Parker's British Institution
(Formerly The English Pork Pie Co.)
 Buffalo, New York       Date of Visit  05/30/16        https://parkersbritishinstitution.com

In Buffalo, we have tried the wings and the weck. I don’t really know of any other defining city dishes so we decided to go British instead. People seem to love the place, we actually had two meals. The first in the newly opened chip shop, the second came home with us in a cooler, traditional pork pies.
 

Along with the boxed cooler we picked up a couple more strange beverages. The Tizer had made me wonder about British pop/soda. The two cans of Tango we brought home made me wish we had picked up a few more...just like the pies. The sweet bubbles were vigorously and precisely flavored like the fruits on the can. The cherry was ruddy and deep while the apple was a beautiful granny smith.
 

Our cooler contained four different types of pork pie with two non pork additions.

We had just watched an episode of How It’s Made on the Science Channel during which someone was making traditional pork pies. Made to be eaten cold or at room temperature.

Cold water crust, seasoned pork, whatever else is baked and when close to done they pull the buggers out and pour them full of porky gelatin which fills in any gaps.

Think of something like a ham sandwich (WAY more ham than bread) and instead of mustard…there is super thick jelly. Not grape but pig jelly. Which as soon as it gets just a bit warm adds a sultry and slick richness to the whole affair.

I don’t know if it would ever be something I couldn’t live without, but I enjoyed them more than I would have expected after watching how they were made.

That was the traditional. The Coleman’s Mustard pie, which didn’t have enough yellow kick to make it much different from the traditional. The other two pork pies had additions which took them to a whole new place. The Farmhouse pork pie added perfectly juicy chicken breast to the pork and topped both with a sage and onion stuffing and some sweet apple sauce. Thanksgiving in a flaky crust. The final pie was topped with creamy and wonderfully, strongly pungent Stilton bleu cheese. Stilton rivals the worlds other bleus if you like one with power and it adds a unique but tasty compliment to the pork.
 

Pork pie good, pork pies with other stuff inside better, at Parker’s “not pork pies” great. We brought home two, should have filled the cooler. Buttery, flaky puff pastry replaced the cold water crust and the fillings became more potpieesque than pig puck. The chicken pie had more of the stupendous chicken breast but included fresh leeks and proper English bacon all bathing in a ridiculous creamy white gravy. The Dubliner was stuffed with chunks of tender steak and mushroom in succulent brown Guinness gravy. Think about two pot pies, on crack, maybe even you on crack, good.

Turns out Proper British is just plain Proper, powerful and pleasing. Chippy or pie, it was a fantastic foray into new food. Yaaa, Buffalo.