And the winner of the British Pie Awards 2017 is… a pie!!!

Read all the winners on the British Pie Awards website

We never thought we’d have to start any review of the British Pie Awards with such an obvious statement! But then again, we never seriously though that the British Pie Awards (or should I say British Pie and Pasty Awards?!) would let a pasty enter, let alone award a pasty the title! But then this happened:


"Controversy as a pasty triumphs at the British Pie Awards" – headlined the Telegraph, who happened to include quotes from world leading pie review blog Pierate Pie Reviews

"The winner of the 2016 British Pie Awards is…a pasty" – headlined the Metro, who happened to include quotes from world leading pie review blog Pierate Pie Reviews

Heck, even the Plymouth Herald newspaper chipped in with “Outrage as pasty from CUMBRIA wins British Pie Award” – oh and for the record, they also referenced the world leading pie review blog Pierate Pie Reviews!

The Regional Pies Class at the British Pie Awards 2017

So after all the controversy surrounding the British Pie Awards 2016, which of course meant we couldn’t review the Supreme Champion for the first time since 2013 - as we’d never touch a pasty with a barge pole – you can imagine our relief when the overall winner was announced as a pie! And not just any pie, but a Pierate Highly Recommended pie that we’d rated a few years ago!

So many congratulations to the Supreme Champion pie from the British Pie Awards 2017 – the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie from Dickinson and Morris.

At 6.15/7 it was awarded Pierate Highly Recommended status when Pierateer SJL pie rated it in 2014. Certainly deserving of awards, the British Pie Awards compare Stephen Hallam must be delighted to not only help run the awards but sell Dickinson and Morris Melton Mowbray Pork Pies at his local shop in the town centre, Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe! You can imagine there will be an increase in sales follow this title win, and in a recent email sent out from the company they said they were “supremely proud” to announce they had been crowned Supreme Champion!



But the British Pie Awards were about far more than just the Supreme champion! With a bit under 900 pies rated by over 100 judges, there were 21 different classes (20 of them being pie classes and one non-pie class) to munch and rate in a busy few hours on Wednesday 8th March 2017! The venue may have changed – with St Mary’s Church unable to be used due to renovation of the church this year – but the outline was the same. Briefing, judging and collating the best pies on the Wednesday, followed by the crowning of class and overall supreme champion on Friday 10th March.



Some of the pie-lights this year included:

- The Chicken, Leek and Parmesan Pie from Ben’s Kitchen winning the Small Producer award – one we’ll have to try and pie rate soon!

- Our number one pie maker – Chris from MyPie London – both winning the class and having another in the top 3 in the Vegetarian pie class, to compliment the Steak, Venison and Minced Beef meat pies that he has in the top 10 (out of 600) in the Pierate Pie Rankings! We rated the vegetarian class winner – MyPie’s Sweet Potato and Goat’s Cheese – as Pierate Recommended with 5.93/7!

Nice Pie's Beef in Red Wine with Roasted Marrow Bone Pie

- The Pierate highly regarded Nice Pie (who we have rated countless Pierate Recommended Pies from) winning the Beef and any other flavour class for their Beef in Red Wine with Roasted Marrow Bone Pie – one we are going to be reviewing very soon! They also won the Chicken and vegetable/herb and the chicken and any other meat pie classes too! Nice job!!!

- Graham Aimson, head chef at Morecambe FC, once again doing well with a “Highly Commended” (aka top 3) pie in the sports pie (Steak and Ale) and dessert pie (Bramley Apple) classes. This follows their supreme champion wins in 2014 and 2011. Consistency!

- There were also a few mass-producer surprises, with Pukka Pies being “Highly Commended” in the Beef and Ale Class and Ginsters being “Highly Commended” in the non-pie class! Not sure what that says about the entrants in the non-pie class!!!

- And finally the British Pie Awards avoided having controversy for a second consecutive year by clarifying that the second and third placed pies in the Meat and Potato class – namely a “Peppered Steak Pie” and a “Beef Stew Pie” – did actually contain potato! Despite the names, they met the class requirement of having a content of potato (the levels of potato are not specified in the rules of the British Pie Awards).

The Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, from where the Supreme Champion came!

