The Ship's Cook is making her way through pie recipes from the UK's major supermarkets and this British Pie Week outing is from Aldi. Check back this weekend to see how the Ship's Cook gets on with baking her own British Pierate Pie!

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If my calculations are correct, I must have baked my way around almost half of the UK's major supermarkets by now, and there are still more to come! That's a lot of pies, but never fear readers, because I'm happy to test them out so you don't have to (although I think you should anyway because pies are delicious).

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Chicken, Bacon and Leek Lattice Pie Review by Co-op




Co-op Chicken, Bacon and Leek Lattice Pie

The first thoughts were that this pie wasn’t very deep and content therefore could have been better. Sure, the pie was filled to the top (though that’s not particularly hard in such a shallow pie) and the lattice pastry on top looked pretty and was nicely crisp, however there wasn’t much filling to go with it. This did leave the pie tasting a bit dry, particularly the base pastry, as there wasn’t very much sauce to compliment it. The dry pastry was highlighted when some of the base pastry rather crumbled as I took the pie out of the tin foil it was cooked in, diminishing the condition score, but the pastry was generally crisp and nice.



Score: 5.4/7

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The Pie Kitchen - Chicken, Chantenay Carrot & Bacon Pie Review

So here it is, the Pierate review of the Pie which won the title of Supreme Champion at the 2013 British Pie Awards. This means it was the best pie in the whole competition, which included a staggering 983 pies. Understandably I was therefore quite excited to be trying this pie after it has achieved so much. Would this pie top our list of the best pies in Suffolk? Could this be the best pie I have ever tasted? Have a look at the review in action in the following video.



So now the moment of truth! What did I think?

Colour - 7 out of 7 - A real winner against the colour criteria. I think this pie had a perfect golden colour even before being cooked. Despite the pastry being all hand made it showed quite an amazing uniformity, but not too much so as to lose it's handmade character. The filling also looked great, with the carrot adding a splash of colour.


Consistency - 7 out of 7 - The pie had a fantastic consistency, with a lovely thick sauce, but not too thick as to be stodgy. I love the way it slowly oozed out although the filling generally stayed put inside the pie. A pie which would be great to serve to guests as it stayed together very well.


Capacity - 7 out of 7 - Whist this pie was certainly not the tallest pie it was big enough to fit a lot in. I think this pie could serve about 3 people with mash and veg. It had an excellent filling to pastry ratio.


Chewiness - 5 out of 7 - I tend to use chewiness to score the texture of the pie. The filling had a marvellous texture. The meat was tender but still firm to the bite. It really showed that this was not mass produced chicken which can often be mushy and watery. The carrot added another dimension to the texture and retained a nice crunch. Quite an achievement in a pie. However, as much as I loved the taste of the pastry the texture was too crumbly for me. My ideal pastry has a smoother mouthfeel.


Cheapness - 5 out of 7 - This is the most expensive pie that The Pie Kitchen make. It cost £7.50 if purchased from one of the farmers markets they attend. Okay, this is a lot more than most of us normally pay for a pie. However, you get a lot for your money. The pie is quite big and the amount of filling is fantastic. I reckon this pie has about twice as much chicken as an equivalent mass produced pie. Good quality, locally sourced produce does cost more and hence I don't think this was bad value.


Content - 7 out of 7 - If I could give this pie 8 out of 7 for content then I would. The flavours did everything you would expect from a top quality traditional British pie and did it brilliantly. However, there was just a hint of some unusual flavours that made it stand out from the crowd. I can't quite say what spices and herbs might have been used, but it tasted slightly Christmasy to me, perhaps it was nutmeg or some other seasonal spice. There was also a delicious meaty taste to the pie, something we love on The Pierate Ship! This was aided by the big chunks of chicken and more than a hint of bacon. The carrot also had a superb, sweet flavour. I am going to have to buy more Chantenay carrots in the future if they taste this good. Below, you can see a section of the pie where I have removed the lid to show it is packed with content as you would expect for a pie at this price.


