Fortnum and Mason "Three Kings" Mince Pies Review

"We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star..."

“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” (Matthew 2v11, The Bible)

Some famous words there from the Christmas Carol "We Three Kings" and the Bible remind us of the three gifts that were presented to baby Jesus in the Bible's account of the Christmas story. I'm sure many of us will remember the three gifts presented - Gold for a king, Frankincense for a Priest and Myrrh for someone who would ultimately die on a cross - but what if these gifts were given a bit of a pie twist? After all, wouldn't you be intrigued to try a gold topped pie, a Frankincense Oil infused pie and a Myrrh Oil infused pie?!

Fortnum and Mason "Three Kings" Mince Pies

So in keeping with the Christmas tradition, we at Pierate have given the "Three Kings" mince pies - inspired by the nativity and produced by Fortnum and Mason in central London - a pie rating:


Gold topped pie

These pies were quite potent when it came to flavouring, with quite a bit of nut in the mincemeat filling. That said, there wasn't a great deal of filling in them. They were about 75% pastry and 25% filling, which for us Pierateers is not at all satisfactory as a filling:pastry ratio. With the pastry being quite crumbly and dry, this further took away from the score this pie would achieve, as the filling that was in there was not very fruity and not very tasty.

While the novelty factor of the gold topping was great - they would certainly create a real talking point at your Christmas pie party - the rest of the pie failed to live up to the golden billing. I'd not want to eat one of these again.

Fortnum and Mason "Three Kings" Mince Pies: Gold
Score: 1.46/7
[Colour 3, Capacity 1, Consistency 1, Condition 2.75, Chewiness 2, Cheapness 0.25, Content 0.25, Total: 1.46/7]


Frankincense Oil infused pie

The frankincense oil infused pies certainly gave you a minty kick that was hard to miss. It did feel slightly like I was eating some minty toothpaste in a pie but I didn't dislike this unusual factor. Sure, I wouldn't want to eat a large pie of this flavour, but for a mini pie bite, and the fact I was eating a frankincense infused pie, I couldn't really complain. The filling certainly tasted nicer in this pie than the gold one.

However once again the pie was about 75% pastry and only 25% filling, which was probably a good thing in this pie because the filling flavour was so strong that I really needed that extra pastry to cope with the intense filling flavour. While I wouldn't regularly go for it, I might eat this pie again if given the option.

Fortnum and Mason "Three Kings" Mince Pies: Frankincense
Score: 1.57/7
[Colour 2, Capacity 1, Consistency 1, Condition 2.75, Chewiness 2, Cheapness 0.75, Content 1.5, Total: 1.57/7]

Myrrh Oil infused pie

Again the Myrrh pie suffered from poor filling:pastry ratio syndrome! There was a lot of quite dry pastry surrounding quite a thin layer of filling. It was again very spice heavy and the strong flavour meant I wouldn't want to eat much of it. Similar to the Frankincense pie - edible but not really enjoyable.

Fortnum and Mason "Three Kings" Mince Pies: Myrrh
Score: 1.57/7
[Colour 2, Capacity 1, Consistency 1, Condition 2.75, Chewiness 2, Cheapness 0.75, Content 1.5, Total: 1.57/7]


In summary, all these pies suffered from being heavily pastry focused and therefore having a very poor filling:pastry ratio. In some of them, this did at least help balance out the intense filling flavours you got from the pie but at £1 a pop, for a pie you could easily consume in one little bite, these really were far from good value for money. I'm not saying I'm surprised - they were from Fortnum and Mason after all! - but if I were to buy them again, it would certainly be for the "Three Kings" novelty factor rather than the edibility factor, and for me that is not a good enough reason to give these pies anywhere near a good score!

This means these pies unfortunately really aren't fit for a king – so I think the Three Kings were very wise in choosing their gifts for baby Jesus. A great, novel idea by Fortnum and Mason, but not well executed and I would say these really are only for decorating the Christmas table.

RAS

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Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection Review



Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection

When it comes to the big names in shopping, few can beat Harrods. One of London’s premier stores – if not the world’s – means that any food which comes from the store’s huge food hall will get savoured across the globe and put on a pedestal of divine deliciousness. Or at least that’s the theory.

