Tuesday 21 November 2017

Football Pie: Moor Pukka Pies

The 1st round of the FA Cup saw me venture outside the football league when I went to Solihull Moors for their 0-2 defeat at the hands of the mighty Wycombe Wanderers. Perhaps because the Moors were struggling at the bottom of the National League there was a disappointingly poor attendance for what was one of the biggest matches in their history. The 807 Wycombe fan actually outnumbered the home fans who were very quiet. The Wycombe fans even took it upon themselves to sing the name of the Solihull goalkeeper when he was announced as the man of the match.


The bumper away crowd was perhaps why the catering suffered some problems. There were massive queues at what was effectively just a burger van parked to the side of the away stand. I got to the front and was dismayed at the lack of choice. Meat in bread was really the only option on view despite the clear superiority of meat in pastry.  (Who prefers bread to pastry?!?) I asked about pies and was initially told they didn't have any. However, upon seeing how crestfallen I was he shouted to someone else who confirmed that there was one pie left in the beer tent just behind the stand. This had now been closed off so someone had to pass the pie to me through the railings. I handed £3 back through the railings in return. I didn't ask about the flavour because it didn't really matter. If this was the last pie I was eating it whatever flavour it was! Sadly, this is not the first time we have found pies not readily available in a football ground, which is a shame when pies and football are so closely associated.

Returning to my seat I tried to guess the flavour of the pie. I thought it looked like Steak and Kidney so got a surprise to find out it was Chicken Balti when I took my first bite! Fortunately it was easy to tell who made the pie because it had the Pukka pie logo on the bottom of the foil. I have enjoyed the Pukka Balti pies a few times before and this one was equally enjoyable. Thankfully it wasn't burnt like the last few Pukka pies I have had. Rather than being too hard, this time the pastry was too soft! It was so soft it fell apart while eating it. I was thankful for the plate which caught most of the pie contents as I ate the pastry. This was pretty messy and certainly not an ideal pie to eat at the football. Despite being soft, the pastry wasn't raw and did seem fully cooked.

The contents tasted pretty good although unspectacular. It had a bit of spice but was not overly hot. Like most Pukka pies, the thick sauce was tasty but it was heavy on the salt. There was a reasonable amount of chicken buried in the sauce. Unsurprisingly it was pretty similar to when I have had this pie before. Therefore a fairly decent effort but a bit uninspiring to find that clubs outside the Football League are also entralled by the Pukka pie empire.

Chicken Balti (Solihull Moors/Pukka)
4.23/7

SJL

continue reading "Football Pie: Moor Pukka Pies"

Saturday 18 November 2017

Pierate Pie Night 2017

Pierate Pie Night raises some "dough" for Charity!


Sandy and the Pierateers
Sandy and the Pierateers!
It's only right that we celebrated our 8th Birthday in style - with what else but a pie night! And while there were a few last minute hitches - not most the oven in the hall we were going to be using being written off! - we were able to still go ahead with the night by hosting it at the home of one of the Pierateers! It was a delight to see 36 pie fans (including Pierateers Rob, Sam and Tim) enjoy pie and mash alongside one of the stars of Great British Bake Off 2015, Sandy Docherty! All in all, I think everyone had a great evening and the lid on the pie, so to speak, was raising a whopping £358 for charity Action Against Hunger.

We'd like to say a massive thank you to all those who came to our Birmingham Pie Night and particularly our star guest Sandy Docherty for coming down and to Chris from MyPie London, who generously donated the pies so that we could raise more money for charity. The guests loved them and could see why the Steak and Ale pie is number 1 out of over 625 pies in our pie rankings!


We were delighted to be able to enjoy pies that Chris from MyPie London sent us for our Charity Pie Night! Now our number 1 pie maker on Pierate, taking the top spot since our 6th birthday, Chris holds the number 1 and number 2 spots in our pie rankings!


His Steak and Ale pie scoring 6.61/7 has beaten off the com-pie-tition of over 600 other pies to top our pie rankings!


Our apple and blackcurrant pie!
Sandy was a great guest, sharing some of her tips at the start of the evening and even helping us peel the potatoes beforehand. She kindly brought two homemade pies with her to be raffle prizes. We also were gifted a few Pieminister vouchers for their new(ish) Birmingham pie shop for our raffle and someone even went away with their very own Pierate mug! We were also grateful to Ruth and Sarah for bringing a number of homemade pies for our dessert, alongside our own attempt at an apple and blackcurrant pie.

It was a great evening, sharing a bit about what we'd been up to, watching our Leeds Pie Tour video and hearing a bit about the work of charity Action Against Hunger. But as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words, so here are some of the pielights of our pie night in photo form:






The Pierateers busy in the kitchen!

Another delicious MyPie





Our star baker Sandy talking to guests


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 "Pierate Pie Night 2017"

Sunday 12 November 2017

International Pierate Day 2017

We Pierateers of pie review website www.pierate.co.uk are today celebrating our 8th Birthday, and we'd love you to join us by simply eating a pie and rating it!


That’s why we’ve designated
12th November as International Pierate Day!


It follows in the footsteps of the very first International Pierate Day in 2013, which was once again celebrated in 2014 and 2015 and last year. But we don’t want you – pie lovers worldwide – to just sit at home and watch as we eat all the pies! Oh no! Pie eating and pie rating is something we can all enjoy. Something that can bring friends, family and communities together. Pies are celebrated and eaten in so many countries worldwide and so today – marking our eighth birthday – we would love you to join us in eating and rating pies this week to celebrate!


Pie Birthday Card
Quite an apt pie card to celebrate our Birthday!

This year our main highlight was the charity pie night we held last night, which saw over 35 people enjoy pies from MyPie alongside our celebrity guest, 2015 Bake Off contestant Sandy! We managed to raise a great total of £358.00 for charity Action Against Hunger and there were many happy pie fans there too! We'll do a proper write up soon!

Last year we got a lovely pie-related Birthday card to celebrate our 7th year (above), and you may also remember that to celebrate the occasion of our 6th birthday, we commissioned fellow food blogger and amazing illustrator Emily from www.recipesandreviews.co.uk to create us this lovely, personalised print - an illustrated guide on how to rate a pie, based on our 7 Cs of pie rating!


An illustrated guide on how to rate a pie by @emily_etc


So here’s the deal... in six simple words: Eat a pie and rate it!

It doesn’t matter whether it’s savoury or sweet, or whether you prefer your pies without the wheat or meat! We really do rate anything and everything that is a true pie and sometimes a number of interesting things that try to be pies to! But the important thing is we love to eat pie and rate it – for we are, after all, the Pierateers!

So once you’ve found a pie to eat – whether in the local bakery, butchers, supermarket or your favourite pie shop or one you have made in the luxury of your own home – why not rate your pie using the Seven Cs of pie rating in our lovely illustrated guide above?



In addition to celebrating #InternationalPierateDay today, we were also delighted to be able to enjoy pies that Chris from MyPie London sent us for our Charity Pie Night last night! Now our number 1 pie maker on Pierate, taking the top spot since our 6th birthday, Chris holds the number 1 and number 2 spots in our pie rankings!


His Steak and Ale pie scoring 6.61/7 has beaten off the com-pie-tition of over 600 other pies to top our pie rankings!



So what do you need to do now?


Well, first things first - you need a pie (or two!) For insPIEration you might find our Pie Rankings helpful, with over 600 pies we've rated and reviewed over the past 8 years! Or perhaps you want to make one of the pies our Ship's Cook has made, following her reci-pies here.

You can even watch us on the BBC website advising what to look for in a pie!

Most of all, we hope you enjoy eating and rating pies this week! We sure will and will be posting about the pies we ate for our birthday Charity Pie Night this week!!!



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 "International Pierate Day 2017"

Friday 10 November 2017

Pieminister have arrived in Birmingham!!!

Pieminister “Kate and Sidney” British Beef Steak, Kidney and Craft Ale Pie Review


Pieminister Steak and Kidney Pie Review
Pieminister Steak and Kidney Pie Review
It hasn’t escaped my attention as a pie connoisseur in England’s second city Birmingham that there has been a bit of a lack of pie shops in the city, especially following the closure of “Urban Pie” a few years back. It was therefore encouraging to see that top pie maker Pieminister – from whom we have rated sixteen pies previously, the majority of whom have been Pierate Recommended or Pierate Highly Recommended – have changed all that with a new shop opening a few months ago in the heart of the city centre.

While some of you may have noticed on Twitter that we visited early on in their first week of trading in the city a few months back, we decided to visit again more recently once they had properly settled in to their new location to get a proper reflection of the new store. Of course we weren’t disappointed, with another top rated and highly recommended pie! The store itself is decorated in standard Pieminister fashion – quite simple brick façade with neon lights. It’s great to have another pie option right in the heart of the city, just off Victoria Square at 16 Waterloo Street.

Pieminister Pie Review
Pieminister Pie Menu

Compare all our Pieminister Pie Reviews - and we've reviewed a fair few in our Pie Rating careers - on our Pieminister Pie Reviews Page!




So onto the pie I had, which when I looked at the menu was becoming a struggle to find a new option we hadn’t already rated!! I went for the “Kate and Sidney” pie, which was British Beef Steak, Kidney and Craft Ale. I went for the classic meal with a super side upgrade of skin on fries, which meant my meal cost £8.50. This is a little pricey for a meal of pie, mash and gravy, but being in a new city centre store and comparing this to pie meals in pubs and shops in the city centre, I don’t think this is too unreasonable a price.

Pieminister Steak and Kidney Pie Review
Pieminister Steak and Kidney Pie Review

As you can see from the pictures, the pie was lovely and golden on top, though certainly a lot more pale on the sides. However the sides and base were quite crisp too, alongside the golden top. The lovely Pieminister pastry one again surrounded a well filled content, with a definite focus on meaty steak chunks rather than the kidney. I was appreciative of this decent blend, as many steak and kidney pies can use the kidney as a cheap filler for a pie, but this was certainly not the case here! The balance between crisp pastry and a moist, meaty filling was delightful and I’ll definitely look to have another one soon!

Once again Pieminister have produced a Pierate Highly Recommended pie and I for one am delighted they’ve decided to sell it – alongside their other top range of pies - in the heart of England’s second city, Birmingham!

Pieminister “Kate and Sidney” British Beef Steak, Kidney and Craft Ale Pie
Score: 6.04/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 6.25, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6]
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 "Pieminister have arrived in Birmingham!!!"