Tuesday 29 July 2014

Goat Pie – Two Tickets to The Gun Show!

The Gun (Docklands) Goat and Paprika Pie Review


Having been invited down to The Gun pub in the Docklands, on the River Thames overlooking the O2 Arena (ex-Millennium Dome), we couldn’t have arrived on a nicer day! The sun was blazing and I had the pleasure of once again meeting up with friends and Pierateers in Training Ashleigh and Olivia. It was pie time!
The Gun Docklands Pie Review
The Gun, Docklands

But yes, okay, so the eagle eyed of you will have spotted that’s three people and the title says “Two tickets to the gun show”… well, let’s just say I was hardly going to call it “Three tickets to the gun show”, was I! I may not have a degree in marketing but we know how to have plenty of pun and games on the web’s leading pie review blog! And with an arsenal of gun puns ready to fire, let’s get on with the pie review!

So… time to judge this pie then! In the dock(lands) is…

“Pie of Devonshire Kid, sautéed onions and carrots, smoked paprika topped with homemade puff pastry (served with garlic mashed potato, parsley and oregano liquor with kid gravy”

What a mouthful – and I’m not just talking about the name! This pie had a delicious flavour to it, something I was intrigued by as I had never had goat pie – or goat full stop! Naturally this makes it the best rated goat pie we’ve eaten! But how would it rate on the 7 Cs?

The Gun Docklands Goat Pie Review
The Gun Docklands Goat Pie Review

Colour: 6.5 out of 7 – Nice golden coloured lid, with quite a unique orange coloured filling

Consistency: 5.5 out of 7 – While the filling of the pie was quite runny, it was a very flavoursome filling, with the meat and veg well distributed throughout the pie

Capacity: 5 out of 7 – It has to be noted that this was a top crust and thus do not meet our high standards of piefection, which require a fully encased in pastry pie. However it was noted that the capacity of the dish was well filled, with lots of meat.

Condition: 6.75 out of 7 – This was a delightfully presented meal; lovely and golden pastry with dishes of pie and potato, plus liquor and gravy on the side. It certainly felt like dining in luxury.

Chewiness: 6 out of 7 – Apart from being a top crust, the other slight negative of this pie was that the meat was rather fatty. While the actual meat itself was nice and tender, and very flavoursome, there was a fair bit of fat on it. While this may well be a common feature of goat in general, I’d have hoped for more lean meat in a pie costing £14.50.

Cheapness: 5 out of 7 – For a fancy pie meal in the heart of London, I think £14.50 was a very reasonable price to pay for a pie. Unfortunately as a top crust this did feel a bit overpriced, comparing to other pies in the London area.

Content: 5.5 out of 7 – Really good flavours in the pie, with a real meaty focus throughout and delightfully cooked veg inside the pie. The fat on the meat did unfortunately detract slightly from the content though.

The Gun Docklands Goat Pie Review
The Gun Docklands Goat Pie Review

Overall, I really enjoyed this pie meal and, while disappointed it was just a top crust, I would love to try another flavour in the future. The pie of the day is different each day, depending on what the cook decides to prepare, so I look forward to seeing what pie I eat next time! Thanks again to Barbara and Barny, who hosted us so well - a great pub to visit! And thanks to Sean and Anna for their help arranging the visit.

This is a Pierate Recommended pie and they will be pleased to know no one needs to be “fired” at The Gun after this delicious pie!


“The Gun” Goat and Paprika Pie
Score: 5.75/7
[Colour 6.5, Capacity 5, Consistency 5.5, Condition 6.75, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5, Content 5.5, Total: 5.75/7]
RAS


Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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Saturday 26 July 2014

Make a Picnic a Piecnic - Just add pie!

Friends of the Pierate blog will know that we will piemote pretty much anything that involves pie (as long as that pie isn’t wasted!) But sometimes we would rather be trend setters, rather than trend followers, which is why we’re starting a new campaign:

#MakeAPicnicAPiecnic


Yes, it’s as simple as it sounds! As the strapline goes – “Just add pie!”


The World's first ever Piecnic took place on Sunday 3rd August! Read the review of it and watch the campaign video in our article "The world’s first piecnic – we just added pie!"



The Pierateers enjoying an ASDA apple pie at a Piecnic

Bray's Cottage Pork Pie Review
Bray's Cottage Pork Pie - a great piecnic option!
So when you’re reaching into the fridge for some picnic goodies, just add a pork pie to your hamper. Or if you’d rather something sweet than containing meat, just grab a box of fruit pies to sweeten the meal. It really is that simple! So simple in fact that we’ve boiled it down to two, easy-to-follow steps:

1) Add pie to your picnic
2) You now have a piecnic

All that leaves me to say is – why wouldn’t you?! Enjoy the sunshine this summer and make your picnic a piecnic. Just add pie!


