Chunk of Devon - Posh Fish, Steak & Ale and Steak & Stilton Pie Reviews

I have come across Chunk of Devon pies a few times now so I thought it was about time that I shared my thoughts on their pies. As the name suggests these pies are made in Devon, they are quite common in chips shops and bakeries in Devon which is good to see, it makes a change from the domination of Pukka pies in other parts of the country. They can also be brought in other places in the South West as well as on First Great Western trains.



Chunk do also make quite a lot of pasties which is probably of no surprise given that Devon is more well know for the alternative pastry product.  It is no coincidence then that these pies are quite pasty-like. In fact they are the closest thing in to a pasty in pie form that I have ever found. If you are a follower of Pierate you will know that we in no way consider a pasty to be a pie, it needs sides and a lid to be a pie. Therefore you might be shocked to hear me say that a pie tasting like a pasty is not necessarily a bad thing. I have nothing against pasties per se, it is mainly that annoying dry crimped edge that I dislike. But the strong, crunchy shortcrust pastry can actually be quite satisfying. Do away with the crimp, add a lid and you've got the makings of a decent pie!

I have tried a Steak & Stilton, Posh Fish and Steak & Ale. All of them had the same pasty-like pastry which tasted nice. It was perhaps a little too thick in places and therefore a bit doughy. They were oval in shape and a little rough around the edges, but only so much as to make them pleasingly handmade in appearance. The pastry was a glossy brown which you would expect from the Cornish pasty type pastry if in some cases a little paler than I would have liked. The pies were quite tall which gave them a decent capacity but they weren't always well filled. The scores are below ranked in order of preference.

Posh Fish - Cod, Salmon, Prawn & Haddock

I grabbed one of these hot in the Esplanade Fish Bar in Lynmouth for £3.70. This pie does stand out as one of the few proper fish pies I have had (many fish pies are not fully encased in pastry, but we have found a few, see the list here). There was a pleasant, mild, fish flavour with both white and pink fish visible in the pie. The peas and sweetcorn went well with the fish and added some variety. It was nice to find a pie which does something so different. On the downside, it wasn't very well filled and the filling was padded out rather a lot with potato so overall I don't think there was a lot of fish. It said it had prawns but there weren't any visibly discernible prawns in the pie. A pie which is tasty enough to get again if I fancied a change from a steak pie.

Posh Fish - Cod, Salmon, Prawn, & Haddock (Chunk of Devon/Lynmouth's Esplanade Fish Bar [EX35 6EQ])
5.55/7


Steak & Ale

I purchased this pie for £4.50 on a First Great Western train. It was a shame that I chose to purchase this one on the train because I paid a premium on the price which has reduced the score. It was Chunky by name and chunky by nature with quite a lot of decent steak chunks. These were tender and tasty. There was quite a strong ale taste which I liked, it made it taste a bit different. However, my Mum didn't like it. It was good to see some pieces of carrot to add a bit of variety but these had been cooked too long and were soggy. Other than that the taste and texture were good.

Steak & Ale (Chunk of Devon/First Great Western Trains)
5.35/7

Steak & Stilton

The cheapest of the lot, just £3.30 from Dunster Deli in the picturesque town of Dunster in Somerset. The Deli was nice, I picked up some lovely bottles of real ale. Unfortunately this pie wasn't really heated up very well which might have affected my enjoyment. I was also caught off guard by the large quantity of mushroom which took up the pie, I think this should have been sold as 'Mushroom, Steak & Stilton' pie. I have nothing against mushroom but the texture can be a bit unappealing when you are expecting steak! The mushroom seemed quite firm and chewy. It didn't seem to work too well with the taste of the stilton. My personal preference wouldn't be to mix them together, but others may not feel the same. There was a mild stilton taste, it was welcome that it wasn't very strong because it can become a bit overpowering for me. There wasn't any visible bit of cheese, indicating it was well mixed in. There was a little meat but I would certainly go for the steak and ale next time to replace the mushroom with more steak!

