Despite it typically being an East end dish, the cockney favourite, Pie, Mash and Liquor has undoubtedly been a huge influence in my appreciation and desire for good home cooking. I have been eating pie and mash for as long as I can remember, the same shop, the same place and the same delicious recipe. I decided that I would go and interview Roy Arment, the now owner of Arments and question why he feels the cockney favourite is just as, if not more popular than it was one hundred years ago...
After speaking to Roy Arment and questioning
the popularity of the London favourite, he suggested that pie
and mash was popular "comfort food" and it was the taste of
"home" for many people. Now with Arments being passed down for
generations, the family run business has a secret pie recipe which is at the
heart of Arments success. Of course he wouldn't tell me the pie recipe but
Roy claimed that a huge part of Arments success is down to
"trends" and "family traditions". This family tradition
that Roy suggests pushes the popularity of Arments is something that I can
relate to. During the interview, Roy turned to my mother and laughed about the
memories he had playing with her as a child. Roy also remembers me from a young
age and how I was weaned onto mash and liquor until I was eventually brave
enough to face the pie. Growing up I always felt a sense of achievement for
eating the whole of my meal. The starchy potatoes alongside the dense pastry
and parsley liquor made the meal a battle to complete as a child. One
of my fondest childhood memories was me trying to stretch my belly to eat
what my parents and big brother ate. Being the youngest and the smallest, I
always had a bit of my mum’s pie with my own mash and liquor, but now I can
conquer double pie and mash, and stupidly this makes me feel like the rest of
my family. It's this memory which makes pie and mash so central to my family
life and my roots of being in London.
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| How I eat my favourite meal |
There's a specific way that I eat pie and mash.
Firstly, I flip the pie over so the lid is on the bottom and the base faces
upwards. Because the base is so soft compared to the lid, I make an incision on
the pie and pull the base slightly apart. From there, I fill the pie with
chilli vinegar and loads of pepper. Only once these stages have been completed
can I even contemplate eating the meal. It is the
meal itself which interests me so much. Considering I'm a rather fussy eater, I
don't know why I enjoy pie and mash so much. The mash isn't made with butter or
milk, the liquor doesn't really taste of anything and I always fill the pie with
chilli vinegar which changes the taste anyway. My only logical answer for my
love of this traditional dish is because as a child I was weaned on to it. What
I find amazing is the passion for the dish that is in London itself. When I
first met my boyfriend three years ago, he was eighteen. I took him to Arments
hoping he would love it as much as me, and instead he thought it was horrid. He
couldn't understand why nothing had been seasoned. It is this which has made me
realize that the pie itself changes in different parts of the country. I have
to admit that the idea of a northern pudding doesn't sound appetizing. It
sounds heavy and doughy, but the cockney pie however, completely serves its
purpose. It is this fascination with the hidden recipe of the pie that I want
to look at a little bit more...
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