Thistle Do Nicely

This week we took a journey across the sea to Ye Olde Scotland; East Lothian, to be specific. We’ve had a lovely time, but unfortunately our travels have thrown off our regularly scheduled pie-gramming.

Sunday saw One Crusty Gal laid up on the couch and unable to stuff her piehole with much of anything. The other Crusty Gal, blessed with a heartier constitution, ventured out for pie in the fearsome new territory of North Berwick. What she found was not quite what she sought, but nonetheless it was a pie: Fisherman’s Pie. 

This fishy offering from Ship Inn was topped with a golden, cheesy mash and served alongside “seasonal vegetables”. Now usually, sides of seasonal vegetables are nothing to write home about (not to mention write a blog about), but these, dear reader, were an exception. Seasoned and grilled with care, they provided a lovely complement to the creamy intensity of the fish pie filling.

Forgive us, for we are about to make a bold assertion: fish pies are the seafood equivalent of Mystery Meat. You don’t know what you’re getting, the fish is questionable at best, and that quantity of cream can disguise any number of sins. This pie, however, did not take the bait. Each morsel of haddock and salmon was tender and clearly identifiable: no mysteries here. And this dish broke the mold in more ways than one—the leek-infused filling was quite literally bustin’ out of its ramekin, cream yearning to flow free.

In true fisherman fashion, this Crusty Gal accompanied her pie with a Guinness for health (and we'll let you in on a little secret, home-slices: Scottish Guinness doesn't hold a candle to what we're used to on the good old Emerald P-isle). While we disrupted our Established routine and missed our usual Sunday sweet pie, Ship Inn did not flounder. In the words of Edinburgh's gift shop chain, Thistle Did Nicely. 

Stay sweet (and salty) till next week,

Two Crusty Gals