How to rate a pie
Why not rate your pie at the Piecnic?!




Here’s some pie companies that have got on board:

The Real Pie Company are encouraging you to have a fruit pie as part of your piecnic:


Sarah from Bray's Cottage regularly tweets about piecnics (or "pignics" - but let's face it, we'd rather have pie in the title ;-) )


Here's Chunk of Devon PIEmoting their pies for your picnic!


RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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continue reading "Make a Picnic a Piecnic - Just add pie!"

Thursday 24 July 2014

Delving into Dulverton Pies

Exclusive Cake Company - Game Pie Review

On a trip to Exmoor my Pie-dy senses had been alterted to the small town of Dulverton as a place where I might locate a good pie. Okay, this isn't quite true, I can't sense where good pies are, this was a recommendation, just like many of our visits. We are very lucky to be inundated with so many recommendations we just don't have the time or money to follow them all up. See our 'suggest a pie' page.

Pie Counter

Dulverton is a lovely little town nestled in the beautiful Exmoor National Park. With a number of independent cafes and shops it seemed that there were plenty of pie options but there was only one place for me. I was quickly impressed by the Exclusive Cake Company. Despite the name indicating their passion for cakes, it was clear that the Exclusive Cake Company are also passionate about pies. Just have a look at the huge range of pies they have on their website. It was a difficult decision, I really could only eat one pie without leading to the sinful act of wasting pie, what type of meat should I go for? I decided to go all out with the triple meat combo of Venison, Rabbit and Pheasant, known as the Game Pie. This seemed appropriate while on Exmoor which is known for it's hunting pursuits.

Despite being one of the more expensive options this pie was worth the money and receives a much coveted 'Pierate Highly Recommended' award. It was meaty and delicious. Do check it out if you are in the area! See the score breakdown below.

Dulverton Exclusive Cake Pie Cross section

Condition - 6.0 out of 7 - This pie was ruggedly handsome. The pie didn't look perfect but had a pleasing handmade appearance with a pastry shape on top to indicate the flavour.
Colour - 6.2 out of 7 - A pretty mix of different tones of golden brown. A little burnt boil out to indicate the pie is packed with content.
Cheapness - 5.8 out of 7 - At £3.20 this is pretty average for a gourmet pie, but often they can be quite small. Not this one, it was really quite big for an individual pie. When you consider that you are also getting more expensive meats and that it is full of content it certainly seemed worth it.
Capacity - 6.3 out of 7 - The capacity seemed about as big as possible and there was no air gap. However, there was a little bit of extra pastry on the join between the lid and sides so I felt there was slightly too much pastry. Also the sauce seemed to take up quite a lot of the space, but there was enough meat.
Chewiness - 5.5 out of 7 - The chunks of meat provided plenty to get your teeth into without being chewy. The pastry was nice and flaky on the outside without being puff pastry. (This reminded me of my favourite pies from Kings Farm.) It was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, a great combination. However, it was a little bit dry at the edge which meant my teeth had to do more work than I would have liked. But this was only a small proportion of the pie. There was a bit of a strange texture to the sauce, it was so thick it was almost like jelly (as we have found elsewhere). Whilst not chewy as such, the texture was not what I would have chosen, I like thick sauce, but prefer it not quite this thick. I would note this did only have a small impact on my enjoyment.
Content - 6.9 out of 7 - Pure and simple, this was a great tasting pie. Very meaty and no nonsense. The game meat added plenty of flavour, with the venison being particularly apparent. Even the pastry tasted nice. If I had to criticise the taste of the filling I would say it seemed a little too salty to me which reminded me of a Pukka Pie.
Consistency - 5.8 out of 7 - Despite not being consistently perfect, overall the taste of both the filling and the pastry made this pie stand out and they worked well together.


Mixed Game (The Exclusive Cake Company [TA22 9HB])
6.07/7

SJL

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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Commonwealth Games: Scotch Pies Review Special for Glasgow 2014

Commonwealth Games: Scotch Pies trumped by Tunnock’s Tea Cakes


After all the fun, fundraising and fireworks of the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which I must add was entertaining and quite unique, one major question remains unanswered. In such a showpiece event, beamed out across the globe to an estimated 1.5 billion people…

WHERE WERE THE PIES???

Yes, we may be accused of being a tad pie-ased but let’s face it – Haggis aside – is there anything more Scottish than a Scotch pie? Really??? And yet it pains me to say that the Tunnock’s Tea Cakes dancing all over the stage of the opening ceremony grabbed all the newspaper headlines, when surely – surely – we should have been reading headlines about dancing scotch pies!!!