Condition - 7 out of 7 - Beautifully formed, hand made pastry, this pie looked like a premium product. It arrived with me in perfect condition and didn't have any soggy bottom syndrome or leaking filling after time in the oven.


So there it is, a pie which might not quite take top spot in our Pie Rankings but is comfortably inside the top ten. It certainly lost some score because of the high price but I would buy it again and this shows through in the very high score. Without doubt one of the best pies I have ever eaten. My compliments to Sally and Carol at The Pie Kitchen. They are refusing to compromise their ideals of local ingredients and using the best quality available. The care that goes into making these pies shows through in how good they taste.

I urge you to try one of these pies, if you can. The Pie Kitchen visit a range of different farmers markets during the month, the list of which can be found on their website www.the-pie-kitchen.co.uk. These are mainly in the Cambridgeshire and Suffolk areas. They can also be found in the Depden Farm Shop near Bury St. Edmunds. Best of luck to The Pie Kitchen at the British Pie Awards 2014!

Chicken, Chantenay Carrot & Bacon (The Pie Kitchen)
6.43/7

SJL

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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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Selfridges Pie Reviews

One thing that intrigues me about the world of pies is how varied they can be and I don't just mean in terms of filling. There can be enormous variation in price too. A value, individual sized pie can set you back as little as 50p but then an individual premium pie can cost the best part of £4. How can there be such a disparity in cost? In reality a value pie is often half the size and would often have quite an air gap inside the pastry so you are getting much less pie for your money. There will also tend to be a lot of sauce in a value pie to make up for lack of meat which clearly impacts on the taste. One thing is for certain, not all pies are created equal. But does paying 8 times as much give you a pie that is 8 times better? Certainly not, there is only so much you can do to improve what is an already fine product, spending more might get something a bit better but it will inevitably follow the law of diminishing returns.

In our pursuit of pie perfection we must try them all, cheap and expensive, in order to tell you which pies are good enough for you to spend your hard earned cash on. Today I have visited the top of the food chain, Selfridges Foodhall on Oxford Street to see if they really are worth the price tag. We reviewed one of their pies before and found that it certainly offered an experience you couldn't find elsewhere due to a unique flavour.

One pie review is really just the tip of the iceburg of what Selfridges have to offer. A pie counter greets you with ample selection and someone on hand to box up whatever pie takes your fancy. There are a few different pie makers represented so quite a variety of types of pie. I like that the pie counter allows you to see exactly what Condition the pies are in before buying. However I was disappointed that the serving lady could not tell me more about where the pies were made. I decided to get two pies which promised to be quite different from the usual fare and from each other. I opted for a Spicy Cauliflower, Spinach & Lentil Pie and a Applewood Smoked Bacon & Egg.

I hadn't quite realised how much a premium pie was going to set me back. There didn't seem to be any pies below £3.49 and in total, two pies cost me £7.49 which shows inflation has hit since we last visited. These pies certainly had to be very good in order to justify their price tags.

First up, the Spicy Cauliflower. This was a text book premium pie. Unusual flavour, soft gooey pastry, a nice height to ensure good Capacity and filled to the brim with Content. It looked a fantastic colour and was even decorated with small seeds. This tasted like a proper curry from a restaurant except it was in a pie. Normally curry pies have a generic chip shop curry sauce taste and no depth of flavour. However this pie was full of flavour from the variety of different spices used. The curry flavour complemented the pastry well. The pastry seemed slightly adapted to taste more Indian, I thought it might contain gram flour. The filling was very soft so that it require almost not Chewing at all. This meant it slipped down a treat but perhaps lacked the satifying texture of a meat pie. Despite this minor critiscism I would go as far as to say it is the best curry pie I have ever had. At £3.49 this was expensive, but worth buying.


Secondly the Applewood Smoked Bacon and Egg. I didn't really understand what applewood smoked meant but it is does what it says on the tin, bacon which is smoked by burning wood from apple trees. As far as I can tell this adds pretty much nothing to the quality of the bacon and is just a marketing gimmick. That pretty much sums this pie up. It looked great, cooked well, was packed with content but ultimately it just didn't taste good enough to me to justify costing £3.99. I would go as far as to say this was a below average pie. I felt it was fairly dry pastry, which wasn't helped by a complete lack of sauce. Instead egg was used to hold the chunks of bacon together. True, the smoked bacon gave it a lovely strong flavour but because of the dryness I soon got fed up of eating it. It was a bit like eating a quiche that someone had put a pastry lid on. Not what I was expecting when paying this price. I have since found out that this is made by Timmy's Pies a local London pie producer, who probably sell it for much less at their own market stalls. However, I can only judge it as I find it and despite not tasting bad at this price it was not something I would ever buy again. Unfortunately this means a low score.


A real contrast there shows that you really have to be careful when buying a premium pie. If only there was a website where someone had tried all the pies for you so you knew which ones were good before spending your money.....


Spicy Cauliflower, Spinach & Lentil Pie (Tom's Pies/Selfridges Foodhall)

5.72/7

Applewood Smoked Bacon & Egg (Timmy's Pies/Selfridges Foodhall)

2.76/7

SJL

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It is surely the case that Morrisons are the supermarket of choice for the pie lover. It is always a delight to visit the pie counter where the pies are free and unboxed. I would say a normal supermarket is like going to a pie zoo. The pies are cooped up in boxes, people say they are happy but how can you know? More often than not you can't even see the pies themselves. Whereas Morrisons is like a pie safari. The beef and onion is free to terrorises the sausage rolls. The chicken curry proudly displays its golden pastry, glowing under the artificial lights. If you are lucky you might catch a glimpse of the king of the pie counter, the steak and ale, lording it over his fellow pastry products because he knows his line was the best selling last year, is best selling this year and will sell the best again next year. He is just an unstoppable force of nature and awe inspiring to behold.

I have recently moved house and the fact that I am now near a Morrisons is not quite the reason I moved here but it certainly adds a little extra joy to life. It is great to visit every week. Sometimes I don't even buy anything from the pie counter but just enjoy window shopping. The guy at the counter perhaps thinks I'm a bit weird as I stand salivating at the pies. My high expectations were perhaps the reason I was a bit disappointed recently. I chose a fantastic looking Steak, Mushroom & Bacon square pie which was puffed up proudly, promising a pie packed with content. However upon cutting it open, I was disappointed to find this was not the case. About half the pie seemed to be empty. This pie was a bit more expensive than most so I would expect better. However it was a fairly big pie so overall it wasn't such bad value. The filling tasted okay although the meat was a bit chewy. Thankfully the combination of short crust pastry side and puff pastry lid was to a very high standard. The shortcrust in particular held its shape well but at the same time managed to be lovely and gooey. So overall not a bad effort.


I decided to tweet about this pie to Morrisons, indicating that while it wasn't bad it was a bit disappointing. I was surprised that Morrisons took this so seriously, sending me vouchers to get another pie. It is commendable that they are listening to their customers so closely. If only all companies were so good! It was by no means a formal complaint, it just shows how seriously Morrisons take their pies.

So I tried again with a Chicken, Ham and Leek pie and two rather gourmet looking medium Pork Pies. I still had money left over from the £3 vouchers I was sent after buying these three indicating they were great value.

Firstly the Chicken, Ham and Leek pie. I almost fell off my pie reviewing stool when I got home and saw the pie had been labelled as a 'pasty'! It certainly was not a pasty having well defined sides, base and lid. They really need to be more careful with this very important distinction. It was very stressful for a moment when I thought I had bought a pasty by mistake!

Fortunately this was a pie and once I delved in this golden delight it was a return to form for Morrisons. There was a lovely thick sauce oozing out with actual proper chucks of meat. While the capacity of the pie was still big this time it was really packed with content. I felt like I was getting a great value pie experience. Again the pastry was great; Morrisons certainly know how to mix their flour and fat. This was almost the perfect pie, however it just needed a bit more of a full on flavour, a shame as it did everything else so well. However, for the price this was still one of the best value supermarket pies I have had.


The hand crimped pork pies were also rather special. These weren't like traditional pork pies. You can see from the photos that they had an ergonomic shape which meant they were rather satisfying to hold in the palm of the hand. I spent a while just admiring this pie not wanting to ruin its delicate edges. You might think that it seems like it has too much pastry given that pastry for a pork pie is often rather solid. However the pastry for this pork pie was quite soft and light and the extra pastry was a pleasure to eat. The meat was pink, unlike the grey of a melton mowbray pork pie, and it had a taste somewhat reminiscent of a sausage roll except it had a much more satisfying texture because it wasn't at all mushy. It also lacked the jelly of a traditional pork pie which made it seem much less fatty. Overall it was a lighter, flakier version of a pork pie, but because it still retained wonderful solidness it was perfect for a summer picnic.




So, after a slight disappointment Morrisons show their Northern Soul with two fantastic pies. It is great that we can still rely on the only supermarket with a pie counter. However, Morrison are not the only ones to have a pie counter. The Pierateers also have a pie 'counter' which has just ticked over 200 pies reviewed. We can count on more Morrisons pies to get us to 300.

Steak, Mushroom & Bacon (Morrisons Pie Counter)
4.12/7

Chicken, Ham & Leek (Morrisons Pie Counter)
5.76/7

Hand-Crimped Pork Pie (Morrisons Pie Counter)
5.55/7

SJL

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Chicken and Bacon Individual Pie Review from Iceland

Iceland Chicken and Bacon Pies Review

Iceland Chicken and Bacon Individual Pie
Score: 6.0/7
RAS

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Rabbit & Bacon Pie Review at Satis House, Yoxford

Surely one of the most gourmet pies I have ever eaten this pie at Satis House in Yoxford, Suffolk was a delight to find on the menu. Normally you scan straight to the main course expecting to find at best a beef or chicken pie on the menu but Satis House have to decided that a pie is for life and not just for main course by putting a Rabbit and Bacon pie on the starter menu. At £8.50 for a quite small pie this probably scores the worst for Cheapness for any pie I have ever eaten. However, let’s not forget that I was paying a premium to eat what can only be described as the posh setting of a lovely countryside hotel restaurant. The pie was a beautiful Colour and came in a most Satis-fyingly well presented Condition. There were some fine pieces of carrot drapped over the pie as if the rabbit were still alive and attempting to gnaw on them. It also came with some meaty jelly of the kind that you might expect to find in the pie. It looked like a pork pie but in fact the Chewiness of the pastry was much less than a pork pie. It was actually quite nice and light pastry although a touch drier than I would have chosen. The Capacity was pretty good for a small pie, as it had a good height to it. It was packed with meaty Content which was pieces of rabbit and bacon ground up and stuck together. There wasn’t really any gravy as such although there was a little bit of moisture which caused it all to hold together. The meat had a good Consistency and flavour which was certainly well above average for a pig based pie however I didn’t feel that I could really taste any rabbit. The bacon was too salty and strong flavoured so I couldn’t really isolate the flavour of the rabbit in so small a morsel.

Overall though, a good effort from Satis House and it would score quite highly if it wasn’t so expensive. I was certainly left Satis-fied by their attempts to add something a bit different to the menu, I would be delighted to see more establishments offering some pie goodness on their starter menus too. However, the lack of pie in the more traditional main course and dessert menus meant that the three course pie meal is still just a dream. Hopefully not for too long! See where this pie featured on our list of the best pies in Suffolk.

Rabbit & Bacon (Satis House - Suffolk, IP17 3EX)
4.29/7

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