Steak & Stilton (Chunk of Devon/Dunster Deli [TA24 6SF])
4.45/7 

SJL 

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Mad About Pies - Pie Reviews

We eat a lot of pies on the Pierate Ship. Most of them are nice enough, but with such fierce competition it can be hard for any of them to stand out. But just occasionally we come across a pie, or pie company, which we fall in love with. It might just be the little things they do which make us smile, such as special flavours or beautiful presentation. The pies don't have to be perfect, but when it is true love the faults just don't seem to matter for some reason. When you start day dreaming at work about a particular pie then you know you've got it bad. This has happened to me recently. I think I am mad about Mad About Pies.

In January we reviewed the Phil Vickery & Mad About Pies Wild Boar & Cider pie, giving it 'Pierate Recommended' status. It then went on to win a Gold Award at the British Pie Awards 2014, which it thoroughly deserved. In British Pie Week SJL visited the home of Mad About Pies at the Farmers Boy Inn in Gloucestershire. The pie there was so good we have been unable to decide just how high we should rate it until we have a second opinion from another Pierateer (so stay tuned). In the meantime we have picked up some more of the Mad About Pies retail pies to review. See below the three pies, all from the Martin Blunos range. All these pies looked fantastic with writing on the top describing the flavour, similar to the Phil Vickery version. They have shortcrust pastry for the sides and base and a puff pastry lid, a great combination in the opinion of this reviewer. They came out of the oven a delicious, mottled, golden brown Colour. The pie lids all had some scoring across the top, it almost seemed like the Content was trying to burst out of the pie.



Steak & Blue Cheese

First up is the Steak & Blue Cheese which had a delicious content. Owner Phil Kiernan says he loves this pie and I can see why. Blue cheese can add a lot of flavour to a pie filling but it can be difficult to get the balance right, often the flavour of blue cheese is over-powering. But in this case the amount was perfect, really complementing the Steak.


Condition - 5.8 out of 7 - These pies all looked great, although for this pie the shortcrust pastry sides collapsed slightly on cooking.
Colour - 6.8 out of 7 - Great colour to the lid and filling.
Cheapness - 4.5 out of 7 - These cost around £3 which is a standard price for gourmet pies. Not overly big at 270g but with quality steak it is good value.
Capacity - 5.8 out of 7 - Quite tall but collapsed slightly on cooking making it hard to tell if there was an air gap. Good filling to pastry ratio.
Chewiness - 6.9 out of 7 - The slow cooked meat was melt in the mouth. The crispy lid and gooey sides provided a nice contrast in texture. The blue cheese made the whole pie lovely and moist.
Content - 6.3 out of 7 - Meaty and cheesy, this pie was a flavour sensation. The meat was in big chunks which couldn't fail to satisfy. I would have liked more meat but I was possibly just being greedy.
Consistency - 6.8 out of 7 - All the elements of this pie were good. This pie worked fantastically as a whole, the crispy pastry being kept moist with the running filling. Fully deserving of 'Pierate Highly Recommended' status.

Steak & Blue Cheese (Mad About Pies with Martin Blunos)
6.13/7

Steak & Ale

The steak and ale was another great pie, quite similar to the Steak & Blue Cheese but lacked flavour when compared it's blue cheese counterpart.


Condition - 6.0 out of 7 - These pies all looked great, this one held it's structure a bit more so it might have been down to cooking time.
Colour - 6.7 out of 7 - Great colour to the lid and filling.
Cheapness - 4.5 out of 7 - These cost around £3 which is a standard price for gourmet pies. Not overly big at 270g but with quality steak it is good value.
Capacity - 5.8 out of 7 - Quite tall but there was a little air gap at the top. Good filling to pastry ratio.
Chewiness - 5.9 out of 7 - The slow cooked meat was melt in the mouth. The crispy lid and gooey sides provided a nice contrast in texture. Unfortunately the texutre of the sauce was a bit runny.
Content - 4.5 out of 7 - Large meaty chunks which are great to get your teeth into. It was pleasing that the taste of ale was clear throughout the pie, however it lacked the flavour punch that the blue cheese version had.
Consistency - 4.5 out of 7 - This pie worked well as a whole, although the flavour could have been more intense. It is a pie I would buy again so it is fully deserving of 'Pierate Recommended' status.

