IT IS just three years since Paul Sykes started baking on his kitchen table, but already his suet-crust pies are in Asda stores all over the south east.

They’ve also impressed top chef Tom Kerridge, who will feature him in his BBC2 TV series Best Ever Dishes tomorrow evening.

Mr Sykes, 39, who lives near Faringdon, said: “People like my pies because I stick to traditional flavours.

“The ingredients are the sort of thing you’d use at home and the fillings are cooked slowly, in a good, old-fashioned way.

“We use suet rather than shortcrust pastry with our meat pies because it has more taste.”

Mr Sykes and a team of four hand-make four thousand pies a week in commercial kitchens in Coleshill, near Faringdon.

Turnover has doubled in the past 12 months and he may take on more staff in the future.

The former game dealer supplies pubs, independent shops and delicatessens, including The Farmhouse restaurant, at Millet’s Farm, Alcock’s butchers, in Summertown, and Waitrose’s Leckford Farm shop, near Andover in Hampshire.

Flavours include steak and kidney, wild venison and mushroom, steak and Guinness, chicken and mushroom, vegetarian Homity pie, sausage roll and picnic pie.

There is also a Christmas variety, layered with pork sausage, double cream, chestnut stuffing, turkey and cranberries.

Mr Sykes sources meat locally, including co-rearing free-range chickens in Bampton and buying beef and pork from Faringdon butcher Pat Thomas.

The self-taught cook has won more than 20 awards, including the Taste of the West accolade, and his pies beat 400 other varieties to be voted best by the pie bloggers pierate.co.uk He added: “I liked eating pies so much I wanted to learn how to make really good ones.

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“If you enjoy something, you pick it up quickly and teach yourself through trial and error.

“It’s good, old-fashioned cooking I find inspiring.

“Making so many hasn’t put me off pies. I still love them because they fill you up and are delicious.

“Once a week we all sit down and eat a pie together at lunchtime, not because of quality control but because we just like eating them.”

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