World Scotch Pie Champion 2014 - The Kandy Bar in Saltcoats

So to address this, as the Commonwealth Games kicks off, Pierate are giving Scotch Pies the pie-de of place they deserve as the most important food export Scotland has – yes, aside from Haggis!!!

The Scotch Pie

For a beginners guide to the Scotch Pie look no further than our article “What Makes The Best Scotch Pie?” featuring an answer to the million dollar question “What is a Scotch Pie?” and our Scotch Pie Rankings Table.

Scotch Pie Club Awards 2014

You won’t be surPIEsed to hear the Piefessionals at Pierate got invited to judge at the Scotch Pie Club Awards – see our review of the day at the Scotch Pie Club Awards 2014, held in November 2013 (yes, that’s not a typo – see the article for why!)

Scotch Pie Club Awards Pie Review
Scotch Pie Club Awards Pies

Scotch Pie Awards Champion 2013

While in Scotland for the Scotch Pie Club awards 2014 we took the opPIEtunity to rate the World Scotch Pie Champion 2013 from JB Christie – and boy did it rate well! Read our pie review of this Pierate Highly Recommended Scotch pie.

Scotch Pie in London?

You don’t have to go to Scotland to eat a proper Scotch Pie – Paul the owner of Piebury Corner on Holloway Road, London travels 500 miles (and then 500 more, on the way back) to pick up Scotch Pies from Scotland and sell them in his pie shop. Pierate Recommended – read the pie review here.

Make your own Scotch Pie

Our Ship’s Cook has made a Scotch Pie using McSingh’s recipe – find out how the recipe rated and what she thought.

RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Commonwealth Games: Scotch Pies Review Special for Glasgow 2014"

Monday 21 July 2014

Official Statement regarding "The Pies" Graffiti

Pierateers confirm they are not behind "The Pies" Road Graffiti


With a number of photos like below doing the rounds on twitter, the Pierateers felt they should clarify that they are NOT behind a "The Pies" bit of graffiti on a road bridge near Chester.

Having been queried by a colleague at work (yes, sadly Pierateering is not quite a full time profession just yet!)  who had taken the following photo on the motorway towards Chester:

"The Pies" sign - Photo credit: Jas

Pierate can officially confirm we were not doing a Banksy and adding pie signage to road bridges up and down the country. If we'd been thinking of doing such a thing, we would certainly have put either "Pierate" or "We rate all the Pies" - our policy summed up brilliantly in our article "Who rate all the Pies?" which was produced just prior to British Pie Week this year.

Due to overwhelming views of this article we have decided to do some research on this piece of graffiti and it appears there is a history to it! Find out more in our latest article on pie graffiti.

RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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continue reading "Official Statement regarding "The Pies" Graffiti"

Sunday 20 July 2014

Steaking out at Robinsons Bakery

Robinsons Bakery Steak and Guinness, Steak and Kidney and Pork and Apple Pie Reviews


We recently had the pie-leasure of visiting Robinsons Bakery in Failsworth, north Manchester, as part of their 150 year celebrations. Yes, that’s right – one hundred and fifty years of pie making in Manchester’s oldest craft bakery. It’s still family run and – having rated their mince pies very highly in their 149th year – I was delighted to get a tour round the bakery and try a few more of their pies.
Robinsons Bakery Pie Review
Robinsons Bakery Pies - 150 years old!

Having already tried their mince pies, I wanted to give their meat pies a rating. You won’t be surprised to see I went for their steak pies, given how strongly they feature at the top of our pie rankings. The pies in question were the Steak and Guinness Pie and the Steak and Kidney Pie, while I was also kindly given an apple-topped pork pie to rate as well.

You can find out more about Robinsons Bakery and their 150 year anniversary in our “150 Years of Pie Making: Celebrating with Robinsons Bakery” article, so I’m going to get cracking with the pie reviews here:

Overall opinion

The pies were all decent value at just £1.50 each – could have been slightly bigger though with a bit more content to make them a meal. We ended up eating 2 meat pies each for dinner, indicating they are more snack size than meal size. Mind you, we are piefessionals. Both the Steak and Guinness and Steak and Kidney pies were reasonably well filled, though they could have had a slightly stronger capacity. The pies did vary slightly in capacity between the pies we got – as we had bought 5 of each flavour – which indicates a slight inconsistency in the filling levels but is not surprising when they are all handmade, rather than industrially filled.

The colour was quite golden on them all and they held together well, despite quite a bit of travelling being done by the pies! The bases of the pies were a little softer than the crisp lid and sides but this did not detract from the taste of the pie too much, with the pastry lid on the steak pies being particularly nice.

