Hungry crowds find steak and kidney pie is still off the menu

The dish weighed in at a mouth-watering 10.25 tonnes, beating by 0.25 tonnes the previous record holder made in the United States.

A 17-strong team of chefs from Stratford-upon-Avon College in Warwickshire spent almost 12 hours preparing and cooking the Clevedon pie in a specially made steel container measuring 32ft by 7ft.

No appetite for failure

The team's spokeswoman Maud Davis said breaking the record had been a "real battle".

She said: "First of all the meat was frozen, which slowed down the whole process. Then, just as we thought the record was ours, we discovered we needed two officials to check we'd reached a high enough temperature."

The record-breaking pie contained 4.5 tonnes of beef, 1.5 tonnes of kidney and around 7,000 onions.

The official tasting by comedian Eddie Large was abandoned because it was already too late in the day.

Eddie Large takes the taste challenge

But not easily put off, Eddie took a mouthful: "Lovely," he said. "It could do with a little more salt and with maybe being in a microwave for another 48 days but it should be nice."

The cooks, who are said to have lost their appetites while working on the challenge, may now have to throw their good work away - a prospect sure to leave behind a bad taste.