With England playing Italy in the Group Stage of the World Cup 2014, it's not just the players on the pitch getting a rating. Oh no! We couldn't let these two European heavyweights battle it out without some reference to their pie line ups! So here it is: our first World Cup Pie-Off!

The World Cup Pie-Off idea is simple – a straight head-to-head between the top rated pies from England and Italy.



But before we start, one thing that may surprise you is that Italy even make pies! After all, they’re better known for their pizza and pasta dishes. But when taking a recent holiday to Italy, Pierateer RAS did a “When in Rome” pie hunt and found some fruit pies. That was added to when he moved on to Milan and found a Milanese Apple Pie, before rounding off his pie hunt with a Ham and Cheese pie in Bergamo.




England, on the other hand, need no pie introductions! After all, we made the pie famous. Think England and you think pie! One of the nation’s top dishes, pies are of course also synonymous when it comes to football. Who can resist the half time pie?!

We’ve rated over 370 pies so far, and the vast majority of them have been from England. And while there are sadly a few there that have let the side down, there are some pies with world class talent too, including our number one rated pie – Pauls’ Pies Steak and Guinness Pie.

So onto the pie-off and here are the results of the top 3 pies from each country (click on the pies for the full review):

Rank	England Pie	Score	vs	Score	Italy Pie
1	Paul's Pies Steak and Guinness	6.73	-	4.94	Salumeria Gastronomia Angelo Mangili “Torta Valdostana” (Ham and Cheese Pie)
2	King's Farm All Steak	6.7	-	4.43	Il Forno dei Navigli “Charlotte” (Apple Pie)
3	Paul's Pies Chicken and Mushroom	6.55	-	4	Zucchero e Farina Strawberry (Fragola) Crostatine

As expected, England take a clean sweep, with all three of their pies scoring significantly higher than Italy’s top efforts on our Seven Cs. Whether that is the case on the football field, we will see in the early hours of 15th June!

And it seems that we're not the only guys having a World Cup food contest! For alongside our Pie-Offs, the Great British BBQ website are having their own World Cup Sausage contest called "El Sausageo 2014". To see which sizzling sausage wins in their World Cup match offs, visit the El Sausageo website!

RAS

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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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If you aren’t already aware, I’d already searched the streets of Rome for a pie in the days prior to being in Milan. After all, I’m sure we’ve all heard of the phrase "When in Rome... do as the Romans do." But of course this phrase doesn't literally limit you to doing Romanesque things while visiting Rome. It's a wider phrase referencing that you should try to accommodate the culture you're in.

However what about if you’re in Milan, not Rome? Sure, we know the Romans liked their pies, but do the people of Milan? Well there was only one way to find out – a pie hunt in Milan!

And having taken a whole day to find a pie when in Rome, it was only about 20 minutes after getting off the Metro in Porta Genova, one of the party suburbs of Milan, that we spotted “Il Forno dei Navigli” bakery - and in particular an apple pie called a “Charlotte” in their window. Of course I went and bought one...



Pie Window Shopping in Milan

The pie was sold by weight and cost just over €3 (from €20 per kg) for what was not a massive, individual pie, but certainly larger than a typical Mr Kipling pie in the UK. It came covered in sugar, rather controversially hiding whether or not it was a tart or fully encased pie! However fear not pie fans - the pastry product was fully encased in pastry and was therefore happily snapped up!

I've already mentioned the pie was not that cheap at just over €3, however the capacity was very strong, full of bite-sized apple chunks. Also, regarding the content, there was a slight hint of lemon throughout the pie, which certainly made it unique compared to other apple pies I've eaten but I think ultimately there is a reason why lemon is not traditionally added!



I had some AC-E pie when I went Inter Milan...

The colour of the pastry was slightly on the pale side, once you removed the sugar coating, but crumbled nicely upon biting and held the pie contents together well. The pie wasn't chewy and was very consistent with apple filling throughout. However I'm unsure why this pie was presented with so much sugar on top, hiding the lid, as this rather spoilt the condition.

Overall, I'm delighted to see a fully encased pie being sold in Milan but it didn't blow me away. While the Milanese pie scores slightly higher than the Roma pie due to being a fully encased pie with proper fruit filling rather than just jam, taste and cost-wise I'd rather have a Crostatine from Rome again as it felt more unique to Italy.

Il Forno dei Navigli “Charlotte” (Apple Pie)
Score: 4.43/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 6, Consistency 4, Condition 4, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 3, Content 4, Total: 4.43/7]
RAS

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I expect many of you have heard the expression "When in Rome" but perhaps not all of you know the full phrase: "When in Rome... do as the Romans do." Of course this phrase doesn't literally limit you to doing Romanesque things while visiting Rome. It's a wider phrase referencing that you should try to accommodate the culture you're in. So in Britain, it would call on you to do as the British do and eat meat pie!

However what about if you ARE in Rome? In fact, what did the Romans actually do?! Well, quite a few things actually, thanks for asking! The Romans are widely regarded as devising road systems (for linking conquered towns), postal services, wayside inns, sewers and loos, amongst other things.



Pierate Ship sailing into Rome via the Aquaduct

But the most important thing is that the Romans loved pie! (Let's face it - who doesn't?!) This is not only referenced on Wikipedia's pie article but also in the - dare I say it - more reliable source "De re coquinaria" which was written in the Third Century and is a collection of three hundred recipes attributed to the famous Apicius, which includes meat pies alongside elaborate dishes such as flamingo (now there's a pie filling I wouldn't mind trying!)

So with five days in Rome, I took the literal interpretation of "When in Rome" and went on a pie hunt! Here documents my travels:

Giorno Uno (Day 1)



Colosseum in Rome

Arriving in Rome city centre early evening, we dumped our bags and headed out to a local restaurant. Unfortunately there was no pie on their menu, but a good selection of pasta, pizza and meat dishes as standard. A walk around the city centre that evening took in, amongst other things, the Colosseum and Trevi fountain. (Not typical landmarks in every city centre...)

Giorno Due (Day 2)

Good morning from Italy! VatiCAN you guess which city I'm going on a #piehunt in? ColuSEEum you later! #WhenInRome
— Pierate (@pierateers) November 19, 2013

After a nice, pastry filled breakfast (sadly missing a pie though) we had an early start to day two, as we wanted to ensure maximum time in the Vatican Museums because we thought it closed at 1pm. Turns out it didn't close that early... but that's fine, because it gave me extra time to hunt the various cafes on site for pie. Sadly it seems that pie was not pope-ular, as I couldn't find one anywhere. However I did have time to see what a Popemobile might look like if the pope was a pie fan.

After another meal - this time a late lunch - which had no pie but some very good lasagne and veal, we headed up to the Vatican itself, had a look round, sat in a mass service and then took some cheesy photos outside (as you do). 

Vatican

On the way back into Rome that night we happened to pass a patisserie shop called Zucchero e Farina, which I thought rude not to check out. Turns out it was a master stroke, as there before me lay the pastry beauties I was here to try. Now before we get totally carried away here, I hasten to add that these were only lattice topped pies. But let's face it, beggars can't be choosers and I certainly wasn't going to wait! These lattice topped pies were called Crostatine and were €1,70 each. The pie would be saved to eat the following day but were eventually rated as 4/7.

That evening was rounded off with a trip into a pizza shop we passed in the pouring rain back to the hotel. (Pie hunting isn't all glitz and glamour in the sunshine, you know!)

Giorno Tre (Day 3)

With the sun back out and a Palatine Hill to conquer, we set off for a day out amongst the ruins of the Roman Forum. For those who don't know, this would have been a place of hustle and bustle which no doubt many a Roman pie seller would have frequented in the porticos (roofed walkways held up by columns) of the area. Sadly there were none out selling pies during my visit.



Temple in the Roman Forum

Fortunately though I had a pie in the bag (quite literally!) so I enjoyed wandering around the ruins of the Palatine Hill with pie in hand. You can read the pie review here.

After a very late pizza lunch, we decided it was too late to enter the Colosseum but would instead do that the day after. The late afternoon and early evening was instead spent in the oldest museum in the world - the Capitoline Museum. Dinner followed in the Trastevere region, where I had lamb chops and some of the best roast potatoes I've ever eaten! Sadly no meat pie though!

Giorno Quattro (Day 4)

We thought we might as well go to the Colosseum (well... when in Rome and all that!) so that kicked off day 4. While we had seen it in the dark on the first evening, it was far more spectacular when inside! Sure, it would have been nicer if a quarter of it hadn't been hidden behind scaffolding, however it was still a marvellous sight to behold!

Alongside the standard gladiatorial battles people are probably aware took place in there, it was interesting to find out the Colosseum was sometimes flooded with water and epic sea battles would take place with ships built especially for the show! Perhaps the following will help you visualise that a bit more:



Example of an e-pie-c sea battle in the Colosseum

Of course, you don't need me to tell you that the Pierate Ship won this particular battle!

Also, interestingly we found out citizens of Rome would sometimes take in cooking stoves and food to eat while they watched! Wonder if many pies were consumed amongst the 60-70,000 strong crowd?!

More pizza for lunch followed before a trip to the Pantheon, Trevi fountain (in daylight) and Spanish Steps. Once again I had a lovely meat dish but sadly no pastry encasement to improve the meal!

Giorno Cinque (Day 5)

After an early breakfast to make the most of our morning, we took a short metro trip down to the Museo della Civilta Romana, which is a very interesting museum out of the city centre featuring many scale models of various buildings and items related to Rome and the Romans. Well worth a visit, especially to see the huge 1:250 scale model of the city of Rome, built in the 1930s based on maps made at the time of Constantine around 313 AD.

Getting back to Roma Termini to catch our train to Milan, we stopped for lunch in the station. Sadly the McDonalds in the train station did not sell apple pies - a staple for many a McDonalds store across the world (though not always actually a pie!)

And with us departing to Milan on the train, there ends our 'When in Rome' pie hunt! Success! - though not the highest scoring pie. I would certainly have another one though, if I ever wanted to 'do what the Romans do' again. Next stop Milan!

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When In Rome Pie Hunt result from Zucchero e Farina


The local term for them was Crostatine, which were pastry base and sides, filled with jam (in my case, strawberry) and then a pastry lattice on top. The depth wasn't huge, it has to be said, but you could tell the base and the sides apart (unlike you could with a slice). What rescued it from just being a tart (another rival to pie in the culinary world and quite popular in Rome) was the pastry lattice lid, keeping at least some of the content under wraps.

The pastry was quite crumbly and I certainly felt I left far too much pie pastry on the floor rather than in my mouth! Not ideal but at least the pastry I did eat was good! While a little dry, it held together well, securely holding the filling and allowing easy transportation. The lattice lid ensured my filling did not encase the paper bag it came in, which was good as I had big plans for taking the photo below:

VatiCAN you see the famous landmark in the background?!

So the score then:

The consistency was okay, with the thick, drier pastry and the soft, moist strawberry jam holding together nicely as I bit into the pie. The content tasted fine but with it just consisting of strawberry jam it certainly didn't give me a taste sensation. I'd have preferred they did something a bit more exciting with it than just strawberry jam!

At €1,70 this wasn't particularly cheap either for an individual pie but the shop was selling in central Rome. The condition of the pie was quite good and sold in a nice paper case, but as previously stated I couldn't fully assess the capacity as sadly wasn't fully encased. The pie certainly wasn't filled very deeply with jam though, so the score is minimal. The pie (and certainly the jam filling) wasn't chewy and the colour was good.

Zucchero e Farina Strawberry (Fragola) Crostatine
Score: 4/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 2, Consistency 4, Condition 4, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 3, Content 3, Total: 4/7]
RAS

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