Robinsons Bakery Steak and Guinness Pie Review
Robinsons Bakery Steak and Guinness Pie Review

Steak and Guinness Pie Review
Robinsons Bakery Steak and Guinness Pie Review

The Steak and Guinness pie was the first to be eaten and was quite well filled with tender chunks of steak. There could have ideally been a bit more steak in the pie and the pie was overly peppery, but in general the Guinness gravy complimented the steak well and at just £1.50, this was a good value pie. The pastry was quite crisp and the pie held together well, so with a bit more steak and bit less pepper inside it would be a very well rated pie.

Robinson’s Steak and Guinness Pie
Score: 5.21/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5, Consistency 5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5, Total: 5.21/7]


Robinsons Bakery Steak and Kidney Pie Review
Robinsons Bakery Steak and Kidney Pie Review

Steak and Kidney Pie Review

The Steak and Kidney pie was reasonably well balanced between the steak and kidney, with a nice gravy. The pie I rated was nicely seasoned – not overly peppery like the Steak and Guinness – so was a lot more enjoyable in flavour. I would have preferred a bit more of a weighting towards the steak but the flavour was good. £1.50 was a decent price for this pie and it was a bit better filled than the Steak and Guinness, but a bit more filling to maximise the capacity would have been ideal and bumped up the score by improving the pastry:filling ratio.

Robinson’s Steak and Kidney Pie
Score: 5.36/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5, Consistency 5.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.5, Total: 5.36/7]


Robinsons Bakery Apple Topped Pork Pie Review
Robinsons Bakery Apple Topped Pork Pie Review

Apple Topped Pork Pie

Unfortunately as this pork pie was topped with apple, not pastry, it was not a fully encased pie. The apple layer was reasonably thick, giving a strong tang to the pie and in my opinion was a little too strong. The pork was reasonable quality, though for a top rated pork pie I would expect a bit better. The condition wasn’t perfect on this pie – most notably because it wasn’t fully encased - but the pastry was quite nice, crisp and held the filling in well. In summary I could see why this was a strong seller from the bakery but it loses marks with us as it’s not fully encased. I would say it was a bit too sweet for my pallet and the meat could have been a bit more flavoursome.

Robinson’s Apple Topped Pork Pie
Score: 4.21/7
[Colour 4, Capacity 4, Consistency 4.5, Condition 3.5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4.5, Content 4, Total: 4.21/7]



With such a strong score for their mince pies (who even featured in our Christmas pie music video!), it was always going to be a hard act to follow for their meat pies. But at just £1.50 each for a hot pie, this is excellent value and I would happily eat again. Both steak pies are Pierate Recommended. While their apple-topped pork pie wasn’t quite for me, I’d look to try a traditional pork pie from them on my next visit. All in all, the hard craft of pie making is in safe hands 150 years on from the first Robinsons Bakery pies!

RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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continue reading "Steaking out at Robinsons Bakery"

Monday 14 July 2014

Reci-pie Review: Brazilian Pies


Well there we have it. The World Cup is over for another four years. But if you’re already suffering from World Cup withdrawal, never fear – I’ve got a pie recipe to remind you of all those good times in Brazil. I made these for a family barbecue and can strongly recommend eating them outside with a nice cold beer, but the leftovers also made a pretty good snack during the World Cup final.


WARNING: These pies contain turmeric which can be pretty hard to get out of clothes/cushions etc. so you’re probably best not giving them to anyone who’s likely to jump out of their seat with excitement while watching the match and fling their pie across the room. 

The recipe:
Pierateer RAS suggested I give this recipe a go, and I’m glad I did because it’s certainly an interesting one, with unusual pastry and a pretty unique choice of pie filling. The chicken mixture is pretty close to an Afro-Brazilian dish called Chicken Xim-Xim, which is a chicken stew with peanuts, shrimp and peanuts. Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients – it’s not as complicated as it looks and the finished product is well worth the effort. 

The recipe is from Andy Bates and you can find it here:
http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/brazillian-pies.html

The Seven Cs:

Colour:
I really liked the colour of these pies – I baked them until they were golden brown but the turmeric in the filling leaked out a little bit and added a lovely yellowy colour to the edges of the pastry, which made these pies look very appealing.

Consistency:
The liquid in these pies is a mixture of coconut and chicken stock, so it’s more of a creamy sauce than gravy. The consistency of the filling reminded me of a creamy curry only thickened for longer – it went very well with the crispy pastry.

Capacity:
As with all homemade pies, you can stuff the pastry as full of delicious filling as you’d like. This meant that my pies scored pretty highly for capacity, but I did make a small error - the original recipe suggests that you bake your pies in muffin tins, but I decided to use jam tart tins and make lots of smaller pies. They were still tasty, but I think the Crust:Filling ratio would actually be slightly better in a bigger pie. That’ll teach me to think about quality rather than quantity next time I’m baking!

