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Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meat. Show all posts
Friday, 13 January 2017
Billy's Bakehouse - Aussie Pies from The Netherlands!
Billy's Bakehouse - Pie Reviews
You might think that after 7 years of eating and reviewing pies it has become a bit repetitive. Surely there is only so much that can happen when reviewing various pastry packages? But, like the fillings themselves, the whole experience continues to lead to the unexpected. One of these more random experiences was when an Australian from the Netherlands gave me 21 pies in Birmingham on my way to Northampton. Now let me explain...
Darren comes from a small coastal town in Australia but has been living in the Netherlands for over 20 years. Unfortunately the Dutch are not into pies and Darren missed the pies he used to get in Australia. Like us, he found many of the frozen pies he could import from the UK were not up to scratch. His Dad was a butcher and his Mum a pie lady so with this background he thought he would try and make his own. When other people tried his pies, they quickly caught on. He soon started a business making fresh pies for pubs and doing festivals during the times of year when his building work was quieter. Given that demand was varied, fresh pies would spoil before being used so Darren started making frozen pies with the emphasis on making them quick to cook on demand. The brand Billy's Bakehouse was born, marketed as producing authentic Australian pies. He also decided to make an affordable, everyday pie rather than a premium gourmet pie. The pies are small so that they can be eaten with one hand and to open up the market to younger pie fans and women who typically would want a smaller pie.
It struck me that Darren has really thought about his market, more so than most pie makers I come across. From my experience, it does feel he has identified a bit of a gap in the market. Sales are good for Darren, particularly at music festivals, but there is one problem. The Dutch have no idea about pies! A meat pie in particular is not a concept they are familiar with, so to make headway with Dutch supermarkets he has his work cut out. Hence Darren has an ambitious plan to break into the UK market somehow, be that via a franchise or importing pies. This brought him over to chat to some companies and he also decided to contact the Pierateers to get our opinion!
We met for a coffee at Birmingham New Street station. Darren said he would be easy to spot as he would be the one with the esky. Hmm.... only problem is I didn't know what that was. Turns out it is an Aussie name for a coolbox. I brought my own cool bag to take some pies with me as I was on my way to visit friends in Northampton. I didn't expect that Darren would be giving me the whole coolbox filled with 21 pies! The coolbox was a slightly random thing to turn up at someone's house with, fortunately my friend had a big chest freezer! (This event only added to my reputation as being completely obsessed with pies.)
Darren claimed to have come up with a unique way of making the frozen pastry work. He said that coming at it from a non-culinary background had allowed him to think outside the box. He didn't let me in on the secret but said it was a bit unusual. Hopefully nothing too weird though!
Darren gave me detailed instructions for how to cook the pies. They must be cooked in the foil and on a baking tray. He also specified the relatively high temperature of 200°C. It felt like it was a bit of a science experiment rather than baking a pie. I was glad he gave me 21 pies so I could make sure I got some right! It also allowed me to share some with Pierateer Rob. (I meant to give him meat pies and chicken pies but turns out they were all meat, oops.) Whilst I tried to follow the instructions, perhaps there was some variability to the oven because some cooked better than others. Some had perhaps been slightly defrosted in their travels which meant they weren't quite at their best.
When they did cook right though, the pastry was very good, especially given that it was frozen. It was slightly flaky but with a bit of crunch. There was a nice buttery taste to the pastry. As Pierateer Rob observed, it was nice that the sides and base cooked well too, there were no soggy bottoms here! It is actually quite unusual to achieve this for a frozen pie. This meant the pies held together well making them ideal to eat by hand. I can see they would work well as a festival pie.
The pies retail for €2.79 for a box of 2 in supermarkets, putting them just above £1 each at post-referendum rates. This is competitive with other companies such as Birdseye which dominate the frozen brands in this country. At festivals the offers vary but they tend to be around €3.20 each. This is cheap compared to pies at event we go to (like the football where prices tend to be #PieHighPrices).
But onto the fillings! I was given four different flavours, meat, spicy meat, chicken and veggie.
Meat
5.35/7
SJL/RAS
The meat was minced beef which is the traditional Aussie style. Darren said this is the pie he would always try first to see if a pie maker is worth their crust. Whilst we do tend to prefer bigger meat chunks on the Pierate Ship this has allowed Darren to make these pies both good quality and affordable. Whilst it was minced meat, it was still in relatively big pieces. This indicated the quality of the meat was better than most minced meat pies where the meat is ground so fine there is nothing at all to chew. The flavour was fairly simple, meaty with little seasoning, but not too much. The seasoning was different (in a good way) to the average meat pie in the UK, but my palette is not refined enough to determine what the differences were. I was, as advertised, a classic Aussie meat pie at an affordable price!
