A HAT trick of North East businesses have joined forces to create a dish designed to score with pie fans.
Heaton-based Anarchy Brewery and artisan bakery Great Northern Provisions are the team behind Shearer’s Pie – named after the legendary Newcastle United FC scorer.
And it has now joined the menu at the multi-award-winning The Blackbird, Ponteland, in time for National Pie Week, which runs from 2 to 8 March.
Steak and ale pie has long been a staple of the menu at The Blackbird – which also serves Anarchy’s Shearer’s Foundation Brew, known as Shearer’s Beer, on draught.
The beer is specifically brewed by Anarchy Brewery to raise funds for the Alan Shearer Centre in Newcastle and Anarchy makes a donation to The Shearer Foundation from every can and pint sold.
And it proved so popular with beer lovers at The Blackbird that pub bosses decided to see if it could be used in their pies.
They approached Gateshead-based Great Northern Provisions, which specialises in hand made pies and savoury bakes and they swung into action.
“We wanted to create a pie that would honour the great man it’s named after,” said chef and owner Chris Eagle, “and we are very proud of it.
“It’s a classic, British pie filled with brisket, cooked in Shearer’s beer for a minimum of seven hours and paired with a slow cooked sweet onion compôte, which really
offsets the wonderful depth and bitterness of the beer.
“And the pastry is made of a combination of shortcrust and puff, so you really get the best of both worlds.”
The Blackbird has won several accolades in recent years, including North East Pub of the Year and prides itself on its seasonally changing menus, which give a North East twist to classic dishes from around the world.
And the pie – which is exclusive to The Blackbird and served with new potatoes, seasonal vegetables and gravy – will now be a permanent fixture on its main menu, priced at £17.95.
General manager, Mark Thompson, said: “It’s a great addition to the menu and we can’t thank the teams at Anarchy Brewery and Great Northern Provisions enough. It really is a fantastic pie.”
Along with The Blackbird, Shearer’s Beer is available at bars and retail outlets across the North East, including The Strawberry, Fenwick and Shark Bar in Newcastle, Enjoy Beer, at Morpeth and the Northumberland Arms at Felton.
It is also available online at anarchybrewco.com.
For more information or to reserve a table at The Blackbird visit https://theblackbirdponteland.co.uk/