Chewiness:
The pastry in this recipe, which is made with lard, eggs and egg whites, is very crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The filling isn’t chewy at all, just lovely and creamy with the occasional crunch from the peanuts. Yum.

Cheapness:
When I first saw the long list of ingredients for this pie, I thought it was going to be pretty expensive. However, I was pleasantly surprised – thighs are a cheap cut when it comes to buying chicken, and ingredients like ginger and chillies can be bought in small packets or individually to keep your costs down. You also get quite a few pies for your money – I made 24 with pastry and filling to spare, so if you stick to using a muffin tin I think this recipe would easily make 12-16 pies.

If you’re feeling particularly thrifty you could make a really big batch of the filling and freeze it for future use, or even eat it with for dinner with something other than pastry (but why would you?)

Content:
This recipe is definitely a high scorer when it comes to content. It’s unusual and very, very tasty. Even better, the filling is already a meal in itself, so it’s a meal that’s been improved with a pastry case. Perfect.

Condition:
These pies come out of the oven in great condition. The have a lovely rounded shape because you press them into the tin rather than cutting out the pastry, and they also have a nice solid feel to them. To make sure they’re absolutely perfect, take them out of the tin while they’re still slightly warm, otherwise the pastry sticks a little bit.   

The Ship's Cook

continue reading "Reci-pie Review: Brazilian Pies "

Sunday 13 July 2014

The not-so-glorious return of the shapeshifting steak pie

You may recall that in May 2013 (blimey, was it that long ago?!), I reviewed a microwaveable Kershaws Luxury Steak Pie. Needless to say, the pie didn't score well on our criteria. In my opinion, not only did the top-crust pie look terrible but it also failed to live up to its "luxury" status in any sense of the word. I finished the pie, and thought that would be the end of it.

But the Kershaws steak pie has reared its head again, for I spotted this item in the freezer section of a small superstore. The ready meal pie is back, and with a vengeance.
steak pie
It's back, in a new form. And 9p more expensive.
I know what you're thinking. It's a steak pie and chips, with carrots and peas - same as before - so what's the difference? Well, this pie is billed as a classic steak pie, in contrast to the luxury pie I reviewed before. Other than that small difference, though, the pie looks virtually identical.

But my Pierate colleagues (thanks guys) assured me that I really needed to try this pie, just to be certain there was no difference. Unsurprisingly, this filled me with fear. If the luxury pie lurks down near the bottom of the pie rankings, what on earth is this classic pie going to score?

kershaws steak pie

 Opening up the cardboard packaging, the pie looks much the same in its plastic ready meal packaging.

kershaws steak pie
:(
Once blasted for 11 minutes (11 minutes!) in the microwave, the pie is ready on the plate. And wow, what a sorry sight. Even for £1.59 (note: 9p dearer than the luxury offering), in my opinion this is a depressing plate of food. I just don't know how you can call that a pie. And why does the rectangular slab of "lid" have weird machined dimples in it?

kershaws steak pie

Yep, I'd recognise those scary cubes of meat from a mile off. This has got to be the same pie as the luxury one I ate last year. Even the chips and veg are the same.

So what's happened? Has Kershaws possibly, potentially, just perhaps, maybe taken our comments on board, and changed the name? It's unlikely, but we can dream.

I won't give it a new rating, as I'm really rather sure that it is the same pie as before (although you can never be 100% certain). But I will say I still think this pie is just as bad as when I first tried it - with a rating of 1.2/7.

TJP
continue reading "The not-so-glorious return of the shapeshifting steak pie"

Saturday 12 July 2014

Is Holland’s Steak and Guinness pie the perfect match?

Holland’s Steak and Guinness Pie Review


It seems only right that as I dug into my Holland’s Steak and Guinness pie on a Saturday night in July, in front of me Holland’s players were cruising to third place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Crisp, neat finishing, decent content and hitting the back of the net. And the football team didn’t play too badly either!

Did you know we had a sneak preview of Holland’s formation before kick-off, revealing they would be filling the midfield? That and more on our World Cup 2014 Pie Blog.



Holland's Steak and Guinness Pie Review
Holland's Steak and Guinness Pie delivery
I have to say I did very much enjoy the flavour of this Steak and Guinness pie, with a thick, flavoursome gravy that clearly had been tried and tested, adding a real richness to the tender pieces of steak. There was a reasonable amount of steak in these pies, with a quite decent capacity. However it was certainly not wall-to-wall steak like we have had in a number of bigger, albeit more expensive, rival steak pies. And there was a bit of fatty gristle in one of the two pies I ate, which wasn’t ideal. (I had two because one just didn’t look – or indeed become – enough.)