Spicy Meat
5.35/7
SJL
The same type of meat as the standard meat pie but this one packed more of a punch. To me, it tasted like someone had injected a meat pie with chip shop curry sauce and then added a bit more pepper and chili to make sure it was hot enough. Again, it didn't do anything fancy, it was simple but effective. I couldn't choose between this and the meat pie as my favourite, it depends on how you feel on the day.
Chicken & Mushroom
4.85
SJL
The flavour of this pie was so much nicer than your average chicken and mushroom pie in this price range. It was a world away from the horrible grey gloop that you often find. There was plenty of leek which added of flavour with a good amount of salt. The mushroom added nicely to the texture and variety of the pie without over powering the flavours. It seemed like a different variety of mushroom to what we typically eat in the UK. The chicken was in quite small pieces but just about big enough to get your teeth into. Unfortunately, the sauce was a bit too thin for me which, was surprising when the others had quite a thick sauce. Hence, it lost marks against Consistency. The leek was also a little Chewy which detracted from the texture. A shame when it did some aspects very well.
Potato & Sweet Potato
4.50
SJL
Given the choice of filling, it is not too surprising that this was quite a soft pie. It had a consistency like a cheese & onion pie or a butter pie. There was again, a welcome flavour from the leek, so this pie avoided being bland. There was, of course, not much to chew, this type of pie slips down too easily to be something I would choose regularly, but it was tasty enough to eat again. Perhaps as a 'side' to one of the meat pies, it would be a bit like pie and mash then!
So to summarise, the Aussie pies from the Netherlands turned out to be pretty good! The Meat and Spicy Meat both receive Pierate Recommended status. Given the business trip to UK, perhaps we will one day see Billy's Bakehouse pies on these shores, there is certainly an appetite for this kind of pie in the UK, but probably more com-pie-tition in the market place too. It strikes me that these would be
perfect pies to eat at football matches. They cook quickly, they are easy to hold in your hand and for the most part the hold together very well. For some reason in England, most football pies tend to be stodgy and gloopy affairs that make a mess everywhere. Here's hoping that a club signs this talented foreigner up! We wish Darren and Billy's Bakehouse good luck in the future.
SJL
You might think that after 7 years of eating and reviewing pies it has become a bit repetitive. Surely there is only so much that can happen when reviewing various pastry packages? But, like the fillings themselves, the whole experience continues to lead to the unexpected. One of these more random experiences was when an Australian from the Netherlands gave me 21 pies in Birmingham on my way to Northampton. Now let me explain...
Darren comes from a small coastal town in Australia but has been living in the Netherlands for over 20 years. Unfortunately the Dutch are not into pies and Darren missed the pies he used to get in Australia. Like us, he found many of the frozen pies he could import from the UK were not up to scratch. His Dad was a butcher and his Mum a pie lady so with this background he thought he would try and make his own. When other people tried his pies, they quickly caught on. He soon started a business making fresh pies for pubs and doing festivals during the times of year when his building work was quieter. Given that demand was varied, fresh pies would spoil before being used so Darren started making frozen pies with the emphasis on making them quick to cook on demand. The brand Billy's Bakehouse was born, marketed as producing authentic Australian pies. He also decided to make an affordable, everyday pie rather than a premium gourmet pie. The pies are small so that they can be eaten with one hand and to open up the market to younger pie fans and women who typically would want a smaller pie.
It struck me that Darren has really thought about his market, more so than most pie makers I come across. From my experience, it does feel he has identified a bit of a gap in the market. Sales are good for Darren, particularly at music festivals, but there is one problem. The Dutch have no idea about pies! A meat pie in particular is not a concept they are familiar with, so to make headway with Dutch supermarkets he has his work cut out. Hence Darren has an ambitious plan to break into the UK market somehow, be that via a franchise or importing pies. This brought him over to chat to some companies and he also decided to contact the Pierateers to get our opinion!
We met for a coffee at Birmingham New Street station. Darren said he would be easy to spot as he would be the one with the esky. Hmm.... only problem is I didn't know what that was. Turns out it is an Aussie name for a coolbox. I brought my own cool bag to take some pies with me as I was on my way to visit friends in Northampton. I didn't expect that Darren would be giving me the whole coolbox filled with 21 pies! The coolbox was a slightly random thing to turn up at someone's house with, fortunately my friend had a big chest freezer! (This event only added to my reputation as being completely obsessed with pies.)
Darren claimed to have come up with a unique way of making the frozen pastry work. He said that coming at it from a non-culinary background had allowed him to think outside the box. He didn't let me in on the secret but said it was a bit unusual. Hopefully nothing too weird though!
Darren gave me detailed instructions for how to cook the pies. They must be cooked in the foil and on a baking tray. He also specified the relatively high temperature of 200°C. It felt like it was a bit of a science experiment rather than baking a pie. I was glad he gave me 21 pies so I could make sure I got some right! It also allowed me to share some with Pierateer Rob. (I meant to give him meat pies and chicken pies but turns out they were all meat, oops.) Whilst I tried to follow the instructions, perhaps there was some variability to the oven because some cooked better than others. Some had perhaps been slightly defrosted in their travels which meant they weren't quite at their best.