But what if that food was pie. And what if that pie got pie rated?! Would Harrods Luxurious Mince Pie selection withstand the Pierateer’s 7 Cs? Let’s find out...

The Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection contains nine mini pies of three different flavours, which were all eaten by Pierateers RAS, SJL and TJP for feedback but then the final scores were awarded by Pierateer RAS as follows:

Top - Fruity Almond; Left - Cranberry, Right - Pecan

Pecan Topped Mince Pie

The first item eaten from the box was topped with pecans, but unfortunately only had pastry around the sides and base. This means it doesn’t meet the Pierateer’s definition of a true pie. However while the mince meat is quite tasty and the pecans add a nice crunch, we're not able to give this pie a top score because it's not got a lid. While the mince meat and crunchy pecans do complement each other well, I probably wouldn't go for it again unless they added a pastry lid to properly complement the pie.

The pecan flavour and texture of the pecan nut was very nice and something different for a mince pie – in fact I’d go as far as to say I was quite nuts about it – but considering how small it is and at almost 100ppp, it is rather expensive and for a non-pie, it’s not really worth it in our minds.

Score: 3.64/7
[Colour 4.5, Capacity 3,5, Consistency 4, Condition 4, Chewiness 3.5, Cheapness 2, Content 4, Total: 3.64/7]


Star-topped Cranberry Mince Meat Mince Pie

You could certainly taste a difference between the mince meat in most mince pies and this Cranberry Mince Meat Mince Pie, although in terms of flavour I wouldn't have immediately put it down to the addition of cranberries. Still, it was surprisingly nice and I certainly would eat one of these pies again. The slight sourness of the cranberry added an interesting kick but was a nice addition to the flavour. The flavour was not the best of the three but a (near) fully encased pie it was and it certainly was a unique and enjoyable flavour at that.

It was however certainly too small to get a decent filling:pastry ratio. There was far too much pastry and it did drown out the filling a fair bit. That said, the pastry was very nice. At just under a pound each for a very small pie, they were certainly not going to be able to be shared round easily but they were a nice treat.

Score: 3.79/7
[Colour 4.5, Capacity 4, Consistency 4, Condition 4, Chewiness 4, Cheapness 2, Content 4, Total: 3.79/7]


Rich Fruity Almond Mince Meat With A Hint Of Brandy Mince Pie

The mix of the fruity filling and almond made this our favourite filling. You also definitely get a bit of a taste sensation with the brandy, providing a bit of a late kick. While this pie was the only fully encased pie of the three types, the ratio of pastry to mince meat was again too much on the pastry side. The capacity was not perfect but pretty good; there were some air gaps in there, which for such a small pie is disappointing, but the content was very good. It tastes nice, the crunch from the almond was good, and the flavour lingered nicely after eating. That said, it was again still rather expensive for the privilege at just under one pound each for very mini pies.

Score: 4.14/7
[Colour 4.5, Capacity 4, Consistency 4, Condition 5, Chewiness 4.5, Cheapness 2, Content 5, Total: 4.14/7]


Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection
RAS

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Marks and Spencer Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies Review

It doesn't take much to attract my attention to a box of pies - after all, we do very much keep our eyes on the pies at Pierate HQ! However when a box of pies is described as "Ultimate" in their title, these have got to be VERY good pies if they are to live up to their billing! So when I came across the Marks and Spencer Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies during a trip to London's Oxford Street recently, I certainly had to give them a pie rating! After all, these aren't just mince pies... these are M&S Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies...



Hand crafted Mince Pies from M&S

However the first impression I got when opening up the box of pies was that M&S seemed to be trying a bit too hard to make out these are hand crafted pies. For not only was this mentioned on the label in shiny, golden lettering, but every single pie out of the 8 I bought had the lid on wonkily. Now, I'm not going to argue that someone making pies by hand might put a lid or two on wonkily - just due to human nature and trying to get all these pies made before Christmas - but I find it hard to believe that the staff at M&S are so bad at making pies that they couldn't even get 1 of the 8 pies to have a lid that actually attached correctly! It's as if... dare I say it... the lids of these pies were intentionally put on wonkily to highlight the fact they are "hand crafted" rather than put on immaculately by a machine! Hmmm... I guess we will never know!