Steak & Ale (Mad About Pies with Martin Blunos)
5.41/7

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato

Lastly was the vegetarian Butternut Squash pie, I have nothing against vegetarian pies but they seem to be more difficult to get right.


Condition - 6.0 out of 7 - These pies all looked great, this one seemed to hold it's structure.
Colour - 6.8 out of 7 - Great colour to the lid and filling.
Cheapness - 3.5 out of 7 - These cost around £3 which is a standard price for gourmet pies. However, with no meat in could this pie be cheaper?
Capacity - 4.7 out of 7 - Quite tall but there was a sizable air gap with this pie, but there was still a decent filling to pastry ratio.
Chewiness - 3.5 out of 7 - The filling was not at all chewy but it was a little too mushy, some of the veg provided a bit of bite but it really need more crunch.
Content - 5.8 out of 7 - The flavour and variety of the content was actually where this pie did very well. It also contained celery and parsnip which added some interest. For flavour there was plenty of onion, garlic and other herbs which worked really nicely. The content was sweet, but not too sweet.
Consistency - 3.5 out of 7 - This pie really did taste nice but didn't do enough to make a non-vegetarian want to buy it again. It didn't quite work, but almost. That said, it was nice for a change.

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Pukka Pies Steak and Cheese pie review
There’s no punnage and japery to be found here with this solid performance from Pukka Pies.

Contrary to some other steak and cheese pies we’ve tried (often steak and stilton), the cheese in this pie is actually cheddar. At £1.80, it’s a price you can’t really complain about – and you’ll even find them cheaper than that when they’re on a deal in the supermarkets. So how does it rate? Let’s open up this puff pastry marvel and have a look inside.

My first impression is that there is a bit too much of an air gap to my liking. I like my pies filled to capacity, but this is filled to barely over 50%. It will lose marks there. There a good amount of gravy though, but not too much that it isn’t oozing out over my plate. The puff pastry is very light and flaky; in fact, it’s rather too flaky, I think! It is rather crumbly and creates a bit of a mess over the plate when you try and cut it.
The steak isn’t chewy, and the gravy is of a pleasant consistency albeit a little bit gloopy. Previous steak and cheese pies I’ve tried in the past have been quite overwhelming in their saltiness, but this pie wasn’t. The flavour of the cheddar came through nicely without being too overbearing. It was certainly a pleasant and cheap affair, but the lack of capacity in this pie and the very flaky pastry let it down somewhat.
Pukka Pies Steak and Cheese
5.06/7
TJP

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Higgidy British Beef, Stilton and Ale pie review

Ah, Higgidy. We had a Higgidy celebration back in July, in aid of our 200th pie review. Back then we tried the Slow Cooked Steak & Red Wine pie, the Sweet Potato, Feta Cheese and Pumpkin Seed pie, and the Chicken Pot Pie with Ham and Leek. Today I'll be reviewing the British Beef, Stilton and Ale pie from the Shoreham-by-Sea company.

Higgidy Beef, Stilton and Ale Pie

The pie has no pastry lid

The lack of pastry lid to this pie is my immediate concern. We strongly favour pies that have a filling totally and wholly encased in pastry (have we ever mentioned that before...?), so the omission of a lid here is guaranteed to lower the final score. This also detracts from the colour of the pie, as I often assess the pastry lid for a rich pine colour. Here, despite cooking the pie for the allotted time at the allotted temperature, I appear to have burnt the potato topping slightly. However, the condition of the pie is good.

