Home made pies, pasties & sausage rolls

The Smith family established itself in Perth over a century and a half ago. It all started with my great  great  grandmother who used to use rabbit traps to catch the main ingredients for the pies she used to make for the members of our family. There was never a visitor at the farm who didn’t rave about her fantastic meals, featuring the pies of course. some time after the great depression, it was suggested she branch out and offer an assortment of pies for the people who from time to time made their way to the farm.

Suddenly travellers from great distances began to appear-- apparently her pies were becoming legendary and what had begun as a relatively unknown family recipe was now becoming a trademark of the Smith family.

The popularity of beef  lamb and pork meant that she could appeal to different tastes and so the recipes were passed on to my great grandmother.

That's how it all started.... with rabbits!! And here I (Ronnie) am now in Wuxi. China-150 years later-entrusted with  maintaining the pies' traditional excellence. Now we make the pies daily in order to accommodate the nonstop demands from individuals and various eateries in Shanghai, Kunshan, Suzhou, Nantong, Nanjing and Wuxi of course

I'm especially proud of our pasties. The Lancashire pasties are made with puff pastry which results in a mouth-watering exterior. Our Cornish pasties are made using pie pastry which brings about a firmer texture and a heartier flavor. These pasties are made with a lot of TLC---the meat we use is marinated for a month and the herbs and spices which produce our unique flavor are carefully blended over time. The end result is a first-class culinary delight--about as far away from fast food as you can possibly get .let's put it this way. when you've sampled one of them you'll never go back to an assembly-line imitation.

I should also mention one of our most popular items--freshly made sausage rolls using only the finest pork from Qingdao .My workers make biweekly trips to this marvelous seaside town and are under my personal direction to purchase only top-of-the line meat from grain-fed pigs. Once the meat arrives here in Wuxi, the marinating process begins and we use the local Wuxi markets to buy fresh herbs and spices. The affordability of local ingredients allows us to offer this delicious snack at a very reasonable price. even the locals who in general are accustomed to Chinese food have developed an affection for these rolls so we are offering our specialties for a diverse clientele.

Australians who find their way to my pub never fail to tell me that my pies are superior to traditional fare found down under. when you think about it, it's not really surprising--at least not to me. We don't use MSG or any other flavor-enhancer, just 150 years of handmade tradition.