Chef hosts pie taste challenge

Shropshire residents voted with their tastebuds when a Ludlow chef asked them to decide between happy chickens and sad chickens.

Henry Mackley yesterday sparked a great debate at the town's produce market when he sold free range chicken pies for £6.50 and intensively-reared chicken pies for £2.50. The more expensive pies sold out straight away, leaving him with a stock of the ones priced at £2.50.

Mr Mackley said: "The people of Ludlow have demonstrated quite clearly that they are prepared to pay a little extra for good quality meat.

"There are two sides to the argument. People don't want to eat meat from animals that have been kept in horrid conditions."They don't want chicken at any price, if it means keeping birds cooped up in cruel conditions.

"There is also the taste argument. The free range chicken tastes a lot better.

"People don't mind viewing meat as more of a luxury item to have once in a while, rather than a cheap every day necessity," he added.

Mr Mackley, who runs Smith & Monger (Traiteur) of Ludlow, added that recent television programmes starring Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall had helped promote debate.

He added: "We had lots of people discussing this issue all day long.

"The standard of debate was really very high. We didn't know which way people would go. Although Ludlow has a reputation for fine food, it is also an agricultural area with farmers here who intensively rear chickens.

"It's a vote of confidence for humanely reared meat that so many people opted for the pies that were more expensive."

Mr Mackley said he planned to introduce new ranges of pies to cater to local people.

He said a rabbit pie cooked with local perry had, in particular, proved a hit.

"We use happy rabbits, from Downton, that live a wild and free life.

"People seem to like the fact that their meat is high quality, tasty and humanely produced," he said.

Mr Mackley is one of the town's best-known young chefs and was a former BBC Master Chef quarter-finalist. His mother, Lesley, was instrumental in launching the Ludlow Marches Festival of Food and Drink and earning the town its reputation as the UK's rural capital of gourmet food.