The inside of the pie

 Moving on to content now - and this is where this Higgidy offering starts losing points rapidly. As I cut the pie open, I noticed something very strange about the filling. Therefore I separated out all the pastry and mash from the steak, ale and stilton filling, and was very disappointed with what I found. Have a look at this close up of the filling:

This was all the filling

This photograph - apart from a few bits of gravy still stuck to the pastry which I couldn't scrape off - is the entire filling of this pie. I haven't included the potato mash here, because that is technically the lid. As you can see (or perhaps not quite so clearly), the chunks of beef are few and far between. Most of what you see here is gravy with some fibres of beef swimming around in it - there are a couple of small chunks of beef at the top of the photograph. This was extremely disappointing and not what I would expect from a premium beef pie. If you're expecting a big meat feast with this pie, then think again. For those who like their meat pies with meat in, this might not be for you. I could have probably eaten the entire filling here in one large spoonful. Is this a sign that Higgidy isn't ready yet to compete with the big carnivorous players?

That fact aside, the filling was actually delicious. There was definitely a fairly strong taste of stilton. I know for some people this will be a big negative, but for use fans of blue cheese, this is definitely a 'plus' point. Good on you Higgidy! Be brave with the stilton taste! Big flavours. Just need to be bigger on the chunks of meat.


Overall, at about £3.50, this was priced at the premium end of the supermarket pie spectrum - but the quality is clear. The meat (when it was there) was not chewy, and the pastry was great quality. It loses points for no pastry lid, a lack of filling and a lack of beef in the filling, and also it is slightly expensive.

Higgidy British Beef, Stilton and Ale pie
Score: 5.17/7
TJP

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Suffolk Pie Reviews 

Click here for the latest 'Best Pies In Suffolk' Leaderboard

I am really glad to have had the opportunity to spend some time living in the Suffolk countryside. I grew up on a farm in Buckinghamshire and had always felt I was from the countryside. However in Suffolk the countryside is so much quieter, you can spend hours walking or cycling barely seeing another soul. It was here that I feel I discovered the quintessence of English countryside. Thatched cottage, medieval villages, windmills, cricket matches outside the castle, Suffolk has everything I expected, but never really found, England to have.

Cricket outside Framlingham Castle

Suffolk was recently given an award which recognised how well it embodies Englishness. The Pie Kitchen from Bury St Edmunds received the best pie award at the British Pie Awards 2013. The Pie Kitchen are a small producer and this seems to be typical of Suffolk, there are many different small producers in butchers, bakeries and farm shops all making ‘craft pies’ which is great to see. I have gathered a few of these pie reviews together to see which pie can win the title of Pierate Suffolk Pie Champion.  

Country Pies

Suffolk not only produce award winning pies they are also famous for fantastic beer. Broadside is brewed by Adnams to commemorate the battle of Sole Bay in 1672. It is one of my favourites so I was delighted to find a Steak & Adnams Broadside Ale pie made by Country Pies in a local farm shop. It weighed in at £2.75, the most expensive of these Suffolk pies. It was also one of the smallest, being a bit too shallow for my liking so it would have to do a lot to make up for being relatively bad value. This pie had the best Colour of any in this Suffolk review and a nice pastry cross on it. I liked to think this was an ‘X marks the spot’ for where to start digging for a pie filling to treasure. As I started to dig with my fork I found tender and tasty meat and the filling took up all the (relatively small) Capacity. However, the filling was just a little too bland to make up for this pie being so expensive. Such a shame as the Adnams ale should have left it bursting with flavour.

Steak & Adnams Broadside Ale (Country Pies)

4.03/7

Country Pies

Steak & Adnams Ale

Jackson's Bakery (Saxmundham)

I was pleased to find a traditional bakery in my local town of Saxmundham and even more pleased to find that they sold a range of pies. I had my eyes firmly fixed on the last Steak and Kidney in the shop. However in grabbing the pie the proprietor promptly dropped the pie on the floor. Given that she picked it up quickly and within the ‘3 second rule’ for food being on the floor  I said I would eat it anyway. However she wouldn’t take any money for it so this pie was technically of infinite value! However I am scoring it based on the standard, fairly cheap, price of £1.10. You can see from the picture it was only slightly squashed and certainly better Condition than many pies I have paid for. Upon cutting into this pie there was a delicious thick gravy which stayed in the pie because it had such viscosity. There did seem to be a bit of a lack of meat, with only small pieces being visible. The pastry was nice, however, for some reason there was a bit of an overhang of pastry at the top. This part was a bit dry and, given that this pie was quite shallow, it meant that there was a bit too much pastry compared to filling. Still, this pie was decent value.

