WORLD
Most expensive mince pie: Andrew Stellitano sets world record
Baku, November 25 (AZERTAC). A mince pie worth $4,700 (£3,000) is on display at the Exchange shopping mall in Ilford; designed by Andrew Stellitano, who runs food design firm Astarism, it contain platinum leaf, a solid platinum coin, holy water from Lourdes to bind the pastry, vanilla beans and cinnamon from eastern spice markets and highly prized ambergris sugar derived from sperm whale secretions - setting the world record for the Most expensive mince pie, according to World Records Academy
The Guinness world record for the most expensive pie cost customers to the Fence Gate Inn, Lancashire, UK £8,195 (then $14,260) or £1,024 (then $1,781) per slice when ordered by eight guests on 14 November 2005. The pie's ingredients includes £500 ($870) worth of Japanese wagyu beef fillet, Chinese matsutake mushrooms - so precious, they are harvested under guard, Winter Black truffles, French Bluefoot mushrooms at £200 per 1 kg ($348 per 2 lb 3 oz), gravy made from made two bottles of vintage 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine at £1,000 ($1,740) each and finally the pastry topped with edible gold leaf costing £100 ($174) per sheet.
Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest mince pie, set by a 1.02 tonnes (2,260 lb) pie, baked at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, UK
The World's Most Expensive Mince Pie was designed on a computer and cut with a laser.
It took Andrew Stellitano, who runs food design firm Astarism, more than a week to create. He said: "It's an extremely intricate design."
The expensive pastry was brushed with Eggnog and gilded with platinum leaf - a technique favored by the Victorians - before being dusted with Ambergris sugar, which comes from a secretion from sperm whale.
Containing a solid platinum coin, the pie will also contain a 1920s cognac and the pastry will be bound together with holy water from Lourdes.
The Most Expensive Pie in The World will be on display for a month from Sunday at the Marvellous Mince Pie Manufactory, a mince pie workshop in The Exchange shopping centre in Ilford, where visitors can create their own "artisan" mince pies.
A prize draw on December 19 will give shoppers the chance to take home the pricey pie.
Money raised will be donated to the Chigwell Riding Trust charity, a riding centre for people with special needs.