When they did cook right though, the pastry was very good, especially given that it was frozen. It was slightly flaky but with a bit of crunch. There was a nice buttery taste to the pastry. As Pierateer Rob observed, it was nice that the sides and base cooked well too, there were no soggy bottoms here! It is actually quite unusual to achieve this for a frozen pie. This meant the pies held together well making them ideal to eat by hand. I can see they would work well as a festival pie.
The pies retail for €2.79 for a box of 2 in supermarkets, putting them just above £1 each at post-referendum rates. This is competitive with other companies such as Birdseye which dominate the frozen brands in this country. At festivals the offers vary but they tend to be around €3.20 each. This is cheap compared to pies at event we go to (like the football where prices tend to be #PieHighPrices).
But onto the fillings! I was given four different flavours, meat, spicy meat, chicken and veggie.
Meat
5.35/7
SJL/RAS
The meat was minced beef which is the traditional Aussie style. Darren said this is the pie he would always try first to see if a pie maker is worth their crust. Whilst we do tend to prefer bigger meat chunks on the Pierate Ship this has allowed Darren to make these pies both good quality and affordable. Whilst it was minced meat, it was still in relatively big pieces. This indicated the quality of the meat was better than most minced meat pies where the meat is ground so fine there is nothing at all to chew. The flavour was fairly simple, meaty with little seasoning, but not too much. The seasoning was different (in a good way) to the average meat pie in the UK, but my palette is not refined enough to determine what the differences were. I was, as advertised, a classic Aussie meat pie at an affordable price!Spicy Meat
5.35/7
SJL
The same type of meat as the standard meat pie but this one packed more of a punch. To me, it tasted like someone had injected a meat pie with chip shop curry sauce and then added a bit more pepper and chili to make sure it was hot enough. Again, it didn't do anything fancy, it was simple but effective. I couldn't choose between this and the meat pie as my favourite, it depends on how you feel on the day.Chicken & Mushroom
4.85
SJL
The flavour of this pie was so much nicer than your average chicken and mushroom pie in this price range. It was a world away from the horrible grey gloop that you often find. There was plenty of leek which added of flavour with a good amount of salt. The mushroom added nicely to the texture and variety of the pie without over powering the flavours. It seemed like a different variety of mushroom to what we typically eat in the UK. The chicken was in quite small pieces but just about big enough to get your teeth into. Unfortunately, the sauce was a bit too thin for me which, was surprising when the others had quite a thick sauce. Hence, it lost marks against Consistency. The leek was also a little Chewy which detracted from the texture. A shame when it did some aspects very well.Potato & Sweet Potato
4.50
SJL
Given the choice of filling, it is not too surprising that this was quite a soft pie. It had a consistency like a cheese & onion pie or a butter pie. There was again, a welcome flavour from the leek, so this pie avoided being bland. There was, of course, not much to chew, this type of pie slips down too easily to be something I would choose regularly, but it was tasty enough to eat again. Perhaps as a 'side' to one of the meat pies, it would be a bit like pie and mash then!So to summarise, the Aussie pies from the Netherlands turned out to be pretty good! The Meat and Spicy Meat both receive Pierate Recommended status. Given the business trip to UK, perhaps we will one day see Billy's Bakehouse pies on these shores, there is certainly an appetite for this kind of pie in the UK, but probably more com-pie-tition in the market place too. It strikes me that these would beperfect pies to eat at football matches. They cook quickly, they are easy to hold in your hand and for the most part the hold together very well. For some reason in England, most football pies tend to be stodgy and gloopy affairs that make a mess everywhere. Here's hoping that a club signs this talented foreigner up! We wish Darren and Billy's Bakehouse good luck in the future.
SJL
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
TV's Radford Family expand pie business
Radford’s Pie Company Steak, Chicken and Meat and Potato Pie Reviews
It’s always great to be approached by pie producers asking us to rate their pies – but rarely do we get approached by anyone with as much TV exposure as the Radford family. For those who don’t know, the Radford’s featured on Channel 4’s 15, 16, 17 and now “18 kids and counting” and are – as you might guess – one of the largest families in the UK! With so many mouths to feed, you can imagine the pie consumption must be pretty high in their house up in Lancashire, but it helps that the family run bakery – which supports the continually growing family - sells, amongst other things, pies!
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| Radford's Pie Company Review |
So having been sent some pies, how do the pies rate? Made with shortcrust pastry, one of the more obvious things you notice about them is they are packed near to capacity when you cut through them. They all travelled well, important for a home delivery pie, holding their shape well when cooked and removed from the foil. One interesting thing to note was that while the instructions recommended cooking them in the foil, I tried one of the steak pies cooked out of the foil and it really helped firm up the base of the pie, making it crisper and firmer than the steak pie I’d cooked in foil. However whether cooked in foil or not they all held together pretty well for a shortcrust pastry pie, some of which can crumble quite heavily upon biting into. The crimped edge added a slightly firmer crunch and the pies were all golden colour.