Steak & Kidney (Jackson's Bakery [IP17 1AG])

4.75/7

Jackson's Bakery - Steak & Kidney

Hollybush Farm

I was quite excited to find a Hollybush Farm Steak and Ale pie in my local co-op as I had tried one of their Pork & Onion Pies during British Pie Week and found it to be excellent. This pie had a lovely gooey pastry, which was nice and soft and was probably the best pastry in this review. The gravy was also fantastic, lovely and thick, similar to the Jackson's Bakery pie. This pie seemed to be onto a winner if only the meat had been better quality. I found a big piece of gristle in mine and in general it was a bit too chewy. Such a shame.

Steak & Ale (Hollybush Farm)

4.96/7

Hollybush Farm

Steak & Ale

Goulborns

This Chicken & Ham pie was £1.85 from Goulborns in the lovely town of Bungay. It was one of the better ones in this competition because the filling was so nice. The ham must have been smoked because the filling had a very smokey, satisfying taste and was anything but bland. There was plenty of good quality chicken which filled the Capacity without leaving much air space. However, what stopped this pie from winning the Suffolk competition was the fact that it was slightly dry. Not a lot of gravy, combined with crunchy pastry stopped it sliding down quite as smoothly as it should have done. Again, like the Johnson pie there was a bit of an unnecessary overhang of pastry at the top. However, it was a good value pie and one I would buy again in a flash.

Chicken & Ham (Goulborns)

5.47/7

Goulborn

Chicken & Ham

C. A. Palmer & Son
 
Halesworth is a lovely town which has national cycle route 1 (from Dover to the Shetland Islands) passing right along the high street. This is the perfect place to stop and pick up some pies from the local Butchers C. A. Palmer & Son. One of the great things about pies is that they seem to have cross over between the skills of bakers and butchers and are often available in both. C. A. Palmer pies do actually come frozen in a pack of two for £3. I was a bit sceptical about the fact they were frozen, but then my colleague RAS did find some iced gems in Iceland recently. I was reassured by the fact that these pies were advertised as being hand made on the premises. I picked up a couple of Steak & Stilton pies which has a nice ‘SS’ shaped vent which made them look a treat. I was glad that I wasn’t above buying frozen pies because these were excellent . The pastry was (mostly) gooey and soft, the meat tender and the gravy lovely and thick. It reminded me of my favourite pie from Kings Farm in Buckinghamshire. I have only minor criticism of this pie which stopped it getting the same kind of score as Kings Farm. Firstly, I couldn’t really taste the Stilton although it still tasted great. Secondly, some of the pastry around the top was a bit dry. This doesn’t stop it from gaining a high score.  

Steak & Stilton (C. A. Palmer & Son [IP19 8AH]
5.94/7

C. A. Palmer - Steak & Stilton

So the scores in the table below show that C. A. Palmer are the clear winner with a highly recommended and great value pie. This makes them the current Pierate Suffolk Pie Champions. However, the real winner here was pie. There were no pies which were actually bad and it is so good to see so many small pie producers around in Suffolk. If you know of any other small pie producers in the county then let us know by tweeting @Pierateers, they still have the chance to get onto the Suffolk-ate In Pie Leaderboard!

Pie Producer	Flavour	Score
C. A. Palmer & Son, Halesworth	Steak & Stilton	5.94
Hollybush Farm, Buxhall	Onion Marmalade Pork Pie	5.60
Goulborns, Bungay	Chicken & Ham	5.47
Hollybush Farm, Buxhall	Steak & Ale	4.96
Jackson's Bakery, Saxmundham	Steak & Kidney	4.75
Satis House, Yoxford	Rabbit & Bacon	4.29
Country Pies, Capel St Mary	Steak & Adnams Broadside Ale	4.03

SJL

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