all time when Ricky Hatton takes on Juan Lazcano, in front of Britain’s biggest post-War boxing crowd on May 25, 2008.

For more information from The Topping Pie Company contact:
Lynda Povey or Roger Topping Tel: 01302 738333 OR
Andrea McKenzie, ABC Communications Tel: 01423 819109/Mob: 07714 988989

For City of Manchester Stadium enquiries, contact:
Laura McLaren or Juliet Cort at Freshfield PR:
01772 888400 or email (firstname)@freshfield.com