Tuesday 19 November 2013

Paul's Christmas Pie is deep and crisp and even

Paul's Pies Christmas Pie Review


Ding dong merrily on pie! The Pierateers had the great pleasure of once again visiting the Notting Hill London Farmers Market, the site of the purchase of the #1 top rated pie on Pierate. This time, however, the Pierateers were in a festive spirit and keen to try out Paul's new Christmas pie.

pie
Paul's Pies' Christmas Pie in its red box
Paul's Pies' Christmas pie takes inspiration from the best parts of Christmas (the food), and mixes this with a secret family recipe to create a wonderful Christmas treat wrapped up in pastry. Well, not completely wrapped in pastry, as this pie signifies a controversial departure from the usual totally-and-wholly-wrapped-in-pastry-pie that we so love at Pierate. The pie is topped not with pastry but with cranberry.

First things first, this is a cold eating pie. Secondly, this is a sharing pie - which makes sense, as Christmas brings us together in the spirit of sharing. Thirdly, this pie will retail at £4.99 - more expensive than a normal Paul's Pie of this size, so is the extra expense worth it? Let's find out, and crack open the Paul's Pies Christmas Pie.

pauls pie
Attractive pie. Remember not to cook it

The Turkey Pie from Paul's Pies - and Paul himself - feature in our '12 Pies of Christmas' video!

 

Here is the pie with its cranberry topping. Yep, there's no pastry beneath there folks. That will surely affect the judges scores. Regardless of this, the pie is very attractive and has arrived in great condition. Remember, there's no cooking involved here! This is an instant-eat pie!

pauls pie
Those layers would impress a geologist

Review from Pierateer RAS

  • Great idea having a cold Christmas Pie (similar in nature to a pork pie but not at all fatty like some lower quality pork pies are) - though wasn't originally expecting it to be a pie you would eat cold.
  • The pie held together well.
  • The pastry was a good thickness - not overly thick and nice bite to it
  • Certainly a sharing pie
  • Would make a delightful addition to a Christmas buffet platter or similar

The layers worked, though not quite to the ratios I'd prefer. Too much cranberry for my pallet and a little too much stuffing and not enough turkey for me. It was surprising to see pork as the main ingredient at 23%, compared to 18% turkey. The pie certainly reflects a nice Turkey Roast but I think if I had more pork than turkey eating my Christmas Roast, I'd feel robbed of turkey then, so I have to apply the same standard to a Turkey pie.

Of course we at Pierate have high standards when it comes to pastry encasement, so while the layering with cranberries on top as the "lid" look nice, they unfortunately do not replicate a true fully encased pie. This is a shame and it must be pointed out that the other meat Paul's Pies don't suffer from this lack of full pastry encasement.

Ultimately a unique and very good non top-crust Christmas Pie and certainly one that would light up anyone's Christmas!

[Colour 6/7 Consistency 6/7 Cheapness 5/7 Chewiness 6.75/7 Condition 6.5/7 Content 5/7 Capacity 6/7]
Score: 5.89/7

Review from Pierateer TJP

This Christmas pie is extremely attractive, with a clever cranberry "lid" and charming pastry crimping. Cutting open the pie, it is clear how dense it is and why it is a sharing pie (although I did eat the whole pie myself, a Pierateer rarely shares!). I see that Pierateer RAS has commented that there was too much cranberry (please be aware that when we do joint reviews, we write our reviews and scores independently with no conferring), but I felt that actually there wasn't quite enough! Because the pie was so packed with meat, it became a little dry to eat, and the cranberry really helped to moisten things up. The layering within the pie is absolutely fantastic and a joy to behold. The turkey was perhaps a bit crumbly, but the pie was formed well and the layering stayed intact. Of course, at £4.99, this is pretty pricey for what's not a big pie. However, the pie was absolutely packed to capacity with copious amounts of filling, and I was certainly very full after eating the whole thing! This is a sharing pie, and with it being so deep and crisp and even, it would be a delight to have in the centre of any dinner table this Christmas.

Score: 5.90/7

Paul's Pies Christmas (Turkey) Pie
Score: 5.9/7
RAS and TJP

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