The Ultimate Mince Pie?!

The content gave a top, fruity flavouring, probably the best tasting mince pie filling I'd had. The full filling was mincemeat "packed with vine fruits, kirch soaked glace cherries, roasted almonds and armagnac." It was so moist and flavoursome and provided a striking, yet complimentary, contrast to the crisp pastry. You could really taste that you were getting one of your five a day here, rather than just some mincey, fruit goo leftovers. The capacity however was a bit disappointing, with several air gaps in the pie.


So ultimately, are these the best mince pies I've ever rated? I'm afraid not. In summary, I'd happily eat again, but would think twice about forking out £1 a pie for these, when there are other nice mince pies for a fraction of the price.

Marks and Spencer Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies
Score: 5.36/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 5.5, Consistency 6.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 3, Content 6, Total: 5.36/7]
RAS

Additional note: It must also be noted that unfortunately these pies are ridiculously hard to get hold of. Considering they are supposed to be the "Ultimate" mince pies that Marks and Spencer sell, I was thoroughly disappointed that not only was I unable to get hold of any in the huge Birmingham High Street city centre store but also that they had no idea if they would be getting a new delivery in before Christmas. In the end I had to travel down from Birmingham to London to obtain a second box of these pies for my '12 Pies of Christmas' video, which I think is pretty unacceptable but I hope at least highlights the lengths the Pierateers are willing to go to provide the pie fans with the pie reviews they crave. Here's hoping that in the future Marks and Spencer do a better job of getting their pies to the people!

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Mr Kipling Deep Filled Mince Pie Review

Even with the abundance of mince pies that are made and sold in the UK each and every year, there is one brand of mince pie synonymous with Christmas. That brand of pie is the Mr Kipling Mince Pie. So popular, they even have a twitter fan club!

Having been sent a free box from Mr Kipling for our 4th Birthday and about to go on holiday to Italy at that time, it only seemed right that I take the box of pies with me to share with my Italian friend and his family (who had never eaten a British pie before!)



Mr Kipling Mince Pies taken to the Colosseum, Italy

However this didn’t leave me with a fully representative sample and so, having bought some more in Poundland recently, it was time to give Mr Kipling a proper pie rating! (Ok, so maybe this was just an excuse to eat more pies...)



Box of Mr Kipling Mince Pies

The colour of the pie was a nice shade and immediately appetising. The condition of the pie was quite good, considering the box got slightly worse for wear due to all the travelling I was doing with the pies. There is supposed to be a pastry Christmas tree shape on top of the pies, though unfortunately these were not clearly visible on all the pies in my box. However upon biting into the pie, the lack of a little extra pastry tree was all forgotten about, as I enjoyed the mouthful of pie I was presented with.

Mr Kipling Mince Pie

The short crust pastry is nice and buttery – could be a little more moist in places but certainly not as dry as a lot of mince pies I’ve tasted at this time of the year. The pies were filled well with mincemeat content, although there was a bit of an air gap between the filling and pastry lid. This slight fault in capacity however was not an obvious detraction from the pie itself, as the ratio of filling:pastry was pretty much spot on. The filling was quite moist still, which was nice. A few little crisp bits of zest gave it a little tang but the moist, fruity filling was the real draw for me. Not too chewy and consistently good throughout the pie.

The pies were only £1 in Poundland, so 16.7ppp in a box of six. However some other retailers were charging anything up to £1.80 for six pies, so I’d certainly recommend shopping around!

You can see why these are called exceedingly merry mince pies, which if you shop around you can get for a bargain 16.7ppp each. A great addition to any Christmas or New Year celebration!



Mr Kipling Deep Filled Mince Pie
Score: 6.07/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 6.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 6.5, Content 6, Total: 6.07/7]
RAS

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Higgidy “Special Guest” Lincolnshire Turkey, Bacon and Stuffing Pie Review

Christmas is a time for sharing gifts with your loved ones, welcoming in special guests to your home and enjoying good food and good banter! And what better food gift to share with your special guests than a pie (of course, at Christmas time it has to be a turkey pie!) The question is... What do you put with it? Obviously it needs to be packed full of meatilicious turkey – that’s a given! But what other parts of the Christmas meal should be included in the pie if you want to really give your guests some festive cheer?!

