Three Perth and Kinross butchers and bakers proved to have the recipe for success once more after clinching a glut of accolades at the 22nd World Championship Scotch Pie Awards.
Murrays Bakers of Perth, Simon Howie Foods of Dunning and Sugar and Spice of Auchterarder all walked away winners.
Murrays clinched a hat trick of awards including gold for their apple pie, and bronze for their chicken curry pie and macaroni pie.
Simon Howie also grabbed a treble, winning silver and bronze awards in the hot savoury category for their chilli cheese and chicken kiev pies respectively.
The Howie team also won silver in the hand held steak pie category for their ever-popular steak and gravy pie.
Simon Howie said: “I am absolutely thrilled we won three awards at the World Championship Scotch Pie Awards as it is a testament to our amazing team of chefs that work tirelessly to keep our local butcher shops stocked with this level of quality produce week in and week out.
“These were not pies made specially for judging, these are pies that we sell in our shops every day.”
Sugar And Spice also took home a top prize in silver for their fabulous steak bridie.
The annual awards recognise excellence in the production of the perfect pie and are a firm favourite in the calendar with bakers and butchers vying for recognition in the 11 categories including the iconic Scotch Pie, football pies and savouries, macaroni pie, steak pie, sausage roll, cold savoury, hot savoury, vegetarian savoury, haggis savoury, bridie and apple pies.
The annual judging day, which was held in a COVID-safe setting late last year, saw over 70 butchers and bakers enter more than 400 of the nation’s best pies for judging by over 50 experts in their field.
Alasdair Smith, chief executive of Scottish Bakers which runs the competition on behalf of the bakery and butchery trades, said: “We have overcome everything COVID could throw at us this year to celebrate the best pies and as always the results do not disappoint.
“It is with great pleasure that we can announce that Murrays Bakers, Simon Howie Foods and Sugar And Spice have taken prizes, and they can be rightly very proud of their achievements.
“We took delivery of over 400 entries this year, so to win is no small feat and to know that every winning product was lovingly made from scratch from locally sourced ingredients, freshly made daily by skilled craftspeople just goes to show the skill, creativity and hard work of each and every entrant.”