The pastry was firm and crisp, although I would have preferred a slightly lighter, flakier top crust to balance out the very nice shortcrust sides and base. The colour though was good too and, while the edges did crisp up a little more than the centre of the lid, the condition was good too. The pie even seemed to be enjoying Holland’s performance on the pitch, breaking into a little smile!

Holland's Steak and Guinness Pie Review
These Holland's Pies seemed quite happy with Holland's 3-0 win! 

It was however a little shallow as pies go, meaning it didn’t have quite the ideal pastry:filling ratio, but the filling was very good and with a little more meat it would have been close to being spot on. The Steak and Guinness combo we know works well (after all, our current number 1 pie is also Steak and Guinness flavour!) and the flavour of this pie was what pleased me most about Holland’s effort. The gravy was just the right consistency and quantity, which is important for the flavour. I was also pleased that it wasn’t loaded with pepper, as the Holland’s Peppered Steak Pie I rated at the Emirates Stadium was a bit too seasoned!

Holland's Steak and Guinness Pie Review
Holland's Steak and Guinness Pie Review

I’d certainly be very much up for enjoying another of these Pierate Recommended pies soon and will look out for them, priced at a very affordable £2 (RSP) each. Thanks once again to Holland’s Pies and Christine at Mason Williams for providing the 28 pies, which will primarily be enjoyed at half time of the World Cup final!

Holland’s Steak and Guinness Pie
Score: 5.46/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5.5, Consistency 6, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5, Content 5.75, Total: 5.46/7]
RAS




Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Is Holland’s Steak and Guinness pie the perfect match?"

Thursday 10 July 2014

The Quay to Winning the Gloucester Pie Game

The Barge – Game Pie Review

I moved to Gloucester in October last year but have yet to review a pie from the city itself. This is partly because of the wealth of good pies to eat elsewhere and a massive backlog of pies to review. The trip to Scotland to get my teeth into the best Scotch pies didn’t help. But the sad truth is that I have eaten some pies in the city, but they just haven’t made the cut when it comes to being review worthy. All of us Pierateers eat a lot of pies and unfortunately there just isn’t time to give them all a review. Sure enough, a really good or bad pie will get a review but often I won’t even add some of the middle or the road pies to my list of pies to review. They just aren’t interesting enough. Why have the pies in Gloucester failed to inspire me? Well to put it simply, they AREN’T PROPER PIES!

Sorry, I seemed to get a bit worked up there…. I would apologise, but I can’t help myself, I get so worked and disappointed when I order a pie only to find out it is a casserole with a pastry lid and Gloucester seems to be full of these ‘top-crust’ pies masquerading as the real deal.

Upon a trip to Gloucester Quays I was delighted to find a proper Game pie on the menu of The Barge restaurant. This is a nice settling amongst the historic Gloucester docks. Although I am not particularly interested in the designer outlets I am really pleased that the historic warehouses have been saved by being converted. There are still some areas where the old warehouses are falling down and I hope the money will eventually be found to convert these too. You start to get an idea of why Gloucester was once such an important city. The canal made the Quays the most inland docks in the country, quite an advantage in those days. I would worry that The Barge is slightly hidden away, a little distance from the main shopping and restaurant area and that they might struggle for custom. Perhaps this suits them. It was quite a charmingly small restaurant, with only a few tables. I found it a nice place to eat, the proprietor didn’t mind that we stayed for a long time, tired from wandering around Gloucester and the Folk Museum.

The pie was pretty decent, both the pastry and filling were different to your standard pie, which is good as it made it stand out, but there was room for improvement. I was very impressed by the fact that it contained 4 different meats, Venison, Beef, Pheasant and Pigeon. The fact that it was a slice of a bigger pie, rather than a whole, smaller pie is not my preferred choice but I did enjoy it. See the scores below.

Badminton Game Pie, venison, beef, pheasant & pigeon breast

Condition – 4.2 out of 7 – Well presented which can be difficult when cutting a slice of pie. I would have prefered to pour my own gravy.

Colour – 4.0 out of 7 – I couldn’t really distinguish between the colours of the meat, it looked slightly homogeneous but the pastry had some pleasing golden brown.

Cheapness – 5.5 out of 7 – I thought for £9.50 this was a great value meal in a nice location and setting. The amount of food was immense, especially for more expensive game meat, it was a huge slab of pie.

Capacity – 4.5 out of 7 – This piece of pie had a great capacity because it was so big plus it was well filled. However, I think there was a bit of a lack of pastry if anything, because it was a slice of pie it seemed to miss out the optimum ratio.

Chewiness – 3.5 out of 7 – There were some unusual textures going on in this pie, not always in a good way. The pastry was a little bit like bread which I didn’t like and the crust was a bit dry . The worst part was that the base had absorbed the filling and turned into a bit of a soggy mush. On the plus side, most of the meat was soft, except the pieces which I think might have been the pheasant which were a bit dry.