Well I guess everyone’s going to write a slightly different list (and check it twice) to Santa when requesting what type of turkey pie they want for Christmas. But for me, it would have to be turkey, bacon/sausage and stuffing, with a nice bit of gravy! Love a good amount of dinner with my gravy! So when I saw that the Higgidy Christmas Turkey pie contained all of my requirements, it was immediately added to my ’12 Pies of Christmas’ list!



4 Higgidy Pies

Coming out of the oven, the lid of the pie was a nice lightly golden colour and the sides and base were quite good colour, though a bit paler as can be seen in the photo. Cutting through the pie, there was a strong capacity, though a bit of an air gap between filling and pastry lid. There was not much of a mix of colour inside the pie, particularly because there weren’t many pieces of bacon in the filling to add to the colour.

However tucking into the pie, there was certainly no lack of turkey inside! The pieces were quite large and spread throughout the pie, though in both my pie and those of the three friends I shared my “Four Higgidy Pies” with, the consistency of turkey, bacon and stuffing throughout the pie wasn’t quite perfect, with some mouthfuls exclusively of stuffing.



Inside the Higgidy Turkey Pie

On the topic of stuffing, the sweet apricots in the stuffing (alongside the sausagemeat and festive herbs) did add a slight twist to this pie, adding hints of sweetness to another wise quite meaty pie. I wouldn’t personally add apricot to the pie, but it did make this pie a bit more unique and might appeal to some. Also, while this pie wasn’t dry, it did lack an ideal amount of moisture which would be provided by a little more gravy/stock. The side and base pastry, while nice to eat, could have done with being a bit less dry.

However my main disappointment with this pie was actually the level of pepper included in the recipe. Unfortunately this was a big distraction from the actual taste of the meat in the pie – so much so that when someone asked me the next day about the pie I had eaten, all that immediately came to mind was that it was far too peppery (for me and my special guests). I’m not a huge fan of pepper in pies, but this pie not only had pepper in the turkey and bacon filling and the stuffing, but also cayenne pepper in the short crust pastry!!! I can only hope that the pies we ate had been made in an overly peppery batch because the levels of pepper were so much that I’d personally rename this pie a “Pepper with turkey, bacon and stuffing” pie. To those who love their pepper, this is clearly the pie for you. Sadly, however, I don’t think this would greatly appeal to the wider turkey pie loving market. I certainly wouldn’t eat another if the recipe did not change.

At £3 per pie, I think this is very reasonable for a good sized, meaty Christmas pie. In addition, the pie box contained a token that – when 10 are collected – would allow me to get a free Higgidy pie, so I’m already well on my way to a free pie having eaten 4 Higgidy pies for the ’12 Pies of Christmas’ music video.

I don’t like to end on a sour (or peppery) note, but hopefully this was just an overly-peppery batch and the recipe will be slightly tweaked to provide a delicious turkey pie for next Christmas! There’s certainly a lot of potential in this Christmas pie if the recipe is just tweaked slightly.

Higgidy “Special Guest” Lincolnshire Turkey, Bacon and Stuffing Pie
Score: 5.36/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 6, Consistency 4, Condition 7, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 6, Content 3, Total: 5.36/7]
RAS

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Lidl Snowy Lodge Mince Pie Review

Having been highly commended by Which? Magazine in a blind taste test, but not having had any of their pies rated on www.pierate.co.uk, I stopped off at Lidl in Manchester. Purchasing both the mini pies and the standard version (thus a total of 21 pies for only £2.84) I set about rating them.



11 Lidl Mince Pies, part of the '12 Pies of Christmas' (POC)

The standard Lidl pies came in a box of 12 at just 12.4ppp. Quite remarkable really, when a lot of mince pies can be anywhere from 25ppp to £1 or more! The pies were in quite good condition, although just on picking the pie out of the silver foil case, I could see cracks appearing between the side and lid pastry, which wasn't ideal. That said, when it came to biting into the pastry it was nice and light, crumbling perfectly in the mouth and not dry at all. The pastry was golden and buttery.

