You know when you spend about five hours making something, and when you come to eat it, it’s a massive disappointment? Well, this was 100% NOT the case with Michael’s pie. It was absolutely DIVINE!
I’d been wanting to make this pie ever since the Michael Caine Blogathon organized by Gill at ReelWeegieMidgetReviews. The pie sounded so good on paper, and by Jove it was good in person! Totally worth all the effort.
So I made the pie one sunny September Sunday morning and we trundled off to the Northern Line to eat it. This was the third stop on the Great Bear route, for more information on this mad project see this post.
it’s going to take some time to do all the station stops but I can see we are going to have a LOT of fun doing it.
This dish came with an extra bonus. Mr R is very good at impersonating Michael Caine. When we were actually chowing down to the pie, he really made me laugh repeatedly by saying “I want you… to eat all of that…” in a Michael Caine voice, paraphrasing this scene from Get Carter.
There was also much discussion of the “thin glass” scene when we were in the pub later (a couple of pints in a local hostelry is becoming an essential part of The Great Bear Day Out…). We are both averse to the recent fashion of serving beer in an oversized sherry glass so this rings a big bell…
Here I am presenting the pie to the Woodside Park roundel, as is becoming tradition…
We had a blast eating the pie on the platform…
A slice looked so pretty!
I think my “first taste face” says it all, this was the best chicken pie EVER.
Mr R loved it too. Winner winner chicken (pie) dinner.
Please note the matching stripes – we are soooooo matchy matchy!
Mr Rathbone’s Station Factoids
The Dish
This pie is 100% worth the effort, but don’t try and make it on a school night. This is a weekend pie for sure. Get some chums over and give them a big slice each. They will love it.
The Film
In the evening we settled down to watch The Ipcress File as I’d never seen it. I absolutely LOVED it. What a stylish movie. Soooo cool.
I loved the fact that the opening scene is all about how Harry Palmer makes his coffee.
So unusual in 1965 for a man to be seen on screen faffing around in the kitchen (more about Michael and his cooking in this film in this Guardian article). Coffee pot manufacturers must have been SCRAMBLING to get Michael’s agent to approve a pot endorsement! Insta-Brewer sealed the deal…
It was also a thrill to spot one of Len Deighton’s cook strips stuck to Harry’s kitchen wall,
I don’t think it was this one…
But here is Len, giving Michael guidance on how to work with eggs on the set of the Ipcress File…
Cheers Michael, your pie was utterly fab.
The Star
Michael Caine is just brilliant, isn’t he? To my mind, he’s a national treasure!
I LOVE him in Alfie and I now love him in The Ipcress Files too – I’m going to watch them both together soon in an indulgent double bill, it will be a 1960s STYLEFEST. With a Shelley Winters recipe, I reckon…
Next stop
THE DUKE!!!
