Simplicity is the key to creating quality food

There is an increasing debate about the importance of food in pubs.

I often think many pubs are trying too hard with food, with vast menus indicating frozen dishes and the use of a microwave.

That said, I have had some fantastic meals in good food pubs in 2010, but these have tended to be more towards the restaurant end of the spectrum.

I would like to make the case for simplicity and honesty when it comes to bar food.

The best bar food I've had was on a holiday in Spain (Seville to Madrid via Granada, Jaén, Córdoba and Toledo).

The tapas of fresh and freshly-cooked regional ingredients was the perfect accompaniment to a glass of something (no pies though).

Stephen Oliver of Marston's pointed out a few years ago that some Scottish bars do not even offer as much as a pickled egg, but when I moved to Edinburgh the humble Scotch pie, the round one with lovely crisp pastry, was quite widely available. However, in Bert's Bar, on William Street, they moved the concept on ever so slightly.

There were about six fillings (including mince, steak and pepper, lamb and mint, haggis and a vegetarian) and they filled the pastry cases and heated them up, sometimes to order, serving them on simple round white plates with peas or beans and optional gravy.

Result — a very simple pub lunch or supper at a very reasonable price.

At Caledonian Brewery, we are the local baker's biggest customer.

His steak/mince Scotch pies prompt visitors' thank-you notes including the words: "What a lunch" or "I loved the pie we had with your beers in your sample cellar."

During a chat with a guy, an infrequent pub-goer, he recalled fondly a pub lunch experience on a walking trip in May in the Pennines.

He was so impressed with the traditional pub's pie, mushy peas and gravy and the simple flavours that he remarked: "If more pubs did that I might visit more often."

Though British regional tapas may not be possible, the British regional pie and a foaming British pint are a good reason to visit the pub. So we need Great British pub food to accompany British beer — maybe you could even pickle your own eggs.

Cheers to Scotch pies, Melton Mowbray pies and British regional varieties — just wash them down with a glass of British beer.

Stephen Crawley is managing director of Caledonian Brewery​