Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe Pie Reviews - The Shambles, York

On a recent visit to the Viking city of York I was pleased to find a proper, traditional pie shop in the heart of the city. The narrow street called The Shambles is rich in history. Some of the timber framed buildings date back to the 14th century. It is also rich in pie history with the street having previously been packed with butcher's shops. There is a high kerb running down the street. I heard was so the blood and gore could flow away down the centre of the street.... a bit different to your modern supermarket meat aisle! The street is now primarily focused on tourists with gift shops and quaint cafes. Fortunately one shop is tapping into the street's heritage, they don't even have a sign, just a picture of a pie hanging from the side of the shop. Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe has a lovely display of pies sitting proudly in the window. They also had some interesting flavours so I couldn't restrict myself to only trying one. Many of them were in the style of a pork pie and could be eaten cold but they also had pies that they could heat up for you to eat straight away. I grabbed a Scotch Pie to have hot for £1.50 then to have later I got a Pork & Black Pudding and a Wild Boar pie at £1.70 and £2.00 respectively.

Some of the pies they had made themselves and some of them were brought in. This really showed as I have never had such a mixed experience from one shop.


Pork & Black Pudding

The pork and black pudding pies and the wild boar were both clearly premium, hand-made products in excellent Condition. As you can see from the picture, the rustic appearance fit in perfectly in the Viking banquet reconstructed in the Yorkshire Museum (which was well worth a visit by the way). They had ample golden glaze giving a delicious Colour. Something I always look for in a good pork pie is a bit of a crunch to the pastry unlike the soggy fare from mass produced pies. This pie did not disappoint being incredibly crunchy. This must have been made for strong Viking jaws. At one point I wondered if I had accidentally picked up one of the fake loaves of bread from the banqueting table.

The Content certainly a bit different to your average pork pie. Instead of jelly the pie relied on the black pudding to give keep it moist. It had quiet a pungent aroma which reminded me of charcuterie and was slightly over powering. I did enjoy the black pudding which added a bit of variety which is normally lacking for a pork pie. It was let down by some of the pig meat being a bit Chewy. It had a decent sized capacity and for a premium product at a premium location, £1.70 seemed relatively Cheap.

Pork & Black Pudding (Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe [YO1 7LX])
4.87/7


Wild Boar

The Wild Boar pie looked like it had the same pastry that the Pork & Black Pudding but if anything it was even more crunchy! The pastry actually squeaked against my teeth in a very peculiar way and bordered on being a bit dry. It was a bit softer on the inside and somehow it just about worked. This pie was helped by having an excellent Content. The wild boar was cured in big, salty pink chunks that tasted a bit like gammon. The pieces of meat were firm which gave plenty to get your teeth into. There was a lot of jelly in all the gaps which kept it moist and held the fragmented filling together like a delicious glue. As you can see from the photo, it was very greasy, turning the bag translucent, like all good pork pies should! It was a bit different to your average pork pie but overall the unique Consistency worked. Another Pierate Recommended Wild Boar pie to add to a surprisingly long list. 

Wild Boar (Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe [YO1 7LX])
5.23/7




Scotch Pie

Last and definitely least was the Scotch pie. It was by far the worst Scotch pie I have ever had. You may be aware that I am quite a fan of Scotch pies, having reviewed a fair few in my search for what makes the best Scotch pie. It is relatively rare to find one in England so I thought I had to go for it but soon regretted it. There was nothing too it really. I bit into it and the lid sunk down to the base because there was barely any filling. The pastry was too dry and not enjoyable to eat. Whilst the filling was very moist, there just wasn't enough of it to soften the pastry. The filling wasn't unpleasant to eat but seemed quite watery and runny. I think it was probably beef but it was hard to say for sure. I couldn't really find anything good to say about this pie so it unfortunately goes to the bottom of our Scotch pie rankings. The only saving grace for Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe is that they didn't actually make this one, having bought it in from catering giants Bako.

Beef Scotch Pie (Ye Olde Pie & Sausage Shoppe [YO1 7LX])
2.87/7

The Scotch pie was one blip on an otherwise very enjoyable trip to York. It is a fine city with lots of interesting history, particularly Roman and Viking. Sadly the Jorvick viking museum was closed due to the terrible flooding they experienced in 2015. Due to reopen in 2017, they are trying to meet some of the cost via crowd funding, I might have to pay another visit when they reopen but will know to avoid the Scotch pie next time.



SJL

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

The Ship's Cook (aka @the_cookworm) is currently on a pie mission - to find the top rated pie recipes from our nations supermarket suggestions. It started with a tweet we were sent by @jimbolimbo9 suggesting we try two pork pastry recipes from the supermarket Morrisons and from this The Ship's Cook decided to select one reci-pie from each supermarket's website or magazine to make and rate. Today is the turn of Waitrose Black Pudding pie!

