[Malcolm Armsteen]

We have several in our Brexit emergency food pile. Also confit de canard.

[MisterMuncher]

Francois is one of those very exceptional cases where you can say without guilt "He wasn't bullied enough at school".

Saw someone elsewhere describe Francois as "a Fray Bentos pie that gained sentience."

You mean, looks okay when it comes out the oven but then you realise it's a horrid soggy wet mushy mess inside with a minimal amount of filling?

The contrast being that Francois is completely full of shit.

[oboogie]

A "Never Seen Star Wars" moment, I don't think I've ever eaten a Fray Bentos meat pie.

[Boiler]

They do non-meat ones too: but I think you should try one once, although there is a tasting video on the YouTubes.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

They're not really pies; they are a casserole with a pastry lid, as opposed to say a Pukka Pie, which is a proper pie. The filling is the same as we used to get in tinned beef casserole, with quite a lot of thick gravy and quite not a lot of meat. The pastry is flaky, OK on top, but tends not to cook on the bottom.

My father in law (on his own, in his 80s) used to steam one over a pan of potatoes and chuck away the lid.

[davidjay]

They're not really pies; they are a casserole with a pastry lid, as opposed to say a Pukka Pie, which is a proper pie. The filling is the same as we used to get in tinned beef casserole, with quite a lot of thick gravy and quite not a lot of meat. The pastry is flaky, OK on top, but tends not to cook on the bottom.

My father in law (on his own, in his 80s) used to steam one over a pan of potatoes and chuck away the lid.

I've just had a Pukka pie for dinner, and very nice it was. Chicken & mushroom, if you're interested.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I quite like them. With mash and chicken gravy. And peas.

[davidjay]

I don't like gravy and I'm not too keen on mash, unless it's with sausages and made with wholegrain mustard.

[Kreuzberger]

I don't like gravy and I'm not too keen on mash, unless it's with sausages and made with wholegrain mustard.

Good save, there! (Close...)

[Boiler]

(creeps gently out of bunker, looks round nervously...)

[Kreuzberger]

(creeps gently out of bunker, looks round nervously...)

Quite right. A Mailwatch pile-on ain't pretty...

[oboogie]

He's a charmer...

[youngian]

A "Never Seen Star Wars" moment, I don't think I've ever eaten a Fray Bentos meat pie.

I was surprised to find Fray Bentos is a city in Uruguay. Visitors to the UK before the inter web must have kept an atlas handy in case people thought they were taking the Michael.

[Watchman]

Well Mark, I'm sure you'd like to compare your "productivity" compared to female MP's

[Bones McCoy]

A "Never Seen Star Wars" moment, I don't think I've ever eaten a Fray Bentos meat pie.

I was surprised to find Fray Bentos is a city in Uruguay. Visitors to the UK before the inter web must have kept an atlas handy in case people thought they were taking the Michael.

It makes sense when you know the city was a major port and had a massive meatpacking industrial sector.
Corned beef and pies are the best known products today.
Part of the old meatpacking sector is now preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site.