The content looked on first appearance like it would be more sauce and less fruit, however upon taking a few bites I was left with a nice, slightly lingering fruity flavour but also several pieces of fruit to chew over! A little too chewy perhaps and not quite as much fruit as some mince pies I've had (and believe me, I've reviewed a few mince pies lately!!!) but that didn't stop me thoroughly enjoying this mince pie! And at less than 12.5ppp it's hard not to say "no" to another... and another... and another...



Lidl Mince Pie

It is a good, affordable Christmas treat. One that will only leave a Lidl dent in your wallet but a far greater dent on your waistline! Especially if you eat 11 of them...

Lidl Snowy Lodge Mince Pie
Score: 5.79/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 5.5, Condition 6, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 7, Content 5, Total: 5.79/7]
RAS

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The Pierateers of www.pierate.co.uk have been eating many Christmas Pies - Turkey Pies and Mince Pies - on their adventures and have recorded a Christmas Video! Loosely based on the '12 Days of Christmas', enjoy the Pierateers take on this Christmas classic as you watch the '12 Pies of Christmas'. Enjoy!

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Tesco Mince Pie Review

With the final remaining place in the “12 Pies of Christmas” video up for grabs, I thought the fairest way to decide which of the “Big 3” supermarkets – Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco – to buy from was to ask them why I should buy their pie! However when I’d asked the three stores if I would be able to film part of my video in store, Sainsbury’s had got back to me to say that I couldn’t – as it would cause “too much disruption in their store”. This left Asda and Tesco, so when I tweeted out to them, this is what I got back:

@pierateers @asda We have an answer! The answer my friend is @Tesco #ToPieFor : )
— Tesco (@Tesco) November 30, 2013

Unfortunately Asda didn’t reply at all. Therefore with a good pie pun – even if they hadn’t actually told me why I should buy Tesco pies over any other – I purchased the 10 mince pies I needed for the video. These pies also formed part of the first ever Pierate “Pie Rating Demo” which will be reviewed on www.pierate.co.uk soon!

10 Tesco Mince Pies


So how did these Tesco mince pies rate?

Well the mincemeat was nice and flavoursome, with a good capacity. There was plenty of fruity flavour, giving a quite good consistency, and a good ratio of filling to pastry. The pastry was a bit pale in colour and quite solid, a bit dry but held together well. Upon cutting in half, the pie did however crumble and break off quite badly. The design on the pie was quite basic but did the job and at £1.00 for a box of 6 pies (making them just 16.7ppp) they are the second cheapest pies in the 12 Pies of Christmas video, but certainly not the lowest scoring.



Tesco Mince Pie

These mince pies were a very solid performer and good value at just 16.7ppp. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was blown away by them, I would certainly have no problem in sharing a box or two at a Christmas party I organised.

Tesco Mince Pie
Score: 5.25/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5.25, Consistency 5, Condition 5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 6, Content 5, Total: 5.25/7]
RAS

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Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pie Review

When supermarkets get in the big guns – and I’m talking BIG BIG, such as celebrity chefs like Heston Blumenthal - you immediately expect big things. It’s only natural! A top chef by trade, Heston can be seen Blum-ing everywhere! Which is no bad thing as the reviews of his produce are normally top notch. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here... you can read reviews of Heston’s recipes or books wherever you want, but if you want to know about his pies then you need to be on the home of the pie review - www.pierate.co.uk! It’s just that simple!

So when I heard some glowing reviews of Heston for Waitrose mince pies from last year, I had to get my hands on a box (or two) for our '12 Pies of Christmas’ video and naturally submit a review on Pierate. I picked up the Puff Pastry Mince Pies from a Little Waitrose in Birmingham (which will only feature externally in the “12 Pies of Christmas” video, as the media team at Waitrose never replied to my email about filming in store). At £2.73 per box of 6 (that’s 45.5ppp), they seemed rather pricey but I was hoping they’d live up to the cost.


Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pies

I opened the box to find the six pies alongside a packet of pine sugar, something I’d not come across before. It did suggest on the packet to warm the mince pies up slightly before sprinkling on the pine sugar but as we were doing our “mince pie rating demo” with mince pies straight from the box, a sprinkle of pine sugar was added to the cold pie. The first impression – I have to admit – was “Have I just been given a mince pie box with sausage rolls in?!” For I don’t know about you, but the shape of these pies did not look like any mince pies I’d ever seen before! However this in and of itself would not detract from the scoring of the pie per se, as the filling was still fully encased in pastry with clearly defined base, sides and lid.