At £2.95 these are a pretty decent sized pie for that price considering the home delivery and that they are packed with meat. The local ingredients, from butchers and vegetable sellers near to the bakery, also adds to the appeal of these pies. No worries about air miles here! Here’s the breakdown of the four flavours we tried:
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| Radford's Pie Company Chunky Steak Review |
Large chunky pieces of steak, just as the label promised! The meat was quite nice and tender, though a few pieces could have been a little leaner. However it was very meaty, with 45% beef steak. The gravy was quite a nice thickness, making it quite moist to contrast with the quite crisp outer pastry, which being shortcrust was a little dry in places. The thick chunks of meat and moisture of the gravy did seem to mean in places the base of the pie didn’t crisp up quite as well as the rest of the pie.
Score: 5.5/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5.25, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5.75, Content 5.75]
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| Radford's Pie Company Steak and Mushroom Pie Review |
At 40% beef steak, this pie is firmly focused on the meat, which is my kind of steak and mushroom filling! The mushroom was nice and spread throughout the pie, though not a lot in there. The gravy was quite rich and meaty, not overly runny and the meat in quite large chunks. A nice, if quite subtle, change on the Chunky Steak pie.
Score: 5.5/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5.25, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5.75, Content 5.75]
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| Radford's Pie Company Meat and Potato Pie Review |
The meat and potato pie was very potato focused, with a nice texture to the potato in decent chunks, however the mince beef was quite lacking at just 11%. It meant the gravy wasn’t that rich in flavour and there was less fluid gravy in the pie, possibly due to absorption into the potato. The pastry was crisp and held together better in this pie, with a firmer and crisper base. For those who like a heavier potato content to their meat and potato pie this would be just up your street, but for me there wasn’t quite the right balance to really get my teeth into any of the meat.
Score: 4.71/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 5, Consistency 4, Condition 5.25, Chewiness 4.5, Cheapness 4, Content 4.5]
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| Radford's Pie Company Chicken Pie Review |
Chicken Pie
With this pie consisting of 41% chicken breast, the pie certainly wasn’t lacking in meat either and top of the range meat at that. It was a very enjoyable pie, with my only suggestion that the pieces of chicken were quite chunky and thus not quite as succulent as it could have been if perhaps in slightly more small pieces. However the cream sauce was good, adding a nice blend to the flavour, so I think would have blended perfectly with the chicken if it had been mixed in with smaller pieces of meat. Excellent capacity and good content means this one just pips the rest.
Score: 5.68/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.25, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6]
All in all, some very good pies from Radford’s and it’s a luxury to find a fully family run business like this that uses ingredients from local producers in the area. Worth getting online and ordering a batch for sure, as they are Pierate Recommended!
RAS
Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Wigan Pie Week - Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie
This Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie review forms part of our #WiganPieWeek set of reviews. This week we are rating 5 pies from Wigan on our 7 Cs of pie rating. Find out more about our quest in our overarching “Wigan Pie Week” article!
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| 2 pies for £1! |
But wait – I was wrong! They weren’t selling pies at £1 each in Pound Bakery. They were selling 2 meat and potato pies for £1 in Pound Bakery! Yes – I said TWO pies for ONE pound! Seriously. Could this actually work? Could there really be hot pies on sale for just 50p a pie? How does this make any economic sense?!
Ultimately I had my reservations on how they could possibly be selling 2 meat pies for £1 but as a piefessional, I could only give you a true representation of the quality and rating of the pie having eaten one. It was time to take the 50p pie test!
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| Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie Review |
My first thoughts on the condition of the pie was that it looked in quite a good condition for such a cheap pie, but upon breaking open the pie it did start to crumble somewhat. The filling of this pie – like many meat and potato pies I had eaten in the local Wigan area – was primarily consisting of potato, with quite large pieces of potato in it, and a mix of mincemeat and a little gravy. However the pastry was quite dry and while the meat/potato/gravy content was reasonably moist, it didn’t do enough to balance the dryness of the pastry.
I was surprised by the amount of mincemeat in it for such a cheap pie, but it didn’t taste like particularly high quality meat and ultimately I wouldn’t ever choose to eat another one of these pies unless I was completely strapped for cash one day. But what can you expect? I paid 50p per pie, so I can’t say I was expecting Michelin star food. I would be foolish to say that in these days of austerity I’d turn my nose up at a cheap pie if that was all I could afford. However, given the choice and knowing that pies aren’t exactly the most expensive food item out there anyway, there are many better pies to enjoy for a few pounds more.
