Alternative names | Catholic pie, Friday pie |
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Place of origin | England |
Region or state | Lancashire |
Main ingredients | Potatoes, onions, butter |
A butter pie is a traditional savoury pie consisting mainly of onions and potatoes. It is also sometimes served on a savoury barm cake. The pie is stocked by fish and chip shops, sandwich shops, local corner shops and some supermarkets within Lancashire.
Butter pie is known to be created for workers from Lancashire's Catholic community, to consume on days (mainly Friday) when meat could not be eaten.
This dish is also mentioned in the Paul McCartney song "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" which contains the lyric, "I had another look and I had a cup of tea and butter pie".
The butter pie can be found in most areas of the historic boundaries of Lancashire, including Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Lancaster, Preston, St Helens and Wigan (whose residents are some times known by the nickname, pie-eaters).
From 2006, the butter pie was included in the annual World Pie Eating Championship in Wigan, in the vegetarian category.
Butter pies were served on match days at Preston North End's Deepdale stadium until 2007 when the providers, Ashworth Foods Ltd, ceased trading. With the new providers, Holland's Pies not offering a butter pie, two Preston North End fans started a campaign on Facebook calling for the return of butter pies to the matchday menu. In 2010 the butter pie made a return to Preston North End's Deepdale stadium after the huge demand for the pie.