I tried the Kebab Pie and it’s definitely a winner

The weather is driech – Scottish for bleak – but I’m feeling anything but as I sink my teeth into a pie. It’s not just any old pie, but a kebab pie from Boghall Butchers in Bathgate, west Lothian, in Scotland. That’s right – a Kebab Pie. This outlandish creation has just beaten over 900 entries to become a winner at the esteemed British Pie Awards.

Held annually in Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, the Awards are a huge event on the pie calendar. “Dad is there right now,” says Mariesha, who now runs the Boghall Butchers, following in the footsteps of her father Paul and granddad William. “It’s our 50th anniversary of the shop so it means a lot to us.”

So what is a Kebab Pie? It’s a kebab in a pie (well, sort of). Mariesha’s team make a deep crust variety but it’s the traditional Scotch pie version that I tuck into, still warm from the oven, outside the shop. Admittedly I’m a little trepidatious, having not ingested a kebab since something like 1986. For me they come under the banner of drunk food, devoured hungrily on night buses to blot up the booze. As for the hot chilli – if you weren’t careful it would squirt out and could blind a passer-by.

Thankfully, munching my way through a kebab pie is a far more pleasant experience. The blend of chicken and beef in a chilli marinade and sweet chilli sauce works extremely well encased in pasty. The meaty filling is tender and pleasantly spicy, the sauce is fruity and just sweet enough. It tastes homemade and nothing like that gloopy filling-rattling bottled stuff. And there’s just enough to moisten the meat without it exploding all over my jumper.

I assume the pastry is hot water crust, traditionally used for Scotch pies (my mouth is full so I can’t ask). It’s soft – somewhere between pliable and crisp – with a lid that sits a little lower than the rim (also de rigueur for individual pies north of the border). My Scottish husband tries to persuade me that this is so gravy can be poured on and thus contained in a sort of lake. But that’s just ridiculous.

Never mind kebabs and outlandish gravy behaviour – I’m not even a pie person normally. For me, lunch on the go is usually a Pret a Manger tuna salad or a prissy little egg and spinach pot. How senseless that is, I realise now – particularly on a driech day when what you really want is carbs, a spicy meaty filling and chilli heat.

I can’t say I’ll be scarfing one down every day. But generations of Scottish football fans know that, as a hand-held snack, the humble Scotch pie is always a winner. The kebab pie might be a new incarnation but the Scots are not averse to combining carb-heavy components that could happily exist as individual parts. The macaroni pie (macaroni cheese encase in pastry) is a national favourite and my north Lanarkshire-bred husband admits to enjoying a pie in a roll – ie entire pie as roll filling. Yes, you read that correctly – in his youth.

As I perch on a wall to eat my pie, customers stream in and out of the butcher’s shop. The birthplace of Lewis Capaldi and former Doctor Who actor David Tennant, Bathgate was once a thriving industrial town. Robert the Bruce gave his daughter, Marjorie, a castle here and the world’s oldest known reptile fossil was discovered nearby. Nowadays it feels as if there’s not an awful lot going on – at least in this corner of residential Boghall. Grey metal shutters are down on Café Shandar and the Elizabethan Chip Shop. However, Boghall Butchers is bustling and inviting, the staff cheery and full of smiles. The walls are covered with awards, the chill cabinet filled with temping chicken schnitzel, lamb kofta, haggis truffles and plump sausages. And pies, of course, of every description from mince ‘n’ tattie to macaroni, chicken and steak.

“An excellent overall bake and presentation,” commented one of the judges on the team’s kebab pie. Kevin, a regular customer, approves of the creation but cites his favourites as “traditional steak and gravy or a mince round. I’ve been coming to this shop for 19 years,” he says. “There’s often a queue round the block.”

Today, kebab pies are selling like hot cakes but Mariesha tells me that their traditional Scotch pies – mince flavoured with their own secret blend of herbs and spices – are perennial best-sellers. “We were World Scotch Pie Champions in 2005 and 2009,” says a proud Kenny who works in the shop.

“Say aye tae a pie” reads the blue and white sign outside the shop. With my belly full I have to admit that it makes sense – and that I have finally discovered the joy of the pie. My husband will be delighted. Happily, at 60 years old I am also grown up (and sober) enough to eat it without dropping it all over my shoes.

Thanks to Boghall Butchers, 65 Margaret Ave, Bathgate EH48 1SN

Laura Hadland, a judge at the British Pie Awards, reveals why the Kebab Pie made the grade

“To become the ‘Pie of Pies’, Boghall Butchers have beaten 900 other entrants through a rigorous judging process. The Kebab Pie has a wonderfully rustic appearance, with great kerb appeal. There’s something about an handmade pie of this quality that always catches my eye as a judge.

“Cut the pie in half, and you’ll notice that the pastry is an even thickness all the way round, perfectly baked and strong enough to hold that deep filling of kebab meats. It’s quite a wet filling, so kudos has to go to the maker for crafting a pie that is structurally sound as well as delicious.

“It’s fantastic that this year’s Supreme Champion is from the new ‘Fusion Pie’ class. It’s not hard to see how something this innovative took the top prize. Judges can taste their way through 20 or even 30 pies over the course of the judging day. An unexpected ingredient or a daring new combination will help a pie to stand out from the crowd.

“Boghall Butchers have offered a totally new combination of flavours and textures to this year’s British Pie Awards. By backing up the novelty of their idea with a robust focus on the quality of the pastry, the bake and the seasoning, they’ve created a deserving winner.”