Pound Bakery Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 3.71/7
[Colour 3, Capacity 3.5, Consistency 2.5, Condition 3, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5, Content 4, Total: 3.71/7]
RAS
Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Wigan Pie Week - Galloways Meat and Potato Pie
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| Galloways in central Wigan |
This Galloways Meat and Potato Pie review forms part of our #WiganPieWeek set of reviews. This week we are rating 5 pies from Wigan on our 7 Cs of pie rating. Find out more about our quest in our overarching “Wigan Pie Week” article!
For a reasonable sized pie, warmed up and sold on the High Street of Wigan, I thought £1.48 was quite reasonable for this meat and potato pie. However the side and base pastry did look rather anaemic, and the colour of the top of the pie was significantly paler than I would hope for in a highly rated pie. Picking up the pie out of its foil tray, the pie was immediately starting to struggle to encase the filling. Within a bite or two, the filling was collapsing all over the place and I was requiring the foil tray to stop me losing the pie all over the floor.
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| Galloways Meat and Potato Pie Review |
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| Galloways Meat and Potato Pie Review |
However what the structure of this pie lacked, the flavour of the filling certainly made up for. The potato was very small pieces within a mainly mash-like consistency, which combined really well with pieces of mincemeat. The content was well seasoned and flavoursome throughout the pie. Eaten on a plate – rather than trying to eat by hand – I think this pie would have worked quite well, though a slightly firmer pastry would have been ideal. A nice pie that I would eat again, it was the highlight of the afternoon trip pie hunting in Wigan town centre.
Galloways Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 4.36/7
[Colour 3.5, Capacity 4, Consistency 3.5, Condition 3.5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5, Content 6, Total: 4.36/7]
RAS
Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Monday, 22 June 2015
Wigan Pie Week - Greenhalgh’s Meat and Potato Pie
This Greenhalgh’s Meat and Potato Pie review forms part of our #WiganPieWeek set of reviews. This week we are rating 5 pies from Wigan on our 7 Cs of pie rating. Find out more about our quest in our overarching “Wigan Pie Week” article!
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Greenhalgh’s Meat and Potato Pie review |
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Greenhalgh’s Meat and Potato Pie review |
Greenhalgh’s Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 3.43/7
[Colour 3, Capacity 3.5, Consistency 2.5, Condition 2.5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 3.5, Content 4, Total: 3.43/7]
RAS
Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Friday, 31 October 2014
Should you be going to get a Bowen?
Bowen Butter, Steak and Meat and Potato pie reviews
Attending the book launch of Martin Tarbuck’s book “Life of Pies” it was of course inevitable that there had to be free pies available. These were provided by “Bowen – Award winning pies and puddings”, based in nearby Adlington. Of course the only thing I was interested in was the pies (despite their being a few cheese and onion slices for the veggies out there) and I was not to be disappointed! Around 120 pies were set out on the table – primarily their Butter Pies, Meat and Potato Pies and Steak Pies.
Did you know? The Bowen Meat and Potato Pie was selected as the pie of choice for the World Pie Eating Championships in Wigan!See the Bowen website for more details! |
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| Bowen Pies on show! |
The pastry did compliment the filling, even if there was perhaps a bit too big a difference between the softness of the potato filling and the crispness of the pastry casing for my pallet. However I can’t say I’d go out of my way to try another butter pie – with no offence to Bowen Pies or any other butter pie producers.
I can understand why Butter pies exist. Not everyone can afford the expense of a meat filled pie or necessarily even wants meat in their pie, however being sold at £1.30 compared to just £1.60-£1.80 for the producer’s steak pies, I just can’t really think of any good reason why I’d choose a butter pie out of the two.
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| Bowen Butter Pie Review |
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| Bowen Steak Pie Review |
It was great to hear from Sales Director Paul Bowen how the company had turned to focusing on their pies following increasing pie sales in the butchers and, while sadly the butchers has struggled to compete against the large supermarkets in the area, it’s certainly been for the benefit of their pie production. The quality of the steak in those pies was a real plus point and why it rated so highly!
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| Bowen Meat and Potato Pie Review |
Overall, this was a great shout by Martin at his “Life of Pies” book launch. A very tasty and affordable pie selection from Bowens, which rated highly with Martin too in his book. I can certainly see why they decided to focus on pies from the ones I got to rate! A highly recommended and recommended pie, plus a nice tasting butter pie too. Let’s hope I’m going to get another Bowen soon!
Bowen Butter Pie
Score: 4.57/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4, Content 3.5, Total: 4.57/7]
Bowen Steak Pie
Score: 6.14/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.75, Condition 6, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 6.75, Content 6, Total: 6.14/7]
Bowen Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 5.21/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 5, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6, Total: 5.21/7]
RAS
Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Thursday, 9 October 2014
The Ark pies went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah!