A quick bite into the pie and I could immediately tell this pie hadn’t quite got the pastry:filling ratio right in my opinion. The first bite was pretty much all pastry and unfortunately the cross section tells its own story with too much pastry on the sides, top and bottom. Some may also query why this pie had a puff pastry lid to, as this isn’t usually the pastry use for mince pies, but I didn’t have a problem with that. I though the puff pastry tasted quite nice and a good alternative to the typical short crust, but it was a little dry and the amount of pastry made it a bit chewy.



Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pies

The mincemeat itself tasted nice, with a strong fruity flavour included in the recipe. The content was nice and fruity, however it was clear that there wasn’t really enough of it when you ate the pie. The pine sugar to add to the top didn’t really do anything special for me either, however fancy it sounded to be adding it. Ultimately I’d rather have a well filled pie (which the puff pastry lid didn’t really provide due to a reasonable air gap) than a fancy pie sprinkled with pine sugar. While I’m sure Heston’s mince pies will be a talking point around many a Christmas table this year, for the price involved and the ratio of pastry:filling it certainly isn’t the highest scoring mince pie, despite the big name.

Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pie
Score: 4.89/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 4.75, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 3, Content 5, Total: 4.89/7]
RAS

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Canteen Christmas Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Pie Review

Now I don’t normally focus on non-pie items in restaurants that I visit – we do, after all, like to keep our eyes on the pies on the web’s leading pie review blog! – but there’s something I’ve got to tell you about Canteen, before I even laid my hands on the pie in question. Canteen is a pie reviewers dream! In fact, I’d go as far as to say I have seen the future of pie reviewing in Canteen London, Canary Wharf branch! They offer free wifi* AND power sockets for your laptop, making it the only pie place I’ve been to so far where I could write and post my pie review IN THE RESTAURANT! How cool is that!!!

Arriving in Canary Wharf, I couldn’t miss the red and blue signage lining the wall outside the store and it overlooked the ice rink in the adjoining square, making it an ideal choice to warm up with a nice hearty pie after your skating or Christmas shopping! The restaurant is nicely presented and has a nice, lowly lit ambience to it. No school canteen nightmares came running into my head!

I’d arranged to meet Ashleigh and Olivia there, who interviewed us a few weeks ago on International Pierate Day. They are fans of the blog and wanted to give pie rating a go themselves! (You can read their views on the Canteen Pie on their website.) But let’s face it; you’ve had enough build up and you clearly want to know how the pie rated! So let’s get on with it then...

The pie I chose was the Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Canteen Pie – part of their “Great British Food” campaign. The pie came out well presented with a side of mash and veg. The pie pastry was brilliantly golden – pie perfection and worthy of a 7/7 for colour - and when I cut into the pie it was well filled, pretty much to the brim with very good capacity. This was very much a turkey focused pie, which I for one was not at all complaining about! For me, the meat is the key ingredient in any meat pie – so the more the merrier!



Canteen Christmas Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Pie

The pie included large chunks of tender turkey were really enjoyable, nice and moist as well due to the gravy (which can be an issue in other pies, as turkey meat is often quite dry). However the gravy was not leaking out of the pie all over my plate, a good sign of the right consistency to keep the pie moist but not overly runny inside.

The turkey was very tender and not at all chewy. While it perhaps didn’t have the strongest flavour and the pie wasn’t filled with lots of herbs and spices, it was clear from the outset that Canteen keep things simple and make the simple things in life taste great! I’m totally with them on this – no need to add every herb and spice under the sun into the pie if the pie tastes just fine as it is. While the pie did receive some feedback from Olivia as not being overly memorable in flavour, I still felt that I ordered a turkey pie and I got a turkey pie. In other words, I was satis-pied that what I ordered I got! (After all, I didn’t order a “Turkey and a thousand spices” pie – and I wouldn’t have wanted to!)



