The Pie Room Recipe Book by Calum Franklin - Cheesy Dauphinoise & Caramelised Onion Pie Review

British Pie Week is a special time of year and the Pierate virtual pie night seemed a perfect excuse to go for something a bit fancy. One of the best known producers of fancy pies is Calum Franklin who we previously talked to about the beautiful pastry creations he makes for the Holborn Dining Room where he has created a specific 'Pie Room'. Calum has now released a recipe and guide book called 'The Pie Room' and given the time we are spending at home in the lockdown it seemed the perfect thing to try out for British Pie Week. Unfortunately on the Pierate Ship we are more known for eating pies and some of our creations have been far from beautiful so I was a bit concerned about how this would go. I also had to alternate from the recipe in that I made Gluten Free pastry so that Pierateer ALE could also enjoy the pie. We are moving house and had a glut of onions to use so I chose the Cheesy Dauphinoise & Caramelised Onion Pie. It also contained a lot of milk and cream which sounded great to me, being from a dairy farm I do love my milk. This was the first time I had ever made a freestanding pie, I was worried that it might completely fall apart but despite using notoriously crumbly gluten free pastry it only cracked slightly. The pie took absolutely ages to make so I didn't feel motivated to do more than a simple pastry homage to British Pie Week but it was still one of the best looking pies I have ever made (the competition isn't strong though). I slightly got the advice on egg glaze wrong which was a bit disappointing because I was keen to get a pie as deep brown as the ones Calum makes, but it was still a pleasing colour. The pie sliced like a dream which was one of the joys of making this free standing pie, it really still looked like pie when served up on your plate. I made the recipe with half the listed ingredients and Pierateer ALE and I had a quarter each.

But how did it taste? I always find it strange to review a pie I have made but if I give the credit to Calum I think I can say that this was delicious. I can't actually remember having a meat-free pie as tasty as this. It would definitely be worthy of a Pierate Highly Recommended award. There wasn't anything too fancy or difficult to source in the recipe except quite a lot of fresh rosemary and thyme. This, along with the onion and some garlic added a delicious taste to the creamy and cheesy filling. The filling was built in layers which adds to the appearance. Unfortunately with my smaller version I think it was too shallow to fully reveal the layers but it still looked good. It was quite remarkable how moist this pie was despite being free standing. The potato was soft but retained some bite giving it a satisfying consistency. A pie really befitting of British Pie Week and I would certainly recommend it if the meat free content sounds appealing to you.

Cheesy Dauphinoise & Caramelised Onion (The Pie Room Recipe by Calum Franklin)
6.25/7

SJL

P.S. A few words on the making of this pie, I really tried to follow the recipe to the letter which took me ages. Although the ingredients were simple the potato and onion were separately cooked on the hob, then also in the oven before being wrapped in pastry. The final pie then took 45 minutes in the oven. There was also a lot of times where you had to put things in the fridge to chill, it felt complicated to someone not used to these things. I think the pie would fall apart without following all the steps so overall allow plenty of time. I made the filling the day before which worked well. The main thing that I found really amazing was that the filling all held together when I turned it out of a dish on top of the pastry. Then through some miracle my gluten free pastry stayed in one piece as I turned this onto the filling. If making this kind of pie appeals to you I would recommend the book which is well written and includes plenty of general guides, tips and tricks as well as the actual recipes.

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Nice Pie Steak and Cheese Pie Reviews

One of the challenges for a Pierateer in British Pie Week is how to fit in all the pies you want to eat and rate! That explains why for brunch on day one of British Pie Week I had two meat pies from Nice Pie - who fans of Pierate will know have produced countless Pierate Highly Recommended and Pierate Recommended pies (see the table of past Nice Pies here!) The pies were the Steak, Ale and Stilton and the Braised Beef, Roasted Onion and Cheddar Pie.



Nice Pie Steak and Stilton (left) and Beef and Cheddar (right)

With all the exotic pies we’ve rated from Nice Pie over the years, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they only do pies full of meat you’d never expect to be sold in a pie! But as delicious as the kangaroo, zebra and wild squirrel pies were, sometimes people may just want a “typical” British pie to eat! Fear not, for Nice Pie haven’t neglected their homely, British pie flavours for the sole purpose of exotic pie production! Included in the traditional range of pies are these two steak and cheese pies, both of which went down very nicely indeed when eaten and rated!



Nice Pie Steak, Ale and Stilton Pie Review

It was the filling that really stood out in these pies, absolutely bursting with meaty steak and beef chunks that were so tender and flavoursome. It really amazes me how they can pack so much meat into these pies, as the capacity is always so full to the brim! The only slight downside is that with so much meat in there it can mean the pastry struggles to hold all the filling in, especially if you try to eat it by hand as I did. This is however a very small criticism as the main thing is to have a packed, flavoursome pie filling and this pie certainly provides that!

Out of the two, the steak and stilton stood out a bit more, with a bit more cheese flavour coming through and the lack of distraction from the onion. But that is really my personal preference, and I would certainly say both were very good pies. I still don’t know quite how they manage to make the meat sooooo tender and flavoursome, unlike a lot of the meat in other pies I eat which can be a bit dry and chewy in places even if the pie filling is very moist. The gravy was pretty much spot on and the cheese flavoured both pies well, yet wasn’t overpowering.

Nice Pie Beef and Cheddar Pie Review

The pastry is nicely golden (although could be a little stronger in colour on the sides/base for piefection) holding in the filling admirably well considering how good the capacity is and moist the filling can be! The shortcrust pastry compliments the pie well and as a whole really is a top product. When nit-picking on the details, the pastry was a little crumbly in places, particularly around the lid to sides join, which became loose upon picking the pie up and eating it, but considering these pies had travelled by post to us it’s hard to be overly critical of this. A slightly crisper side and base pastry would have been ideal but it’s hard to overly fault the quality of these pies.

Once again Nice Pie have done us proud, producing two more Pierate Highly Recommended pies – and while it’s hard to resist the amazing range of exotic pies Nice Pie do, you would certainly be missing out if you didn’t tuck into a more traditional steak and cheese pie from their range when given the chance!

The eager eyed among you will have noticed in our Pie Rankings we've rated a Steak and Stilton pie from Nice Pie a few years ago, which scored a bit lower than this Steak, Ale and Stilton pie. I think this is an encouraging sign they are still striving to improve their pie recipes and also reflects that the individual pies (verses the family pie rated before) are that bit better in terms of pie:filling ratio. I’ve given these two pies today the same score due to the similarity of the fillings and would suggest you choose based on your preference of ale and stilton or onion and cheddar. Or better still, do what I did and have one of each!

Nice Pie Steak, Ale and Stilton Pie and Braised Beef, Roasted Onion and Cheddar Pie
Score: 6.14/7
[Colour 5.75/7; Consistency 6.25/7; Cheapness 5.5/7; Chewiness 6/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6.75/7; Capacity 6.75/7]

RAS

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Square Pie's Rugby Pie World Cup in Grand Central Shopping Centre, Birmingham

Square Pie Rugby Pie World Cup Review



Here at Pierate HQ we’re always big fans of a pie-motion, like the tie in of the Rugby World Cup happening in England with the “Rugby Pie World Cup” happening down at Square Pie right now!

The idea is pretty simple – there’s a new pie to represent each of the 20 competing nations in the Rugby World Cup 2015, which are trying to be crowned the Pie World Cup Champion! Just like the competing rugby nations, the pies are being put through their paces and pitted against each other in a group phase and eventual knock out com-pie-tition, based on pie sales. Intriguing flavours include Chicken Teriyaki for Japan, Springbok Sausage for South Africa and Moose for Canada! It’s also great to see money being raised for the Dallaglio Foundation as part of the contest. More info can be found on the Square Pie website.



Eyes on the pies!

As you may have read from my live blogging recently, a new Square Pie outlet has opened up in Birmingham’s newest shopping centre – Grand Central. Based above the main New Street train station in the heart of Birmingham, it’s great to have an established and Pierate Recommended pie brand such as Square Pie in the centre of the city. I got invited along to try three of the Pie World Cup hopefuls recently to see how they pie rated and these are my thoughts:

Overall – The pastry on all three of these pies held together well, all passing the hand-held test (even if the Steak and Ale was a bit less firm than the others due to the more liquid filling making the base pastry a bit softer). I was impressed that none of these had soggy bottoms though, particularly with the gravy in the steak and ale. The pastry lid was particularly flaky and crisp on all three. There was a bit of a pastry overhang on the lids of these pies and by the time you got to the corners of the pies there was a bit too much pastry to filling – but there’s not really a way of avoiding this in a square product and this doesn’t detract much from the overall enjoyment.

All these special Rugby World Cup pies are the same price as their standard pie range, which I think is quite commendable seeing as, being quite unique flavours, they would be made in smaller, less frequent batches. However at £4.50 for just a pie or £6.50 for a classic meal (pie and 2 regular sides or pie and one large side) prices them as a bit expensive for just a hot pie or meal takeaway, but a reasonably priced option for a restaurant pie. It has to also be remembered that you are in the heart of Birmingham, minutes away from the central train station. There is very much a takeaway vibe to the Grand Central Square Pie shop, with food served in a box to go or eat in their array of seating – both useful options for those using the pie shop to ‘grab and go’ before getting a train. I know I will be!

Wales - Rugby Pie World Cup Review

Wales: Cheese, Leek and Potato (Vegetarian)

There were big potato chunks in the pie, which were quite well cooked, soft and tasty without being mushy. The cheese was noticeable and added flavour alongside the leek, but could have been a bit stronger. There wasn’t really anything to get your teeth into with this pie though, as a result of the potato being quite soft alongside the cheese and leek. This and the runny sauce contrasted quite strongly with the crisp pastry. Slightly smaller chunks of potato and a bit more cheese would have improved this pie a bit. A decent vegetarian pie but quite a standard flavour.

Square Pie Cheese, Leek and Potato Pie
Score: 4.68/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 5, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 4.25, Cheapness 4, Content 4.5, Total: 4.68/7]

Square Pie Fiji Goat Curry Rugby Pie Review

Fiji: Fijian Goat Curry

One of the more unique flavours in the Rugby Pie World Cup, the Goat Curry pie was an interesting one to get my hands on! I’d only had a goat pie once before but that was in a gravy based pie, so the goat curry pie was a lot more dry in comparison to that. The ingredients in the pie apart from the meat were quite moist but there was no real sauce, which meant that the dryness of the meat was quite evident. This isn’t that surprising given my prior experience with goat, which is quite fatty but chewy and quite a dry meat, but this perhaps could have been factored into the pie filling. The meat was also in quite large chunks, which would have been better served spread out in more, smaller chunks in my opinion.

The curry flavour was quite mild but added some flavour. I recognise goat is not the easiest meat to prepare well and overall didn’t mind this pie flavour, but a bit more flavour and leaner, tender meat would improve the pie rating.

Square Pie Fijian Goat Curry Pie
Score: 4.29/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 4.5, Consistency 3.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 3.5, Cheapness 4, Content 4, Total: 4.29/7]

Square Pie England Steak and Ale Rugby Pie Review

England: Dallaglio Foundation Steak and Ale

The steak and ale pie is a classic English flavour, so it’s no sur-pies to see the English pie filled with it. There’s no denying it is a flavour we love here on the Pierate Ship, but that does mean with so many good steak pies eaten the bar is very high. However it was a good hearty effort, with a significant ale flavoured gravy. The gravy was very runny though, which did seem to make the pastry less crisp and sag slightly under the moisture. It was still able to be picked up by hand though, with a fair bit of steak and other filler such as onion to bulk it out. A bit more steak, which was slightly less chewy, and a lower viscosity gravy would raise this even higher up the rankings but still Pierate Recommended.

Square Pie Steak and Ale Pie
Score: 5.07/7
[Colour 5.25, Capacity 5.5, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4, Content 5.5, Total: 5.07/7]


Overall, we’re delighted there is a great new pie shop in the centre of Birmingham and the Rugby Pie World Cup is an ingenious idea to boost the range of pies on sale at Square Pie. With the board on the wall in the Birmingham shop celebrating the 127 flavours of pies made since 2001 – though now needing a massive overhaul following the 20 new types of pie during this Rugby Pie World Cup alone! – it seems clear pies are in good hands at Square Pie!

Grand Central in Birmingham City Centre, home to Square Pie shop

Thank you to Square Pie for hosting us for this Rugby World Cup Pie-Off in Birmingham. We'd already bought and rated Square Pie as Pierate Recommended as we celebrated eating our 100th rated pie there down in London back in 2012, and in 2013 we rated their Chicken, Leak and Wiltshire Ham pie at 5.58/7, which was another Pierate Recommended effort.

RAS

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British Pie Week Special - Could the Four Course Dinner Pie revolutionise pie eating?!

For those who aren't aware, while our main focus on Pierate - Pie Reviews is to rate commercially bought pies on the 7 Cs of pie rating, we do have our good friend The Ship's Cook who bakes pie recipes (or reci-pies) and gives them a rating on the 7 Cs of pie rating too! And while this is normally trying and testing commercially available pie recipes from cook books or websites, as a special #PiePledge for this year's British Pie Week she decided to make her own. Let's see how she got on:

My #PiePledge for British Pie Week was to try out a new pie recipe, so I thought I'd invent one all of my own! As British Pie Week drew to a close, I decided to celebrate in style with a four course meal. But of course this wasn't just any four course meal - this was a four course meal in a pie.

 
Yes, you read that correctly, an entire four course meal encased in delicious pastry!

The Recipe:


I did have to ask for some help on this one, as there was a pretty good chance that at least one course would leak into another through my pastry walls. Thanks to my very clever friends, I ended up with four courses that would work separately and together:

Starter - French onion soup
Main - Pork with apple and mushrooms
Pudding - Apple and raisin
Cheese course - Brie and cranberry

I started by making the pastry case and walls, out of shortcrust pastry because I thought that would be quite sturdy. I then blind baked the case while I made the fillings.



The French onion 'soup' was mostly onions slowly cooked in butter with salt, pepper and some flour, and then I made a very thick beef gravy with Worcestershire sauce to make it more like soup. The pork course was pork mince, onions, mushrooms, apple, salt, pepper and some dried herbs. The pudding (apple and raisin) was Bramley apples, raisins, ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice and brown sugar. Finally, the brie and cranberry was just that - layers of brie with cranberry sauce. I topped the whole thing off with a puff pastry lid, marked it with a series of holes to indicate courses 1- 4 and popped it in the oven until it was brown and crispy.

I'm not sure whether it's fair of me to rate my own pie, but I'm going to give it a go anyway - I'm afraid I am a bit biased and I think it was brilliant!


 The Seven Cs:

Colour: 
I'll be honest - this could have been a bit darker. I got over-excited and couldn't wait any longer to try the pie, so I took it out of the oven a bit early...

Consistency:
Mixed success here but mostly good. The onion soup section was lovely and moist, with soft onion and smooth gravy. The pork mince was a bit dry and needed some sauce. The apple and cheese layers were both moist without being too runny.

Capacity:
I packed this pie pretty tightly with filling, but it still felt like I was eating a lot of pastry. Still, if you're going to eat four courses of pie you probably love pastry, and I certainly didn't mind!

Chewiness:
No unpleasant chewiness here - I think I got it right with the mix of ingredients. The fairly large pieces of onion in the soup course meant it wasn't too runny, and the addition of mushrooms to the pork and raisins to the apple added a nice texture. The cheese was soft and gooey, which is exactly how melted cheese should be.

Content:
I'm giving myself (and my friends who helped with the recipe) full marks here. It was a FOUR COURSE MEAL in a pie, and it was absolutely delicious. 

Cheapness:
This isn't the cheapest pie ever because you have to buy quite a lot of different ingredients, but I did end up with loads of leftover fillings that didn't fit into the pie. So those are in the freezer ready for another meal, and I think the cost was worth it for the impact this pie makes.

Condition:
I was really impressed with this pie. I thought it was going to collapse and end up being an onion-pork-apple-and-cheese pie but amazingly the walls stayed solid and the courses stayed separate. I even managed to get a slice of each course onto a plate so you can see them properly!

Overall, my #PiePledge was a definite success. I strongly recommend that you all go and make your own four course meal pies. Try out different ingredients and let us know what you think! Be prepared to be very full though - I know I am!

The Ship's Cook

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RAS may have tried a squirrel pie, SJL a crocodile pie, and myself a python pie, but there's always room for another exotic pie filling at the web's leading pie review blog. This time, however, have we taken it too far? Have we crossed the line? A tiger pie?

Image: flickr/Thomas S.

No, you'd be absolutely right. It's not real. ASDA certainly isn't selling a real tiger meat pie (although a restaurant in the US was actually selling genuine lion meat tacos for a while). In fact, this pie doesn't contain any meat at all; it's a vegetarian cheese and onion pie. And for that I'm thankful - even a pie-lover like me wouldn't want to eat a real tiger pie.


Out of the oven, you can see why ASDA labelled this a "tiger" pie. Similar to their "tiger bread", the crust of this pie is a striking orangey-brown. It certainly scores well for colour, I think.


Slicing open the pie, one can see that the pie is remarkably well filled for an ASDA pie (recent ASDA pies have been a bit of a let down in the filling department). The content does taste nice and creamy, and is rather delicious for a cheap filling. The pie obviously lacks quality - this pie did only cost about £1 after all - but for a bargain pie I think this product does offer great value.

I probably wouldn't buy it again though as I didn't find it particularly filling, plus I also felt the content was rather mushy and lacked any real substance (or gravy, for that matter). The pastry was crunchy, not at all chewy, and tasted nice - with a slight additional flavour to the glazed lid which was a nice twist. There's not much more I can say about it really, apart from this pie was flavoursome, creamy, and satisfactory.

ASDA Tiger Cheese and Onion Pie
Score: 4.7/7
TJP

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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 Tesco's beef and stilton mini pies!

Tesco Pie Recipe Review

The recipe:

The following pie recipe can be found on the Tesco website. This is a great recipe for novice bakers or people who want (almost) instant pie, because it uses shop-bought pastry and doesn't involve too much preparation or cooking. You also get lots of little pies, which I quite like because it's an excuse to eat several at once.


You can find the full recipe here: http://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/beef-and-stilton-mini-pies.html

Tesco Pie Recipe Review

The 7 Cs of pie rating:

Colour:
These pies are topped with an egg-wash, meaning they come out a lovely golden brown colour.

Consistency:
The red wine, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and tomato purée give these pies a nice thick sauce that isn't quite gravy but adds a nice consistency to the filling, ensuring that the beef isn't too dry. The melted cheese also adds a nice creaminess to the pies.

Capacity:
The recipe tells you to press the filling down firmly in the pie crusts, which means that even though these are mini pies (and could therefore be a bit heavy on the pastry) you get a nice Crust:Filling ratio and lots of delicious beefy, cheesy filling.

Chewiness:
The mince in this pie is cooked in red wine and tomato purée until the liquid is absorbed, meaning it's nice and tender and melts in the mouth. The meltiness of the cheese adds to the smooth texture, and is a nice contrast to the crisp pastry.   

Cheapness:
These score pretty well for cheapness, especially if you're like me and usually have a half-used jar of mustard in the fridge that needs using up. You also get lots of pies - the recipe says fifteen if you use a mini muffin tin, but I used a full sized muffin tin and still got nine. We had two each for dinner with vegetables and gravy, so depending on how many people you're feeding you might even get a second dinner from this recipe.

Content:
In my opinion you can't really go wrong with beef and cheese, and these pies tasted like a cross between cheeseburgers and bolognese sauce (yum). This is a bit different to your usual mince and onion pie and the melting cheese is probably the best bit - the mustard was a bit overpowering so I'd suggest you use less mustard and more cheese.

Condition:
My pies didn't look quite as neat as those in the original photo, but they were a proper, appealing pie shape and they held their shape even when I cut into them. The filling leaked out a little bit, but the little individual pies still looked very tempting once they were out of the tin.

Tesco Pie Recipe Review

The Ship's Cook

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Cracking in to the pie, the pastry gives way nicely - it's crisp and not too soft. There is a slight air gap, however - the pie isn't filled completely to capacity. The pie also isn't particularly big - I think you would certainly want this as part of a meal rather than as a meal in itself. However, I see that the filling is of good quality, with lots of nice chunks of steak and some mushrooms too.


Eating the pastry, I realise this is some of the best pastry I've had. It has a wonderful crispy layer on the outside, and melts in your mouth as you bite into it. The content also tastes delicious. The ale comes through quite strongly, I feel, which personally I like but others made find it too strong. The steak is not chewy. I really like the taste of this pie, and the pastry is excellent. However it is a little let down by its air-gap and its cost (which, at £3.50 a pie I think is maybe a bit on the expensive side for not a particularly big pie).

