Fuud for Thought - Fuud Pie Reviews

Fuud Chicken Pie, Steak and Kidney Pie and Pork and Plum Pie Reviews

With many accolades to their name, we wanted to check out Fuud and give them some food for thought. They entered the British Pie Awards 2013 and won the Chicken Pie category with the Chicken and Chestnut pie, so we were looking forward to rating their pies. Fuud are primarily outside caterers and would sell their pies for £3.50. We were given three pies to rate when we were in Southend-on-Sea recently.

Before I go into detail about each flavour, a brief overview of the pies in general. The pies were all square in shape and fully encased in pastry (as they have to be to compete in the British Pie Awards). These square pies are quite compact but they sure are packed with filling! There was no doubting the top capacity in these pies! The pies are fairly deep and filling, so at £3.50 for a pie these were quite good value.

Fuud Pies

The pastry of the pies was varied. In general the lid was crisp, flaky and had a bit of a softer underside to it, which I really enjoyed. However the sides and base were a bit too dry for me. While holding the pie together well and being fine to begin with, it did get a bit too dry particularly around the corners of the pie, where the pastry:filling ratio is even more skewed towards the pastry. It was good to know these pies could be picked up and eaten by hand, as a proper pie should be able to, but a slightly moister pie pastry would be preferred.

Fuud Chicken and Chestnut Pie

The Chicken and Chestnut Pie (British Pie Awards 2013 Chicken Pie Winner)

The Chicken was lovely and tender and moist, while the chestnut sauce did add a slightly distinct flavour to the chicken. However I’m not sure I would have been able to pick out in a blind taste test that this pie contained chestnut – though I’m not sure what flavour I would have put down for the sauce.

Being aware that this pie was “Chicken and Chestnut” I was also surprised not to have a bit of crunch within the pie, as it was just chicken and the sauce. The sauce wasn’t at all runny but did smother the chicken and the content was very consistent all the way through. A slightly runnier sauce might have added a bit more moisture to the pie and complimented the pastry better.

The filling was therefore very nice and a distinct flavour but the dryness of the pastry did detract from this pie and stop it achieving top marks. In a smaller pie like this, where there is a higher pastry:filling ratio, I would happily eat another but not rush back for more.

Fuud Chicken and Chestnut Pie
Score: 5.57/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.5, Total: 5.57/7]

Fuud Steak, Kidney and Mushroom Pie

The Steak, Kidney and Mushroom Pie

Cooked in a delicious gravy with a packed capacity, the steak and kidney pie was my favourite filling of the three pies. The meat was lovely and tender and there was a good steak bias to the pie content, amid a well-balanced pie flavour. The content was lovely and moist, though it could have still had a bit more gravy ideally. Again the outside pastry was a bit dry but the meaty content more than made up for this and had a great balance of flavours.

Fuud Steak, Kidney and Mushroom Pie
Score: 6/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6.75, Consistency 6, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.75, Total: 6/7]

Fuud Pork, Plum and Celery Pie

The Pork, Plum and Celery Pie

Unfortunately the mix of meat and sweet didn’t work for me in this pie. While I understand that some people enjoy the mix of pork and apple sauce for their roast dinner, for me the ratio of meat and sweet plum flavour was imbalanced. The pork itself was lovely and tender, with good quality meat, however the flavour of the sweet plum sauce detracted from the meat too much for me.

There was certainly quite a bit of moisture in the content, which partly balanced out the drier pastry shell but didn’t take away from the overly sweet flavour. While this pie may appeal to those who like a sweet and meat mix, it wasn’t for me.

Fuud Pork, Plum and Celery Pie
Score: 3.29/7
[Colour 4, Capacity 4.5, Consistency 2, Condition 4, Chewiness 4.5, Cheapness 2, Content 2, Total: 3.29/7]

These pies from Fuud certainly give you some food for thought. You can tell they are a good quality of pie, packed with quality, tender meat. Despite some slightly dry pastry holding it back from being a top rated pie in my opinion, the chicken and steak pies were very good content. While the pork and plum pie was an interesting food combination, it didn’t work for me, but in general the Fuud pies are worth getting your hands on and we're glad we did in British Pie Week 2014, including a Pierate Recommended and Pierate Highly Recommended pie.

RAS