Here is a little-known fact about me: I absolutely LOVE black pudding. I love it so much that I have been known to order items from a restaurant menu that contain black pudding even though I don’t like the other ingredients. So when I spotted this black pudding pie recipe on the Waitrose website, I couldn’t resist making it the second instalment in my supermarket recipe series. 

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Foodamentalists Gluten Free Pie Reviews

From the moment I set my eyes on these Foodamentalist pies I couldn't wait to eat them!! I repeatedly asked Pierateer SJL "are you sure they are gluten free?" "have you made a mistake?" The reason for my confusion, is that I have never seen a gluten free pie so beautifully presented that arrived in a small cellophane wrapper with absolutely NO supportive packaging!!! I know what your thinking..INCREDIBLE!! Well I am not lying to you and I have the pictures for evidence (well okay, you just have to take my word about the gluten free part!!). On the menu was: fidget pie; pork, venison and cranberry; pork, black pudding and caramelised red onion pie and traditional pork pie. But don't worry, I didn't eat them all on my own!! Priced at £1.90 - £2.50 on their website this is a reasonable price for a quality product.


For starters was the traditional pork pie which like any pork pie, we ate cold. Having never found a GF pork pie, I was rather looking forward to this. However, my first mouthful filled me with disappointment as I had high hopes for these little fellas. I couldnt quite work out what this pie was trying to be - it looked like a traditional pork pie and was called this, but yet it largely tasted of sage. If anything, this pie reminded me of a sausage roll. It wasn't as crusty and didn't contain jelly like a gluten equivalent, which did affect the consistency as the filling didn't hold together as well as I would expect a picnic finger pie to do so. The texture was actually quite pleasant though, and not at all chewy like normal meat pies are.

Colour = 6
Consistency = 4.5
Capacity = 6
Chewiness = 6
Cheapness = 5
Content = 4.5
Condition = 6

Pork Pie (Foodamentalists)
5.42/7


Trying not to let this dampen my enthusiasm I moved onto the main course. First out of the oven was fidget pie.The pastry was so light, like nothing I have tried before and it had a slight crunch to it. The colour was again great and there was no air gap - a jam packed pie!! Although, I must admit that I couldn't really distinguish between the pastry and the filling as they both tasted fairly similar. The flavour was okay and felt nice and traditional.

Colour = 7
Consistency = 5
Capacity = 6
Chewiness = 6
Cheapness = 5
Content = 4.5
Condition = 6

Fidget Pie (Foodamentalists)
5.64/7

Next up....Pork, venison and cranberry. I liked the sound of this pie but in reality the cranberry's made the pie a little too sour. The meat was nice though.

Colour = 7
Consistency = 6
Capacity = 6
Chewiness = 6
Cheapness = 5
Content = 3.5
Condition = 6

Pork, Venison & Cranberry (Foodamentalists)
5.64/7

Pork, black pudding and caramelised red onion. I was fairly excited about the black pudding as I quite like it but its not something us coeliacs find much. Although, this did disappoint me as I didn't really like the taste and the pie lacked flavour.

Colour = 7
Consistency = 6
Capacity = 6
Chewiness = 6
Cheapness = 5
Content = 3.5
Condition = 6

Pork, Black Pudding & Caramelised Red Onion (Foodamentalists)
5.64/7

Lastly I tried what I thought was the best of all, the pork, chicken and stuffing....um...non-pie. It had a crumble topping so us Pierateers cant really call it a pie (as it's not fully encased). But I thought that I would mention that it had the best flavour of all the pies.

In conclusion, the pastry on these pies is probably gluten free world class! Like nothing I have ever tried before and will probably try again. It was so light, beautifully golden and deliciously tasty. Thank you Foodamentalists. However, the fillings despite being a lovely texture and not at all chewy, really did lack flavour. It must be noted that these pies had been frozen before I received them, which may have affected the flavour. As the pies are on their own, I don't plan to eat these again but if the flavour is improved I would jump at the opportunity as these really could be delicious pies!!

But before I go I must mention the desert! Foodamentalists were also good enough to send a box of Gluten Free Frangipane Mince Pies. The thing I liked about these is that they looked homemade and not like they came out of a machine. The frangipane topping was a really nice change and added to the taste. The mincemeat was similar to any other but not as sugary, this was something I liked. All in all a pretty good pie!


Colour = 5
Consistency = 6
Capacity = 5
Chewiness = 6
Cheapness = 5
Content = 5
Condition = 5

Mince Pie (Foodamentalists)
5.29/7

ALE

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Lovett Pies - Pie Reviews

Lovett Pies have only been in the pie selling business for just over 18 months and they have already won numerous awards including a couple of Silvers at the British Pie Awards 2013. Lovett Pies have already become highly regarded around their Bath base in the South West of England so I was very pleased to get my hands on a whole box of Lovett pies, containing all 7 flavours. Co-owner Phil is the creator of these pies. He was working in a pub as a chef and found that his pies were so popular he was inspired to set up Lovett Pies with business partner Chris.