Content – 5.5 out of 7 – The pie was a real meat feast, I couldn’t tell the difference between the pieces of meat by looking at them but I could taste it. It is unusual to find so many types of meat in one pie and I certainly appreciated it. It was all very flavoursome in a rich meaty sauce. Despite being so big I didn’t get bored of eating the meaty chunks. There was a bit of a taste of biscuit from the crust which was a little weird.

Consistency – 4.0 out of 7 – A bit of a mixed bag which almost, but didn’t quite, work. It is something I would recommend if you like your pies meaty but I wouldn’t plan to try it again unless the pastry was improved.

Badminton Game Pie - Venison, Beef, Pheasant & Pigeon (The Barge [GL1 2DN])
4.46/7


SJL


Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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Wednesday 9 July 2014

These Pies Have Got It Paul

Paul's Pies - Steak & Kidney and Picnic Pie Reviews

You might have noticed we love Paul’s Pies. We have been banging on about them for some time now. See below our list of Pauls Pies reviewed so far, two of which are currently occupying spots in the top 3 of our pie rankings.

Pie FlavourScore
Steak & Guinness
Chicken & Mushroom
Wild Venison & Mushroom
Turkey (Christmas)
Steak & Kidney
Chicken & Pork (Picnic)

Wow, would you look at that? Six pies all achieving Pierate Highly Recommended (6 or above) or Pierate Recommended (5 or above). If you are very keen on our blog you might have noticed two pies in the list which haven’t yet been reviewed! How can that be? Well, I am about to review them both, right here, right now! I am feeling pretty privileged to get in there first with two of these beautifully boxed pies.

Picnic Pie

And now for something different from the other Paul's Pies I have tried before. This is a pie that is designed to be eaten cold, perhaps a bit like the Christmas offering, however, I was delighted that this one has a pastry lid. For some reason this pie came in a different box with no window. It also cost a whopping £4.75 for the 270g pie which meant it would have to do something a little special.

Paul's Picnic Pie

Paul's Picnic Pie cross section

Condition – 4.9 out of 7 – It had a similar shape to other Paul’s pies with lovely crimping at the edges. I did miss the pastry letter on the top and the colourful boxes that Paul’s pies normally have but these are only minor points. Generally top condition.

Colour – 4.5 out of 7 - The pastry looked nice, but could have been a bit more golden. The filling was very pretty, being layers of Pork and Chicken.

Capacity – 4.7 out of 7 – Tall and proud, exactly what we expect from Paul’s pies; there was a large capacity. This one was a bit let down by the surprising addition of an air gap at the top although not very large.

Cheapness – 3.5 out of 7 – I understand that this is top quality meat and this was full of meat but £4.75 just seemed like a lot for quite a pie which is the same size as the normal Paul’s pies.

Chewiness – 6.0 out of 7 – The meat in this pie was unlike any other I have had, it was so moist and light and flaky. Great care had been taken to avoid something as heavy and stodgy as you normally find with a pork pie. In fact, this is nothing like other cold meat pies. There were some small chewy pieces to the pork. The pastry was heavy on the fat content (in a good way) which made it also really soft to eat, despite being shortcrust.

Content – 6.0 out of 7 – I thought that this pie tasted great, it tasted a bit like a really awesome version of a sausage roll. There was plenty of seasoning with hints of flavours you might expected with roast dinner stuffing. The flavours were similar to Mr C’s chicken pie. There was a wonderful richness to the pastry. Having both Chicken and Pork kept the meat interesting. I would note that my Dad didn’t like it, he thought it was ‘too spicy’ but he is Mr Bland and Boring so I tend to discount his views.

Consistency – 5.5 out of 7 – A nice consistency and a tasty morsel which did something a bit different from the norm and pulled it off. Just wish it was a bit bigger because I don't think it would go very far sharing it at a picnic. You could buy more than one but that would leave the rest of the hamper a bit bare on most picnic budgets.

Chicken & Pork Picnic (Paul’s Pies) 
5.01/7 


Steak & Kidney

To commemorate World War 1 and as a way to raise money for the British Legion, Paul has brought out a limited edition Steak & Kidney pie, similar in style to his other meat offerings like the Steak & Guinness.
Paul's Steak & Kidney

Paul's Steak & Kidney cross section

Condition – 6.0 out of 7 – We are back to the lovely coloured box and as usual the striking crimping. This one didn’t seem to have a ‘K’ made out of pastry, but a K marked on the pie, did it fall off? I missed the pastry letter! (But that is a minor point.)