The Ark Steak and Black Cat Ale and Meat and Potato Pie Reviews
Having already rated a pie from “The Ark” catering company in Burnley during British Pie Week, owner Jonny sent a couple more pies for us to rate recently. Having already reviewed the Steak and Ale pie (using Guinness) sent over previously, they had now started producing a steak and ale pie in conjunction with the local Moorhouse’s brewery, using their Black Cat Ale.
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| The Ark Steak and Ale (left) and Meat and Potato (right) Pies |
It was great to see that, despite still being relatively new to pie catering, Jonny had been seeking ways to improve his Steak and Ale pie recipe with this alteration and the latest pie was delicious. The pie was made with baked Suet pastry, which was a lovely golden colour and crisp to eat, while the steak is locally reared from a farm butcher and was lovely and tender.
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| The Ark Steak and Ale Pie Review |
Once again, the pastry held together well (you could pick up this pie and eat in your fingers) and the meat was very good. I would have liked a bit more gravy, as while the content was not dry it did lack a little in level and consistency of gravy, but in general this was an improvement on the previous Steak and Ale pie but also cheaper!
The Ark Steak and Black Cat Ale Pie
Score: 5.96/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6, Consistency 6, Condition 6, Chewiness 5.75, Cheapness 6, Content 6.5, Total: 5.96/7]
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| The Ark Meat and Potato Pie Review |
It is hard for a mincemeat pie to compete with a steak pie, just because the chunky pieces of steak will generally always be more appealing, but this pie does still hold its own. Again the pie did lack a bit on the gravy front, which did limit the flavour rather too much, though the filling was quite moist. The short crust pastry used did seem to suffer as well, being rather too dry and therefore quite crumbly. This is evidenced in the photo of the two pies side by side after cooking.
The combination of dry, crumbly pastry and a lack of gravy meant this pie did not appeal to me as strongly, which made me wonder whether this pie would be better suited to also being served in the same suet pastry as the Steak and Ale pie. However the capacity was still good and once the pastry is worked on a bit more, I would certainly eat this pie again.
The Ark Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 4.5/7
[Colour 4, Capacity 4.5, Consistency 5.5, Condition 3.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 4.5, Content 4, Total: 4.5/7]
It is encouraging to see that Jonny at The Ark Caterers has taken feedback from us and others on his pies and is now producing an even better Steak and Ale pie, which pushes him ever closer to Pierate Recommended status! He can be assured that he is safely sailing the Seven Cs of pie rating with a top quality pie and with a bit more work I am sure his short crust pastry will match it!
RAS
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Monday, 20 January 2014
Do they bake pie well at Thurlwell’s?
Thurlwell’s 'Potato and Meat' and 'Blackberry and Apple' Pie Reviews
As we were heading to the Globe Arena in Morecambe to watch the match between Morecambe FC and Wycombe (and review the Morecambe football pies pre-match), we couldn’t resist popping into a bakery or two on the way. One such bakery we stopped off at was Thurlwell’s Bakers and Confectioners, which is just off the main road leading up to Morecambe FC’s ground.
The shop is on a reasonably quiet side street and while the appearance of the shop may not be overly flash, they know their stuff and focus on what they do well – which as a craft bakery means baking everything in the kitchens there on site. There are no nonsense signs in the window, like ones reminding people that the pies and cakes in the window display are just for display – and that there are plenty of fresh pies and cakes to purchase in the chilled cabinets inside. We were informed that they sell a lot of their pies to local takeaways, so are well known within the Morecambe area. We purchased a fruit pie (blackberry and apple) and then very generously got given a potato and meat pie to review (a classic pie from the North). It was clearly pointed out to us this was a potato and meat pie, by the way, rather than a meat and potato pie. You’ll see why when you read the review.
So how did the Blackberry and Apple pie rate?
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| Thurwell's Blackberry and Apple Pie |
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| A slice of the action, plenty of filling in this pie. |
Thurlwell's Blackberry and Apple Pie
Score: 5.06/7
[Colour 5.2/7; Consistency 5.5/7; Cheapness 4.5/7; Chewiness 5.5/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6/7; Capacity 2.7/7]
SJL
So how did the Potato and Meat pie rate?
Well the first thing you notice when cutting through the pie is that there’s no room for air in this pie! It’s packed to the rafters, so gets a good score for capacity. However looking more in depth at the content, there was a large proportion of potato to the mince meat. You could see why they sold it as potato and meat, rather than visa versa. While in and of itself it didn’t taste bad, I was left wishing there was a bit more meatiness to this pie. We all know that mince meat is generally less chewy and a cheaper filling product but it doesn’t always wow the taste buds, and this pie could have done with a bit more of a meaty oomph! Still, the potato was nice and soft, without being mushy, and the taste was good despite being a bit too potato heavy. It could have just been a bit more exciting in my mind. The filling of the pie was also a bit dry, with absolutely no gravy oozing out at all. The potato was quite soft and moist and so was the meat but I would certainly have expected something a bit more to lubricate the pie.
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| Thurlwell's Potato and Meat Pie |
The pastry was a bit mixed – a little dry and crumbly on the top and a bit light and soft on the bottom, though certainly not soggy. While quite nice and clearly homemade, it did lack that sparkle that some other pies in the area had given, so it detracted a little from the score. However I would certainly happily eat another and it was very good value for a homemade pie.
Thurlwell’s Potato and Meat Pie
Score: 4.21/7
[Colour 4/7; Consistency 3.75/7; Cheapness 4.5/7; Chewiness 4.5/7; Condition 4/7; Content 3.75/7; Capacity 5/7; Total: 4.21/7]
RAS
It certainly seems they do thurl-y well with their pie making at Thurlwell’s and it’s great to see some nice, friendly local craft bakeries still surviving in the tough climate of supermarket com-pie-tition. Well worth a friendly visit when in Morecambe.
See where these pies ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.
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Monday, 13 January 2014
Morecambe FC - We Ate All The Pies!
Morecambe Football Club - Pie Reviews
In this review we rate the 'Steak & Ale', 'Chicken, Ham & Leak', 'Lamb & Mint' and 'Meat & Potato' pies. We have also reviewed the Apple pie which was the Supreme Champion at the British Pie Awards 2014. A second visit in October 2014 gave us the chance to review the Pork, Irn-Bru & Chilli pie which was quite a unusual flavour! Read on below for the original review
Way back in the mist of time we reviewed a Potts Pie because they were rated as the number one football pie (served at Morecambe Football Club) by the man who ate all the football pies, Tom Dickinson. This was in fact our first ever pie review on Pierate. Shortly after this review Morecambe got a new head chef, Graham Aimson, who took the brave decision to replace Potts Pies with his own homemade pies in the hospitably suite at Morecambe. These pies were so popular they soon rolled them out over the whole ground. Given that we have now reviewed over 300 pies we thought it was about time The Pierateers paid another visit to see how these new pies fared!
The decision to serve their own pies has paid off with Morecambe FC winning the Best Football Pie award at the British Pie Awards 2012 for their Steak and Ale and the Supreme Champion award at the British Pie Awards 2011 for their Chicken, Ham and Leek. They have continued to have plenty of success and publicity since then, winning further awards and appearing on a number of TV programmes such as The Hairy Bikers. The expectations were already high before even eating the pies!
Pierateers RAS and SJL were treated to a pie tasting session before the Morecambe vs. Wycombe game at The Globe Arena. This involved a selection of all four pies that they were selling that day. There were mushy peas and gravy on the side, which is the tradition at the ground, but the Pierateers went for the pure pie experience given that there were so many pies to eat! Everyone at Morecambe was really excellent in putting in the extra effort to make The Pierateers feel welcome. All the people involved were friendly and there was plenty of interest in our pie reviewing. The staff at Morecambe even carried out our first video interview, with the Pierateers in the Kit Room!
The pies arrived in fantastically perfect Condition considering that they were handmade. There was a little boil out with some of them but only enough to indicate that the inside promised to be packed with content. We were fortunate as we were so close to the kitchen these were some very fresh pies! They were all a lovely golden brown Colour. These pies were quite tall which gave them a good filling to pastry ratio and a large Capacity. Despite being tall they had a good structural rigidity which meant they held together well. The pie plus peas and gravy costs £2.80 which we thought was superb value for inside a football ground, especially given that the pies are made on the premises with quality ingredients.
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| The (pie) teamsheet for Morecambe FC... |
The four different pies are now scored below in reverse order:
Meat and Potato
This pie might be the lowest scoring but it was still a pie that The Pierateers would recommend. The filling was as you would expect with a traditional meat and potato pie, minced beef with soft pieces of potato. The softness of the filling meant chewing was not really necessary and it slipped down well. However, this by no means meant the filling was mushy, there was still some firmness to the potato. There was a nice meatiness to it, a bit of pepperiness. We would, for our ideal pie, want something a bit more to bite into which is where it lost some score. However, this still makes it the highest scoring meat and potato pie we have reviewed.
Morecambe FC Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 5.86/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.75, Consistency 5.25, Chewiness 5.5, Content 5.13, Total 5.86/7]
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| Morecambe FC Meat and Potato Pie |
Lamb and Mint
There was plenty of lamb in the pie and it tasted of good quality, in nice big meaty chunks. The addition of some root vegetables was welcome. This really added to the texture of the pie. This lamb pie did do something unusual compared to many others we have reviewed as it contained mint sauce gravy. It tasted a bit sharp because of the vinegar and hence may not be to everyone’s liking. The sauce was also a little thinner than the others.
