x Finer Pleasures | Chicken, Ham & Mushroom Pie

British Pie Week: A Proper Yorkshire Collaboration
This week, so we’re told, is British Pie Week. We’ve never really indulged too much in the concept of themed “weeks”. They’ve largely passed us by, as we’ve always preferred to bring interesting and delicious products to our customers when it feels right, rather than when a particular food happens to be celebrated for seven days.

However, this year feels different. The change of heart is down to our recent and blossoming relationship with esteemed pie maker and all-round top man, Josh Whitehead, and his Finer Pleasures pie brand.

Finer Pleasures is the brainchild and passion project of chef Josh Whitehead, a proud Yorkshireman whose path has crossed with Swaledale’s at various points over the years, notably at Ox Club in Leeds and at The Harewood Food and Drink Project. There is a genuine mutual respect for each other’s work and ethos.

Josh is a self-proclaimed pie geek and fanatic. He launched Finer Pleasures in 2023 as a vehicle through which to realise his long-held ambition of running a pie business. He sources local meat and uses traditional pie-making methods to produce pies that feel like a love letter to one of Britain’s, and certainly Yorkshire’s, most important food cultures.

Josh’s pies are different gravy, quite literally in some cases, and we couldn’t be happier to help bring them to a wider audience. So yes, this felt like the right year to dip our toes into British Pie Week and offer up a stone-cold classic.

All hail the chicken, ham, leek and mushroom pie.

Of course, in Josh’s hands, no pie is ever quite as simple as it seems. There are a few thoughtful tweaks to the classic. As the man himself explains:

In Josh’s Words
“Again, another classic. I typically use dry-cured smoked ham hocks for this.

On day one, whole chickens are brined overnight with a heavy mix of garlic, lemon thyme, bay and white pepper. The smoked ham hocks are braised very gently in water with a white mirepoix, then pulled into large chunks, with the skins reserved.

The next day, the ham stock is brought to the boil. The chickens are dropped in for a minute, the lid goes on, they are removed from the heat and allowed to poach gently until just cooked and tender. Once cooled, they are picked down into large pieces and mixed with the poached ham.

The poaching stock is then made into a classic velouté with chicken fat, butter and a mixture of plain and buckwheat flour. This velouté is finished by blending in the cooked ham skins, before being completed with sautéed onion, tarragon, parsley and a liberal dose of mustard.

There are also chunks of skinless chicken breast that have had a light brine added to the mix raw, so they cook gently during the final bake of the pie. Once the meat and sauce are finished, they are gently folded together before roasted chestnut mushrooms or leeks poached in Chardonnay are added.

Again, a classic, but as far as chicken pies go, this is a really good one.”