All in all, it was another hugely successful year for the British Pie Awards, and this time for all the right reasons! I particularly enjoyed chatting with TV chef Phil Vickery (who cooks on ITV's "This Morning" show), but also meeting and chatting to lots of friends of the blog, such as Nik Speller, #AwayDayPieGirl Katie Peal, Martin Tarbuck and Jonny Smith. This also included our com-pie-tition winners Anya, Charlie, Jessica and Katie - who won the chance to judge at the Awards and write for the sports pie blog called the "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pies" - plus we had a good chat with butchr.net creator Jamie, looking to grow a website he’s designed to bring butchers and meat industry professionals together.

The girls made a vlog of their experience at the British Pie Awards which you can watch on their website

With the nation’s pies judged for another year, you’d think that was it til next British Pie Week. But of course any of you who’ve read Pierate Pie Reviews before will know that British Pie Week and the British Pie Awards are just the start of things for us. We’ll be judging and rating pies all year round, so check back again soon!

RAS

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Dickinson & Morris - Pork Pie Review

There is a legendary pie company in Melton Mowbray who run a special pork pie shop in the town called 'Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe'. This puts them in pride of place in the home of Melton Mowbray pork pies. This company goes by the name of Dickinson & Morris and has been baking pork pies since 1851. This means they are the oldest remaining baker of traditional Melton Mowbrays in the town. In 1992 they were bought by Samworth Brothers and their pies can now be found in Nationwide supermarket chains. They are still some of the best Melton's around, with Dickinson & Morris often winning at the British Pie Awards. They also play a large part in the organisation of the British Pie Awards being one of the few members of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association which is based in Melton.


We have already reviewed their pork pies, giving the Mini Melton Mowbray 'Pierate Highly Recommended' status. You might think that this is it for Dickinson & Morris reviews as they only make pork pies. However, we recently reviewed their Creamy Chicken pie giving it 'Pierate Recommended' status which shows there is more to Melton Mowbray than just pork pies! They also do a range of different sizes of pork pie. I can understand that some might question whether we should give a separate review to a different size of the same pork pie. But this would be to forget one of the most important aspects of our Seven C's scoring system which is the Capacity of the pie. A different size pie clearly has a different Capacity and hence a different filling to patry ratio. The filling to pastry ratio is integral to what makes a pie special and finding the right balance is part of the Holy Grail in producing the ultimate pie. Hence, after Dickinson & Morris were so good as to send a box of pies to support our pie for every meal challenge I thought they deserved another review! Having sent 16 pies, in 5 different sizes you will be pleased to know I am not going to review them all (that would be tedious), but just my favourite. I ate this pie for lunch on Day Three and Day Seven of the challenge. Have a look at the videos below to see what I thought.


I don't know if anyone else feels the same but I prefer to have a small pork pie rather than a slice of a big pork pie. There is something satisfying about biting into a whole pork pie which you don't get with sharing a big pie. There is also a more equal filling to pastry ratio with the smaller pork pies, whereas the big pork pies are dominated by the filling. A bigger Capacity isn't always better, it is about getting the perfect filling to pastry ratio. I find that the Individual size pork pie gets it just right. The mini pork pies reviewed before could do with being a little bit more satisfying to be the perfect pie, but hey, that is exactly what the individual pork pies do! Other than that, it is the same peppery flavour that the small version had. To find out more about what makes a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie special, see our 'What is a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie?' article.

Condition - 7 out of 7 - Pork pies in the post but in perfect condition, why not buy online at www.porkpie.co.uk? They look delightfully rustic, despite now being mass produced.
Colour - 7 out of 7 - I can't imagine a better Colour for a pork pie, a deep, crisp brown.
Cheapness - 4 out of 7 - £1.30 online, sometimes cheaper in supermarkets, not the cheapest but decent value for a 140g pork pie which packed in 542 kcal.
Capacity - 6 out of 7 - This pie had a great pastry to filling ratio but lost some appearance points due to the air gap which could have been filled with more jelly. It contained 38% pork.
Chewiness - 7 out of 7 - The perfect contrast in texture from crunchy pastry to soft filling.
Content - 5.5 out of 7 - A great balance of flavour with these pies being better seasoned than most. Hard to score a pork pie a full score for content.
Consistency - 6.6 out of 7 - Consistently good, even after eating a few

Individual Pork Pie (Dickinson & Morris)
6.15/7

SJL

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