Morecambe FC Lamb and Mint Pie
Score: 5.91/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.75, Consistency 5, Chewiness 5.5, Content 5.75, Total 5.91/7]
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| Morecambe FC Lamb and Mint Pie |
Chicken, Ham and Leek
This was one The Pierateers were especially excited about because many people had said it was their favourite. The pie filling seemed really meaty with a rich chicken taste. The Pierateers noted that the ham flavour wasn’t particularly strong in this pie although this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The leek added plenty of flavour and the pie certainly tasted homemade. The chicken was fibrous and clearly of good quality. There was a good balance of flavour with the leek leaving it anything but bland but not being overpowering. One thing that stopped it being The Pierateers' favourite was the fact that the sauce was fairly thin-ish. It seems that this may have been because a lot of pies had to be cooked quickly because the game was in doubt due to the weather.
Morecambe FC Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie
Score: 6.16/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.88, Consistency 6, Chewiness 5.38, Content 6.5, Total 6.16/7]
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| Morecambe FC Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie |
Steak and Ale
Here it is, the Supreme Champion of the Morecambe Pierate Awards 2014, the Morecambe FC Steak and Ale! Both SJL and RAS were in agreement that this was their favourite pie. This was not just a Steak and Ale with a deep meaty taste. It had more flavours to it than that. The Pierateers suspected that it had tomato in it and chef Graham confirmed this to be true. There seemed to be other additions too which meant it really did stand out as different to other Steak and Ale pies. There were nice big chunks of Steak with plenty of sauce which was thicker than that with the Chicken, Ham and Leek. A pie which left you wanting more but not through lack of size.
Morecambe FC Steak and Ale Pie
Score: 6.34/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.88, Consistency 6.5, Chewiness 6, Content 6.63, Total 6.34/7]
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| Morecambe FC Steak and Ale Pie |
At half time the Pierateers were delighted to find there was even a separate Apple pie waiting for them!
It stands out that Graham is a high class restaurant chef. He is not just making pies by numbers, they are well thought out pies which are anything but average. There is no question that these are the best pies we have ever eaten at a football ground, just have a look at our football pie league. It isn't much of a suprise in some ways, we have been to very few grounds where they make the pies within the stadium kitchen itself. As usual, quality ingredients, an eye for detail and a labour intensive process mean that these pies are head and shoulders above the reheated, mass produced pies normally sold at football matches. We all know pies and football are a match made in heaven, but with pies that taste this homemade The Globe Arena should be the football ground where even the away fans feel at home.
Thanks again to Mike, Head Chef Graham and everyone at Morecambe Football Club for such a great day.
SJL and RAS
See where these pies ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.
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Saturday, 20 March 2010
There are no half measures with the best half-time pie available
Meat and Potato Pie Review from Potts Pies
You are reading our historical first ever pie review on www.pierate.co.uk! |
For months I have been dreaming about finally getting my hands on a Potts Pie. They have been sold at Morecombe football ground and were crowned king of footy pies by the man who ate all the pies, Tom Dickinson.
They also have a few shops in the local area which do an excellent trade on weekday lunchtime (or dinner time as they call it up north) but only open briefly on Saturdays. Today though I managed to buy a Meat and Potato Pie from the Lancaster branch. This isn't my typical choice but it was forced upon me by the fact that it was all that was left. However I still have high hopes and I ask you now to join me on the exciting culinary journey.
At first glance it just looks like a normal pie in a fair Condition considering it was one of the last ones. There is a nice Colour to the pastry with some variation. One thing I notice is that the paper bag it came with had started to go translucent due to the PURE LARD that they use to make their pastry. Make no mistake these are NOT low fat pies.Let's take a bite.....
.....
Right now words are just not enough. Language is just too inflexible for me to explain the depth of flavour and the perfect balance of pastry/filling that this pie has. Its like this pie wants me to eat it. The individual ingredients have all been waiting for this moment and planning how they could make it as perfect as possible. I can just imagine the wheat sitting in the field and being just the right ripeness when it was harvested.
The pastry is just the right Chewiness, I would say it was above average on the chewinessometer but in my opinion pie pastry should be slightly chewy where as modern fare tends to be more soggy. It is brilliantly Crispy too which I now realise isn't even on the Seven C's but I'm so excited I can't restrict myself to just the 7.
In the middle the meat is more tender than most pie meat which is often sadly low quality. There is a great texture and Consistency with the filling. The Capacity is high and the Content fufils the whole capacity, another factor regularly missing with lesser pies. I would say that it is quite salty which I like but isn't for everyone.
I
have now noticed that having put the half eaten pie on its paper wrapper the fat has soaked through the paper and made two pages of a notebook underneath also go translucent. That brings me nicely to my conclusions about this pie. It's flavours are great and its clearly a premium product. But it isn't the lightest thing and you can taste the grease a little. So it is fantastic as a treat or the occasional dinner but you're not going to be able to eat loads and it isn't advised! At £2 it not the Cheapest but offers good value for money. Even if you have to pay more and utilise their revolutionary 'Pies By Post' service it is recommended that every pie lover tries one.Potts Pies Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 5.9/7
SJL
See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.
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