Phil seems to have a way with blending flavours together.
Lovett Pies already set themselves apart simply by some unusual fillings. However, these aren’t strange flavours just to make the pies different. They are flavours which just seem to make a lot of sense!

The pies also look beautiful. The pastry looks like hot water crust (like a Scotch Pie) as these pies are perfectly formed cylindrical delights and the pastry holds together so well. The pastry is strong enough for the pie to stand up tall on its own and they are completely encased.

From the outside at least I would say they embody the quintessential essence of the ‘proper pies’ that we search for on the Pierate Ship. The perfect golden Colour scored highly. There is a letter on the top of each pie, made of poppy seeds, to signify what flavour the pie is. This wouldn’t be allowed in the British Pie Awards but on the Pierate Ship we have no rules against external non-pastry decoration so I saw this as a good thing, scoring more points for pie Condition.

In terms of how the pastry performed in the taste test all the pies were very much the same. The pastry is quite thin so, quite unusually, these pies have more filling than pastry (filling at 66%) which earned them a high Capacity score. This must be the highest filling to pastry ratio I have ever found. The pastry really was secondary here to the filling and the actual taste and texture of the pastry was good but didn’t stand out, partly just because there wasn’t much of it!

The price of these pies depends on where you buy them. At the farmers market they are £3.50 or £6.50 for 2. This is a high price for a small pie but reasonable value given the high proportion of filling and meat.

But do the pies taste good? I will run through the first few in order of preference:

Ham Hock, Black Pudding & Pea

What a marvellous pie this was, the best ham pie I have ever tasted, the best black pudding pie I have ever tasted and also my absolute favourite pea pie. Upon slicing the pie open I was impressed by how colourful it was. There weren’t just peas in this pie but also carrots, celery and onion which meant there was quite a lot of veg. The variety of contents meant each bite was different which kept things interesting. Despite the large amount of veg the pie was still really meaty because of the taste of the soft black pudding and the proper unprocessed gammon. It felt like a rounded meal in one small pastry case. Like all of these pies there wasn’t a runny gravy but everything was kept moist by being held together in a small amount of thick sauce. This one seemed to be the most gooey and moist. The pie was well seasoned and also contained truffle oil which made the flavour stand out even more. The balance of flavours were spot on and the pie was a real pleasure to eat. It was not at all dry, it was packed with content so it is no surprise this pie scores highly.

6.37/7



Venison, Haggis & Redcurrant (Seasonal)

I didn't expect it but the combination of venison and haggis is perfect for a pie! Both have a strong flavour and make this pie deliciously meaty. Of course, this Lovett pie was packed with meat as they all were, there was no filler here. I know haggis is made of lamb offal and other such things that I wouldn't normally eat but lamb offal doesn't normally tastes so good! The meat was melt in the mouth and the flavours anything but bland. A hint of sweetness from the redcurrant and carrot was just right for me. The texture was perfect, with a soft filling and little bit of crunch from the pastry. Like all these pies the ingredient list was long but as everything was subtle you couldn't tell that the pie apparently has elderberry concentrate and cacao powder in it.
The one thing I did miss with this pie was a bit of gravy. I guess this is not really what Lovett are going for but just a little bit of gravy which oozes out when you slice the pie is my ideal situation. I didn't find this one as moist and as varied to eat as the ham and black pudding. Still an excellent pie and a shame it isn't available all year!

5.98/7


Bath Pie - Beef & Ale with Blue Cheese

This pie was again packed with meat. This time tasty, slow cooked beef which fell apart easily. The cheese tasted nice and unlike some Steak & Stilton pies you could actually taste the blue cheese, certainly a good thing in my book. For the Ham and Black pudding the fact that the filling wasn't mixed seemed like a good thing as it gave a variety to the flavour. However for this pie I felt it was a bad thing. There were some really cheese bits and then some mouthfuls of beef which tasted a bit dry without the cheese to keep it moist. Not a bad effort but not as good as the other two.

4.68/7


So in summary we recommend you get yourself some of these pies to try. The variety of flavours mean there is sure to be something for everyone. It is worth noting they really are not very big pies (200g) and I did eat all 3 of these in one go! However, being a Pierateer I do have an usually high love of pie so don’t take this as representative! Despite being small they really are All Killer, No Filler. I have never seen pies with such a lot of filling. Because these pies look so good I can really see myself buying them for those occasions where you want to make an impression. They can also be eaten cold and then perhaps the lack of gravy will mean these are the perfect portable snacks? You will find out more about this in my next Lovett's Pies review.

Lovett Pies attend Bath and Swindon farmers markets every week. Their pies can also be found in various pubs across the South West.

SJL

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions