Having recently subscribed to Amazon’s PBS Masterpiece channel, I was pleasantly surprised to come across Pie in the Sky, a five season BBC series that debuted in 1994. Since all things related to Culinary Arts have long been special interests of mine and since I have always appreciated the use of deductive reasoning in mysteries, I have been spending part of my time between my online coursework by watching this series while puttering about in my kitchen. Although I had never previously watched this series before, I was captivated before the end of the first episode.

The protagonist in this series is Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe who was ably played by the late Richard Griffiths. In the first episode, Inspector Crabbe had arrested a gentleman thief named Dudley Hooperman who civilized villain that he was, invited the police officer to partake of some Italian prosciutto with a glass of red wine prior to being handcuffed.

Ever the gourmand, the rotund police inspector was delighted to accept the crook’s invitation. Reaching into his suit pocket, he produced a silver hand turned pepper grinder that his wife had given him. During their repast, the criminal tried to bribe the inspector into letting him go. When the good inspector declined, Mr. Hooperman produced a pistol, shot the inspector in the leg, and made good his escape. Prior to leaving, the thief metaphorically ground salt into the inspector’s wound by taking the inspector’s pepper grinder.

When DCC (Deputy Chief Constable) Fisher berated the inspector for having allowed Hooperman to have escaped, Henry decided that after 25 years of having served on the force, it was finally time to retire.

Assisted by Margaret, his long suffering accountant wife (played by Maggie Steed, pictured above right), Henry opened “Pie in the Sky”, a restaurant that served traditional English fare such as the quintessential steak and kidney pie that’s pictured below.

Meat pies have had a long history in England. Prior to the advent of canning technology and refrigerators, pies were a way of preserving food. When baked in a sturdy pastry crust and sealed with clarified butter, a meat pie was shelf stable at room temperature for several months.

The first known recipe for a steak and kidney pie dates back to the Compleat Cook which was published in 1694. The recipe for this dish featured lamb kidneys, prunes, currants, and nutmeg; ingredients that bare scant resemblance to the beef steak version that is produced today.

The first known mention of a modern steak and kidney pie in literature may be found in Charles Dicken’s first novel, the Paperwick Papers. In this novel, an unscrupulous pie man who specialized in the production of meat pies, was able to keep his prices low by making pies from kittens.

Although Charles Dickens published this novel in 1836, the first known recipe for a beef steak and kidney pie did not appear in an English cookbook until 1851. Prior to this time, housewives passed family recipes down from mother to daughter through multiple generations that likely dated back to the Renaissance period. Food historian Dr. Annie Gray, has speculated that these recipes were likely shared within middle class families since only reasonably affluent households could afford to have ovens.

Sadly for Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe, his application for retirement was not endorsed by his immediate superior, Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) Fisher. Since DCI Crabbe had a high success rate for closing cases, the DCC was reluctant to allow one of his best detectives to retire.

Anxious to secure an eventual promotion for the position of Chief Constable, DCC Fisher needed to keep his station’s case file closing rates as high as possible. When Henry proved to be obstinate about leaving, the DCC conspired to implicate him for Dudley Hooperman’s escape. If the detective inspector were to be inspected by internal affairs and if he were found guilty because of the fraudulent evidence that had been created by DCC Fisher, not only would DI Crabbe be jailed but he would also lose his pension.

To avoid this unsettling possibility, DI Henry Crabbe reluctantly agreed to be placed on indefinite medical leave (which would allow him to run his restaurant), while being on call obstinately for only the station’s most perplexing cases. In between cooking at his restaurant, shopping for seasonally fresh ingredients, or parking his car on a country roadside so as to gather wild sorrel for the production of sorrel soup (pictured below), DI Crabbe solved cases involving theft, murder, and fraud.

One of the many reasons I liked this TV series is because it features traditional English cuisine. Sadly, English cuisine does not have the best international reputation. When I was in culinary school, a French chef instructor once started class by holding up a thin blue book of some 150 pages that he alleged to have purchased at a used book store.

“Can anyone tell me what the title of this book is?” demanded the chef with an outrageously thick French accent that was reminiscent of the late, great Peter Sellers when he played Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series.

“No?” The chef’s eyes twinkled. “This book, it is called, ‘The Complete History of English Cuisine.”

“Mon dieu!” he laughed as he casually tossed the book over his shoulder. “We French could teach the English a thing or two about how to cook, no?”

The class erupted with laughter because everyone knew that the French have published thick tomes about their cuisine. The 1969 edition of August Escoffier’s The Escoffier Cookbook and Guide to the Fine Art of Cookery for Connoisseurs, Chefs, and Epicures is 923 pages long. Julia Childs who was herself a Le Cordon Bleu graduate having attended culinary school in Paris, wrote a two volume set of cookbooks, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Volume 1 alone was 684 pages.

French cuisine is seen as the “father” of western cuisine partially because Chef August Escoffier introduced the use of standardized recipes. Having served in the French Army, he also applied the concept of military organization to his kitchen so that each chef had an assigned station with specific responsibilities. If you’ve ever watched Hell’s Kitchen (see link below), when the red and blue teams are producing meals for dinner service, the teams are using Escoffier’s brigade system so that someone is working with appetizers and garnishing, someone else (saucier, sauce chef) is producing sauces, there’s an Entremetier (vegetable chef), and a  Rotisseur (roast Chef) or a Grillardin (grill Chef) who works with roasted or grilled meat.

In a professional kitchen, everyone has a designated workstation and specific responsibilities. The chef acts like the conductor of an orchestra, orchestrating the production of meals so that all of the meals for a given order will be delivered at the same time.

Chef Escoffier also introduced the concept of mother sauces. In French cuisine there are five basic sauces; Bechamel, Tomato, Brown, Veloute, and Hollandaise. Each of these sauces may be used in conjunction with other ingredients to create derivative sauces.

For example, when I taught Culinary Arts, I would teach my students how to make a Bechamel which is a white sauce of milk that’s thickened with a roux (sauce thickener that’s made with oil and flour). Adding minced garlic, grated Parmesan cheese, and heavy cream created an Alfredo Sauce derivative. Adding sliced Velveeta, a touch of paprika, and some shredded cheddar created a cheese sauce for use with macaroni and cheese. Adding sautéed onions, mushrooms, and garlic, heavy cream with butter created a mushroom sauce.

As to why English cuisine has not garnered international fame, this question is up for debate. Some culinarians may have been offset by the unusual names that have been given to some foods like bubbles and squeak, spotted dick, toad in the hole, and rumbledethumps. Other foods like blood sausage and jellied eel are simply not well known outside of England. Still other products like mushy peas and pease pudding are thought to be overly bland and under seasoned. I myself was not particularly impressed when DI Crabbe added freshly minced mint leaves to his restaurant’s mushy peas. To my way of thinking, mint is best used in baking. It should not be added to a side dish.

As a French trained chef, instead of adding mint to mushy peas, I would have sauteed some mirepoix (celery, carrots, and onions) with some diced ham prior to adding mushy peas and a bit of water. After having heated the contents to a low simmer, I would have then finished this dish by adding butter and heavy cream to create Soupe Au Pois, pea soup. Prior to serving this soup, I would of course, have seasoned it to taste with a bit of salt and pepper.

In thinking about why English cuisine has a reputation for being so bland, I find myself wondering if this occurred because England during the Medieval period was at the end of a very long supply chain for spices from the Middle East. Since these spices would have passed through the hands of many traders, by the time these ingredients reached England, they would have been prohibitively expensive for all but the very wealthy. By way of example, during the Elizabethan era, a small hand sized canvas bag of ground sugar from India would have been worth more than the cost of a single cow. Peppers, nutmeg, cinnamon, and other exotic ingredients would have also been quite costly.

Unlike Chef Andre who had nothing complimentary to say about English cuisine, there are many English dishes that I’m actually quite fond of. I particularly like fish and chips. I first encountered this dish in 1992 while vacationing in York. The cod fillet, pictured below, was battered, deep fried, and served on a bed of chips (fries).

After receiving my order at the counter of a fish and chip shop, I was given a choice of topping the fish with malted vinegar and adding brown gravy or curry to the fries.

I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you have any tartar sauce?”

The counter attendant laughed. “Oy, you’re a Yank, eh? We don’t carry tartar sauce and before you ask, we don’t have ketchup.”

Unwilling to obscure the flavor of this delicious looking food with malted vinegar or gravy, I politely declined. Back at my hotel, the Royal York, I unwrapped the newspaper and had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner. The batter was crisp and the fish was flaky and tender. The fries had a crisp exterior and a mealy, melt in your mouth interior. Although I had previously liked the battered fried fish at Long John Silvers, the quality of this meal was much better than anything I had ever eaten at this fast food restaurant.

In eating this order, my only regret was that I hadn’t ordered two portions.

Insofar as the United States originated as a series of British colonies, many American foods have their origins with English cuisine. Apple pie, meat pies, muffins, English muffins, custard, oatmeal, gingerbread, pancakes, fried chicken, bread dressing, chicken soup, and roasted meats; all originated with English recipes that colonists brought to the New World.

Since I am partial to hot meat pies, I appreciate the convenience of a frozen pie instead of having to make one from scratch. Having grown up with Banquet brand meat pies, until last year I routinely stocked this product in my freezer as a convenient go-to meal for evenings when I didn’t feel like cooking.

Banquet makes beef, chicken, and turkey pies. Although the picture on the box shows a filling that is supposedly rich with diced vegetables and large chunks of meat, the reality is quite different. One pie by itself isn’t enough to be filing unless it’s accompanied by a second dish like a salad, a serving of fries, or a sandwich. Pictured below right is a Banquet beef pie. As you can see, most of the filling consists of a savory beef gravy. One of the few good things about this product is that in this economy, it’s still quite cheap. Banquet pies may be purchased at Walmart for $1.00 each. I am likely dating myself when I say that I remember when these frozen pies were sold for 25 cents each when I was a child.

Within the last year, I have switched from Banquet to Marie Callender. While these meat pies are about three and a half times more expensive, selling for $3.48 at Walmart, as you can see from the picture, the filling is much more substantial than the Banquet product.

My fondness for hot meat pies is where I must sadly part company with Henry Crabbe who in the TV show, always cooked everything from scratch. While his wife Margaret deplored the cost of doing this, I have always appreciated the convenience of frozen pre-cut fries, hamburger patties, and meat pies.

Although I have previously made my own meat pies such as the one pictured below, on cold winter nights after a long day at work, the availability of a frozen meat pie that one could zap in the microwave in just five minutes has been irresistible.

In the food service industry, most foods are not made from scratch. This is particularly true in casual dining restaurants where products like soup, chili, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, and sliced roasted turkey breasts come frozen in plastic bags like the one pictured below.

The eggs which are used to make scrambled eggs or omelets that are served at places like Denny’s, Bob Evan’s, the Cracker Barrel, or IHOPs come raw and pre-scrambled in large vacuum sealed bags. Chicken fried steak comes frozen and prebreaded. The country gravy that is served with the deep fried steaks has also been premade and frozen. The barbecued ribs sold at Bob Evans and Chili’s have also been premade and frozen. The home fried potatoes arrive at these restaurants already peeled and diced and like so many other products, have been vacuum sealed and frozen.

One of the things that has rung true for me in watching the Pie in the Sky series is that Margaret’s sensibility as an accountant has occasionally come up against Henry’s insistence upon making everything from scratch while using only the finest ingredients and keeping prices shockingly low. While Margaret wanted the restaurant to become profitable, Henry’ s insistence upon high quality and low prices could eventually drive the Crabbes into bankruptcy. The presence of an eclectic staff and regular patrons, the intermittent appearance of health inspectors, building code enforcers, and wholesale suppliers, along with the odd mystery that forces DI Crabbes to divide his time between working for the police and running his restaurant; has made for an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable storyline.