Colour – 6.5 out of 7 – Wonderful hues of glossy brown as we have found from the best of Paul’s Pies.

Capacity – 4.1 out of 7 – Again, a tall pie so a good capacity. However, this was the first time I have found a significant air gap at the top of a Paul’s Pie. I think I was just a bit unlucky with this one as we haven't had this before.

Cheapness – 4.5 out of 7 – This pie was priced at the same level as most Paul’s Pies, at £3.50, which is pretty much the going rate for an individual gourmet pie.

Chewiness – 5.5 out of 7 – The meat was soft but slightly more chewy in places than other Paul’s pies I have had. This wasn’t necessarily a really bad thing, it gave me something to get my teeth into. The kidney was soft as would be expected. It was a pleasure to again have Paul’s lovely suet pastry with it’s crunchy outside and soft middle.

Content – 6.0 out of 7 – The flavour of this pie wasn’t adventurous but captured that classic, British, homemade Steak & Kidney flavour perfectly. Paul’s Pies have a wonderful knack of creating comforting and homely food. The kidney flavour wasn’t overpowering as it sometimes can be (we aren't huge fans of kidney on the Pierate Ship).

Consistency – 6.5 out of 7 – The lovely thick sauce gave this a great consistency. It worked very well as a pastry package.

Steak & Kidney (Paul’s Pies)
5.59/7


Overall two very good pies from Paul, fully deserving of ‘Pierate Recommended’ awards. The Steak & Kidney would probably have scored higher if it wasn’t for the airgap, not something we have ever seen before from Paul’s Pies. Unfortunately these things happen sometimes when making large numbers of pies, from manufacturers small and big. This will require further investigation, someone will have to eat more Paul's Pies. Naturally I volunteer myself, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

SJL

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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continue reading "These Pies Have Got It Paul"

Monday 7 July 2014

Bray's Cottage Pork Pie at London's Brompton Food Market

Brompton Food Market - Bray's Cottage Pork Pie Review


Food delis tend to be pretty upmarket but Brompton Food Market in affluent South Kensington is one of the most posh. We love to try a broad range of pies, some cheaper, some more expensive as you never know which are going to be the best value for money. I thought I simply had to try one of the pork pies on offer at Brompton Food Market, at £3.50 for a small pie I was expecting something good. There were a few variations on offer but I decided to go for the standard pork pie. They said they are made by a company called Bray's Cottage. See below for a breakdown of the score.

Brays Cottage Pork Pie

Condition – 6.5 out of 7 – Very nice indeed, a lovely zigzag pattern around the top and some odd holes which look like air vents but aren’t. There wasn’t much that could be improved in the condition. I don’t often say this for a cold pie but this pie had a lovely, spicy aroma.

Colour – 6.8 out of 7 – I really liked the glossy golden colour to this one. There was nice variation in the glazing which made it look handmade (but I don’t know if it was) and there was some evidence on the outside as to the juicy filling on the inside.

Cheapness – 3.0 out of 7 – For an individual sized pork pie this just wasn’t cheap at all but you do get what you pay for. This is good quality pork.

Capacity – 5.8 out of 7 – The pie was quite tall so the capacity was large for its size. It was completely full of content.

Chewiness – 6.4 out of 7 – There was a great texture to this pie, only one tiny chewy piece. The pastry was softer than many pork pies but still had a really satisfying crunch to the outside. The filling was granular and not at all mushy. This pie didn't seem to have any jelly but was still very moist.

Content – 5.9 out of 7 – This pie was filled with proper grey pork meat rather than cured pork, in a similar way to a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie. Although, there did also seem to be some pink bits to it which I now realise is because they mix in some smoked bacon! This is a nice touch and makes this pie stand out. The pork had some of the best flavour I have ever had in a pork pie. I was however expecting it to have a bit more spice to it. Maybe it is because they didn’t want to hide the flavour of the meat but for me, I like a bit more of a peppery taste. There was a really great flavour to the pastry. I am not sure what they used to glaze it but there was almost a sweetness to the taste which I loved.

Consistency – 6.5 out of 7 – This really worked well as a package, in many departments I would say this would be my ultimate pork pie.

Brays Cottage Pork Pie Cross-section

Overall, a really very good pie from Brompton Food Market. However, for £3.50 it seemed a bit much, for me it is hard for any individual pork pie to justify such a price, no matter how good it is. I would expect the best I have ever tasted. In fact, it almost was the best I have ever tasted so not a bad effort. The seasoning is probably a personal preference anyway. If you can find these pies sold elsewhere, perhaps a bit cheaper, then they are well worth a try.

Pork Pie (Brompton Food Market/Bray’s Cottage)
Score: 5.84/7
SJL


Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Bray's Cottage Pork Pie at London's Brompton Food Market"