Northern Anarchist Cookbook VII:

Cyril Smith's a Pork Pie & Chips Man

LAST SATURDAY, in the Rochdale Observer, Eileen Kershaw, a former Lancashire County Councillor, told the journalist Katie Fitzpatrick that she recalled 'a conversation with Cyril Smith and his predecessor Jack McCann (the former Rochdale MP) about the abuse allegations, during which the late Labour MP declared that he would call on the Director of Public Prosecutions for them to drop the case "because this man is being persecuted".'  Soon after that the case was dropped.

Eileen Kershaw, who claimed that she was one of the last people to see Cyril Smith before he died two years ago, said the worry about the allegations put him off his 'usual supper of pie and chips' and he started taking pills to calm his nerves back in the 1960s.  Eileen said:  'He came to our house and had pie and chips but then he stopped (and) he wasn't himself...'  So we're dedicating today's dish to Sir Cyril Smith.

Pork Pie (6-8 portions) Cheshire:

This sweet and savoury pork pie from the early 18th century has hardly changed in concept since it was first published by Mrs. Glasse in Edinburgh in 1747.

2 lb. pork fillets.

1 oz. butter.

1 lb. peeled, cored and sliced cooking apples.

Salt and pepper.

Nutmeg.

2 oz. sugar.

1 pint of whote wine or cider.

8 oz. savoury shortcrust pastry.

1 egg.

Oven:  350 degrees F; gas mark 4; 1.5 hours.

Trim the pork fillets of membranes and sinews, and cut into 1 inch cubes.  Butter a 3.5 pint pie dish and arrange layers of pork with layers of sliced apples, sprinkling each layer with salt, pepper, nutmeg and sugar.  Pour over the wine and dot with the remaining butter.  Cover with the pastry, brush with beaten egg and bake until firm, and well brown.