Inside the Canteen Turkey Pie

That said, the pie is sold as a turkey, leek and cranberry pie and there was not much evidence of either in the content of the three turkey pies we had between us. (Yes, I know... that does mean I didn’t eat “3 Canteen Pies” all by myself...) While I had no problem with this, as I was here for the turkey, not the leek or cranberry, it is worth noting for the leek and cranberry fans out there! Ashleigh for one would have liked a bit more Leek and Cranberry flavour in her pie. And it has to be said that £12.50 for a pie meal is quite pricey, especially when you can get them for £9 or less in other pie establishments in London. But hey, I’m sitting in London in the Canary Wharf area eating and enjoying a delicious pie – how can I really complain! (Especially when Canteen kindly let me have the pie for free, so thank you, even if I had to rate the pie based on the expectation of a pie fan paying £12.50 for it!)

Canteen Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Pie
Score: 6.14/7
[Colour 7, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 6, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 5, Content 6.25, Total: 6.14/7]
RAS

*As a side point, in my opinion it is worth visiting Canteen in Canary Wharf just to ask them what their wifi password is – it made me smile before I’d even laid my hands on the pie! Go on... ask them next time you visit!

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Robinsons Bakery Hand Crafted Mince Pie Review

It’s not often you find a craft bakery – let alone one as old as 1864! But that’s exactly what you get with Robinsons – the Master Bakers in Manchester. For almost 150 years – yes, that’s almost one hundred and fifty years – the Robinsons bakery has been producing the goods and so we thought it well worth a little detour out of Manchester city centre to Failsworth (in the north of the city) for a taste of their mince pies. And boy, were we in for a treat!!!



On the sixth day of Christmas the Pierateers ate for tea...

The bakery contains a huge selection of bread, cakes and most importantly pies! They have a whole range to choose from – pork pies, steak pies etc – but for my visit, I had my eyes on the mince pies! So with a couple of boxes of pies, a few short video clips taken for the ’12 Pies of Christmas’ video and a nice little chat with the staff there (with my big suitcase getting rather in the way I had to mention I’d just eaten some Italian pies When in Rome...), I set back home and eagerly awaited the right opportunity to eat them!

So here’s what I thought:

The mince pie was firm to the bite but the pastry crumbled delightfully and wasn’t crunchy, revealing a dark, fruit filled centre to the pie. The capacity was strong and you could see the pieces of fruit bursting out. The content was rich and full of flavour, without being overpowering. It was a little chewy due to the strong fruity concentration in the centre, but not in a bad way. I certainly came away with a nice fruity taste still in my mouth, unlike some mince pies I’ve had which had an after taste of quite dry, overly thick pastry.



Robinsons Mince Pies

Speaking of the pastry, it was quite light pastry and a lovely short crust flavour. It was a bit softer and more buttery than I have often tasted with mince pies and blended with the filling delightfully. My main issue with this pie, which I can’t let go without saying, is that in my mind it was a slightly shallow pie and also a bit pricey (at nearly 50p a pie, £2.99 for 6). I would have liked a bit more depth to the pie really. That said, it was a bit wider than your average supermarket mince pie. And there was no air in this pie! Oh no! Some pies we’ve reviewed have certainly been guilty of airing the gaps, but not Robinsons!

In summary, I would definitely recommend getting some of these hand crafted mince pies – they are a real treat in comparison to the far more standard supermarket bought pies. A tad expensive but well worth the effort of visiting a local craft bakers for! Thanks Robinsons!

Oh and I have an admission to make... when I bought the pies, I thought they were boxes of 3! You can only see three through the plastic window and nowhere on the box does it actually say how many pies you get... so while I thought I was buying 2 boxes of 3 (for the sixth day of Christmas...) I actually ended up buying 12 pies! Oh well... more pies for me!!!

Robinsons Bakery Hand Crafted Mince Pie
Score: 6.18/7
[Colour 6.25, Capacity 6, Consistency 6.75, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5, Content 6.75, Total: 6.18/7]
RAS

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The Pierateers have now recorded a music video called the '12 Pies of Christmas' - our own take on the much loved Christmas classic the '12 Days of Christmas'.

Of course, as you'd expect, everything that "the Pierateers ate for tea" involves eating pie, pie and more pie! No sur-pies there then!

As you may have guessed, there are 12 Christmas pies featured in the final video – either Turkey Pies or Mince Pies. These will also be rated on the Pierate blog – the home of the pie review!