Colour: 7
Condition: 6.5
Content: 6.2
Capacity: 4
Chewiness: 6.4
Consistency: 6.2
Cheapness: 5

Grumpies of Cornwall Steak and Ale pie
Score: 5.9/7
TJP


Next up is the pie that most intrigues me - the Blue Cheese and Walnut. (Side note: As Matthew over at Food and Geography will no doubt tell you, Stilton is a protected food name so any blue cheese not made in a specific geographical area can't be called Stilton). Just when I was going to suggest that Grumpies use a local Cornish blue cheese, I check their website and see that they do just that! Yes, apparently it's a creamy Cornish blue in this pie - excellent, we love it when companies use local produce.




I must say, this pie is probably rather an acquired taste - I love blue cheese (and I think everyone should!) but I know many people that would run a mile at the sound of blue cheese and walnut. I might also add that the filling also doesn't look 100% appetising, and was a little runny, I felt.

Nonetheless, I would heartily recommend you give this pie a shot. It's delicious and the pastry is excellent.

Colour: 7
Condition: 6.5
Content: 5.2
Capacity: 4
Chewiness: 6.5
Consistency: 5.2
Cheapness: 5

Grumpies of Cornwall Blue Cheese and Walnut Pie
Score: 5.63/7
TJP

And now onto the Chicken, Gammon and Leek.
Similar to the other two pies, this pie is of perfect colour and condition. Can't wait to tuck in!

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Pieminister have added 'Lighter Pies' to their range - seemingly in response to a growing consumer trend towards lower calorie options. The range includes "light as a feta" - a butternut squash, feta and sundried tomato pie, "kooky chook" - a free range British chicken, sweet potato, coconut and chilli pie, and "chickalito" - a free range British chicken and dry cured ham pie. But what happens when a "lighter" pie is literally lighter, yet still costs the same?

Pieminister Pie Review - Chickalito

Today, and also previously, under the Pierate knife is the Chickalito pie. It's a pie that is (literally) surrounded with controversy. With these new lighter pies, Pieminister have made the significant decision to do away with the pastry lid, instead opting for a herb and seed crumb topping. For instance, here the chickalito's chicken, ham, courgette and celeriac filling is topped off with a pine nut, sunflower seed, basil and Parmesan crumb.



Pieminister Pie Review - Light as a Feta

Retailing at £3.50, this is at the more premium end of the supermarket pie spectrum, and as already discussed, there is some controversy over pricing this 240g pie the same as a regular 270g pie. I bought this pie from a stall, and spooned only a little gravy on the top.

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Lidl Deluxe Steak and Stilton Pie Review

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Homemade Cheese Pie Review

Just before Christmas I was – out of the blue - provided with a cheese pie by Rhi, a colleague at work, who had obtained a homemade cheese pie at a work Christmas buffet. Not sure where she got the idea from that I liked pies?!

Anyways, unfortunately the maker of this pie has remained elusive, despite Rhi’s best efforts, but I thought it was a very nice homemade pie and worthy of review. While it won’t make it onto the pie rankings due to not being a commercially available pie, it was very nice! So thank you mystery pie baker!!!



Condition - 5 - clearly homemade - not quite circular and a bit of filling leakage from out of the lid, but excellent crimping on the pie edge and lid edge

Colour - 5 - slightly pale but pretty good colour

Capacity - 4 - rather too much air inside, though that said the ratio of crust:filling in the mouth was pretty spot on!


Content - 4 - The cheese was nice - had a good strong, distinct flavour without being overpowering. However it did get a little boring after a while - could have done with something to compliment the cheese (e.g. ham)

Cheapness – 6 (estimated) - Technically free for me - as an item at a buffet - but could not determine the actual price. I imagine this was not to expensive due to the filling just being cheese

Chewiness - 6.5 - Not chewy at all. Had a nice bite to it

Consistency - 5 - Quite a nice consistency to the pie, though the flavour did get a bit boring after a while.

Total = 5.07 / 7

RAS

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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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Bergamo (Italy) Ham and Cheese Pie Review

The penultimate day of my pie hunt in Italy saw me scouting out the shops of Pavia, to the south of Milan, followed by Bergamo to the north. We quickly passed up from Bergamo bassa (the sprawling modern city) to Bergamo alta (the old town, up on the hillside) on the funicular in order to take in the nicer scenery and quaint narrow streets and shops on the hillside. It was there we spotted our first meat pie of the whole trip - having spotted a number of sweet pies in Rome (called Crostatine) and an apple pie in Milan.

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