Companies whose pies will feature in the full video include Paul’s Pies Christmas Turkey Pie (the company currently holding the highest rated pie on our pie rankings with their Steak and Guinness Pie), Sweeney and Todd’s Pie Shop in Reading with their Christmas Turkey Pie and mince pies from Mr Kipling – who provided boxes of mince pies to us as a present for our 4th Birthday!

The following trailer builds up to the first day of Christmas, but please note this was my first brief effort on Adobe’s new video making software and I certainly improved the video a lot for the final version!

As well as the trailer, here’s a sneak peak of a few images that feature in the final video. Enjoy! And Merry Christmas everybody! (Well, it is December now...)



Feel free to use the hashtag #12POC when tweeting about the video!

...11 Award Winning Lidl's... (review coming soon!)

Mr Kipling Mince Pies outside the Colosseum... When In Rome

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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.

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.

Attractive pie. Remember not to cook it

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!

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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Sweeney and Todd Christmas (Turkey) Pie Review

There are some places that you visit where you just know you'll be back again soon. And Sweeney and Todd pie shop in Reading is certainly in that category! Sure, I was there specifically to try the Christmas Pie this time but with around sixty different pies on the menu that they rotate round - yes, I did just type SIXTY DIFFERENT PIES!!! - this is simply an incredible handmade pie superstore - and restaurant to!

So at £7 to eat in (or just £3.50 to eat out), I chose their Christmas Turkey Pie - and ordered two for the sake of the '12 pies of Christmas' music video. (It must be noted we were planning on having a few between 3 Pierateers but it ended up being just me eating 2 to myself!)



Sweeney and Todd Christmas Pie

But did it bring me yuletide joy?! Well, let's start by telling you what was in the Christmas Pie (or maybe it would be easier to note down the few things it didn't have!!!) The traditional turkey was combined with no less than bacon, sausage, stuffing, cranberry, carrots, swede and gravy. Quite epic, I think you'll agree! The content was all very fresh and the meat was delicious - all from the family's butcher down the road. The whole place had a family feel to it in fact - with the owner Craig taking a bit of time out of the kitchen to speak to me, his wife looking after the twitter feed @sweeneyandtodds and his mum working there and serving me the pies!


Having started to dig in, the content was very good quality and filling. The capacity was very strong and the range of content was very impressive (only the roast potatoes were missing, which I noted you could have ordered in addition to the pie). However the slight drawback to this was that you weren't guaranteed turkey with every bite, as the other ingredients took up a lot of pie room!

However this was clearly a pie that aimed to provide a whole Christmas dinner flavour - not just turkey - so you can hardly hold that against them! It was sold as a "Christmas" - not "Turkey" - pie after all. And the quality of sausage and bacon meant I hardly felt hard done by even if there wasn't turkey in every single mouthful! Also the cranberry was not overpowering, as it has been in some Christmas pies I've eaten.



Sweeney and Todd Christmas Pie

The pastry was quite light and not too thick. The lid puffed up ever so lightly on top. The sides and base were quite pale and not that crisp, so there was room for a bit of improvement there. Yet there need not be a massive change to cooking time, as they still tasted nice! You could also have picked this pie up and eaten it with your hands - a true sign of pie pastry quality!

At £7 per pie to eat in the restaurant that's a pretty fair price, though at £3.50 to eat out, that's an absolute steal! No wonder people apparently travel from miles around to mass order 50-100 Sweeney & Todd pies for them and their friends! I certainly would!

All in all, a quite wonderful Christmas Pie! The content was filling and varied and the capacity top notch. With just a little more turkey and a slightly longer cooking time for the sides and base pastry, these pies would be phenominal. As it is, they would certainly put sparkle into anyone's Christmas! Thanks so much!

p.s. I challenge anyone to eat 2 of their Christmas Pies in one sitting! I wasn't even close, they were that packed with content! But I enjoyed trying!!!

Sweeney and Todd Christmas (Turkey) Pie
Score: 6.21/7
Colour 6/7, Consistency 6.25/7, Cheapness 6.25/7, Chewiness 6.25/7, Condition 6/7, Content 6/7, Capacity 6.75/7
RAS

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