Dee's Pies Reviews - Chicken, Peppered Steak, English Breakfast and Mushroom and Asparagus Pies

It was the second week of the Wimbledon tennis championships and while it’s still early in the morning, you can sense the hustle and bustle as fans of one of the most iconic sporting events in the world start to gather for a (potentially rain interrupted) day of quality tennis.

I, however, am just in Wimbledon to talk pie. Yep – no strawberries and cream for me! I’m meeting with the owner of Dee's pies to hear how the pie world is treating them and – very importantly – get my hands on some of these apparently “Dee-licious” pies (see what they’ve done there?!)

Dee's Pies Champagne Chicken Pie Review

With a background as a chef, company owner Dee has been running the pie business as a full on business for the last 18 months or so. With the demand growing and growing (his pies have recently been in the newspapers for being well received by none-other than self-confessed pie fan and Top Gear presenter Chris Evans!), Dee finds himself in the kitchen nearly every day, with deliveries around London every few days. It was therefore great to get a good half hour chat in with the man himself! And a real pleasure it was to, talking pie and… well, more pie! This will form the basis of a future article, but for now, let’s get on with some pie rating!

See below which pies are!

To start off with, these pies have some of the nicest pastry around! It was great shortcrust pastry! A really good sign of a quality pie is that you can even enjoy the pastry on its own – and you definitely could with these Dee’s pies! The pie-fectionist in me would say the pastry did crumble slightly too easily in parts (especially the one we rated from frozen – but that was to be expected) but all in all it was delicious pastry and complimented the fillings well. You’ll also be pleased to know the pies all passed the “hand-held” test, impressive with the amount of filling packed inside! The only other thing to briefly mention about the pastry was that the colour – while far from being pale and anaemic like some pies I’ve rated – isn’t quite as golden coloured as I would demand for the perfect pie. Still, colour doesn’t affect the taste, so it certainly shouldn’t put you off purchasing!

Dees Pies have gone for the one-price-fits-all policy of £3.50 per meat pie (with vegetarian pies all being just £3). It certainly makes it easier at the market stall, though I imagine it would leave some customers thinking they are getting a better deal if they go for a lamb pie over a chicken pie, for example. All the meat pies I had were definitely packed with a lot of meat and there was pretty much no air gaps to be seen, which is great. I’d say they are a tad small compared to what I would prefer – so while one was filling I would (in part because they are so tasty!) normally prefer one and a half to two pies. This does slightly impinge on their “cheapness” score but I would still definitely buy more! They certainly are very good pies and they have a great range of pies too, so with these being the general thoughts, let’s get some individual detail!

Champagne chicken – This was a very nice chicken pie, filled to near capacity with lovely tender pieces of chicken (see photo above). While the sauce did add something to the chicken, I have preferred some other white sauces more. But the fact it is champagne will add sparkle to your dinner table and conversations if you serve it at a dinner party! A little something to compliment the chicken pieces would probably add to this pie, perhaps a little bit of carrot or similar, even though I would recommend focusing on the chicken element. A little small for £3.50 but generally very good and would eat again.

Score: 6.04/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6.75, Consistency 6.25, Condition 6, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.75, Total: 6.04/7]

Dee's Pies English Breakfast Pie Review

English Breakfast – The breakfast pie contained a great range of ingredients, including quite a bit of meat and egg, though the pie did taste a bit sweet – I presume as a result of the inclusion of baked beans, which are known to contain sugar. Personally I’m not a fan of baked beans anyway, but the sweetness of them had infiltrated the whole of the pie, so pie fans should be aware of this ingredient before purchasing. However capacity was very strong and it is a great idea to put a full English breakfast into pastry as a breakfast option!

Score: 5.79/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 5.75, Condition 6, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.5, Total: 5.79/7]

Dee's Pies Peppered Steak Pie Review

Peppered Steak – Very nice pie, packed with meat. A little more gravy would be ideal but meat was moist and tender. Held together quite well, though a little flaky. Few bits of fat on the meat in the pie, which was a little disappointing and stopped the pie scoring quite as highly as its’ pie-tential, but in general very good. Significant pepper, but in general one I would eat again (even if I would prefer a steak and ale!)

Score: 6.15/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6.75, Consistency 6.25, Condition 6.2, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 5.6, Content 6.25, Total: 6.15/7]

Dee's Pies Mushroom and Asparagus Pie Review

Mushroom and Asparagus (v) – While the pastry was good as in all the pies and the capacity was strong, this combo didn’t really excite me. I am by admission a meat lover but the combo of quite chewy mushroom and crisp asparagus – while pleasant – did not really wow me. Certainly not a bad pie but I wouldn’t personally want to pay £3 for that veggie combo again. However I realise vegetarians may love this unique combo, which I don’t think I have ever heard of before!

Score: 4.86/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 5.5, Consistency 5, Condition 6, Chewiness 4, Cheapness 4, Content 4, Total: 4.86/7]


Overall, these really are quality pies from Dee’s Pies, made from great quality, fresh ingredients and I can certainly see why they have celebrity appeal! Two Pierate Highly Recommended offerings without even a steak and ale pie in sight! We’ll be rating two more Dee’s Pies soon, including my favourite one of the lot!

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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#TeamMary Pie

I am currently very VERY excited, and you should be too.

Why? Because the new series of Great British Bake Off is nearly here! To keep myself occupied while I wait impatiently, I’ve been conducting a reci-pie review in honour of the two great baking deities that are Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

The filling:
2 large onions, chopped
700g chuck steak (braising steak), cut into 1 inch pieces
400g waxy potatoes, cut into small chunks
400g floury potatoes, cut into small chunks
Salt and pepper

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Welcome Break - Chicken, Ham & Mushroom Pie Review

Imagine the scene, it is the British Pie Awards 2013. The judges are scoring pies in the Best Pub Pie category. Imagine the fantastic pies available in the nation's pubs and what a sight it must be to get them all together. No doubt it would be awe inspiring.

Now imagine the pie that won, it must be from some gourmet pub chain and look fantastic. You would be right on one count it does look fantastic, just look at the picture below. However, you might be surprised to find that this pie is actually served up in Welcome Break service stations!


Service stations are not renown for award winning food so how did Welcome Break come up with something that scoops the top prize? Part of the secret, if you look at the list of BPA 2013 winners, is that this pie is made by Dunkleys, perennial achievers at the British Pie Awards, walking away with no less than six awards this year! However, because they make their pies for other people you may not be familiar with them. Upon a recent trip to South Mimms Welcome Break off the M25 I was delighted to have the chance to get acquainted with Dunkleys. Unfortunately they would not let me buy the pie by itself so I had to get a meal at £7.50.


Delving into the pie I could see why it is a premium product. It didn't just look good on the outside, but the inside exploded with an appealing content. It was well filled and the height meant it had a good capacity. The meat was tender, there was plenty of mushroom and the ham added a nice flavour. The chicken was in nice big, satisfying chunks. It was flavoursome although, I would have liked it to have packed a bit more of a punch. It was slightly let down by some very thick pieces of pastry, especially with the crinkled pattern on top, leaving it dry in places. Overall though, this was a pie which I enjoyed eating.


However, when you look at the £7.50 cost of the meal and what I actually got I don't think it is one which I would recommend for purchase. Perhaps it was because I ordered to take away but my portion of chips looked quite meagre for the money. I can count about 16 at best. The peas were pretty awful, they look like something served at a school canteen and completely out of place next to an up-market pie. At least Welcome Break had their pie-orities right with this meal but it almost seems pointless to have such a good pie without the rest of the meal to go with it. I was left feeling like this was not a very good value meal despite the pie being well above average.

So despite this pie claiming a top prize at the British Pie Awards it doesn't challenge the top of our pie rankings. But then at the British Pie Awards they don't take the cost of the pies into account. This only goes to show that there is one place you can rely on to tell you which pies to spend your hard earned cash on! Keep your eyes on the pies with pierate.co.uk, we try the pie before you buy!

Chicken, Ham & Mushroom (Welcome Break by Dunkleys)
3.87/7

SJL

P.S. How can this count as a pub pie??? It was a cafeteria!

See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour. Make sure you Follow @pierateers and let us know your thoughts!

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Paul's Pies - Chicken and Mushroom Pie Review

I was quite excited to finally get my hands on one of Paul's Pies. My fellow Pierateers TJP and RAS have both been impressed by the Oxfordshire based team. TJP went as far as to send Paul's Steak and Guinness pie to the top of our Pie Rankings. With over 225 pie reviews pierate.co.uk is surely the world's leading pie review website and we have in fact reviewed pies all over the world. So I hope that you understand what being top of our pie rankings really means for Paul's Pies. It means that Paul is producing some of the best pies in the world. Hence I was pretty darned excited to get hold of a couple of these colourfully boxed beauties myself. One Chicken and Mushroom and one Steak and Guinness at just £3.50 each, similar in price to a premium supermarket pie. But would they really be as good as I was told or would they not quite satisfy my taste buds in the same way?


These pies look fantastic, the crimped pastry edge and the letter denoting the flavour are nice touches. However, I thought that this might have meant excess pastry which can often lead to dry pie syndrome. I was wrong though, Paul uses suet crust pastry which is so delicious and moist that I could eat it by itself. The pastry had a fantastically homely and satisfying taste because of the use of suet instead of the more traditional butter or lard. I put this down to the fact that suet has more saturated fat than any other common cooking fat. This pastry did however make the pies taste akin to a steak & kidney pudding which use suet pastry whereas pies usually do not. Paul has shown that this twist on a traditional idea is a stroke of genius, the pastry was gooey on the inside with the perfect amount of crunch on the outside.


Onto the filling, the cross-section of the Chicken & Mushroom pie shows that the content really did fill the whole capacity. There were great chunks of 'slow-growing free range chicken' and wonderfully tasty pieces of mushroom (I don't even really like mushroom much!). I was surprised to see that the chicken and mushroom were also joined by some crispy bacon, certainly a good thing in my book as it really developed the flavour, however, I would have expected this to have been advertised on the box.


The chicken wasn't just breast meat as is traditionally the staple in this country but also used dark chicken too. I think this has much more flavour and contributed to a wonderful taste to the filling. When combined with the suet (which reminded me of dumplings) I got such a nostalgic feeling eating this pie. I had a bit of a 'Ratatouille' moment when the food critic is reminded of his childhood by the perfect ratatouille. This was a pie which really did bring a smile to my face.


So in summary, Paul won me over, the Chicken & Mushroom pie was one of the best I have ever had. You can be sure that Paul makes some incredible pies when so many of us aboard the Pierate Ship love his pies. If only all pies were like Paul's pies.

Paul's Pies Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Score: 6.55/7

SJL

P.S. For me this pie raised the question of whether 'puddings' which are a filling enclosed in suet pastry could be pies. If it had discernible sides, base and lid I find it hard to deny that a traditional steak and kidney pudding would actually be a pie (while not denying its right to also be a pudding). Potentially a controversial statement?

P.P.S. So what did I think to the Steak and Guinness pie? Well that has already been reviewed by TJP, I can't rock the Pierate Ship, you will need to ask me to find out!

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It is surely the case that Morrisons are the supermarket of choice for the pie lover. It is always a delight to visit the pie counter where the pies are free and unboxed. I would say a normal supermarket is like going to a pie zoo. The pies are cooped up in boxes, people say they are happy but how can you know? More often than not you can't even see the pies themselves. Whereas Morrisons is like a pie safari. The beef and onion is free to terrorises the sausage rolls. The chicken curry proudly displays its golden pastry, glowing under the artificial lights. If you are lucky you might catch a glimpse of the king of the pie counter, the steak and ale, lording it over his fellow pastry products because he knows his line was the best selling last year, is best selling this year and will sell the best again next year. He is just an unstoppable force of nature and awe inspiring to behold.

I have recently moved house and the fact that I am now near a Morrisons is not quite the reason I moved here but it certainly adds a little extra joy to life. It is great to visit every week. Sometimes I don't even buy anything from the pie counter but just enjoy window shopping. The guy at the counter perhaps thinks I'm a bit weird as I stand salivating at the pies. My high expectations were perhaps the reason I was a bit disappointed recently. I chose a fantastic looking Steak, Mushroom & Bacon square pie which was puffed up proudly, promising a pie packed with content. However upon cutting it open, I was disappointed to find this was not the case. About half the pie seemed to be empty. This pie was a bit more expensive than most so I would expect better. However it was a fairly big pie so overall it wasn't such bad value. The filling tasted okay although the meat was a bit chewy. Thankfully the combination of short crust pastry side and puff pastry lid was to a very high standard. The shortcrust in particular held its shape well but at the same time managed to be lovely and gooey. So overall not a bad effort.


I decided to tweet about this pie to Morrisons, indicating that while it wasn't bad it was a bit disappointing. I was surprised that Morrisons took this so seriously, sending me vouchers to get another pie. It is commendable that they are listening to their customers so closely. If only all companies were so good! It was by no means a formal complaint, it just shows how seriously Morrisons take their pies.

So I tried again with a Chicken, Ham and Leek pie and two rather gourmet looking medium Pork Pies. I still had money left over from the £3 vouchers I was sent after buying these three indicating they were great value.

Firstly the Chicken, Ham and Leek pie. I almost fell off my pie reviewing stool when I got home and saw the pie had been labelled as a 'pasty'! It certainly was not a pasty having well defined sides, base and lid. They really need to be more careful with this very important distinction. It was very stressful for a moment when I thought I had bought a pasty by mistake!

Fortunately this was a pie and once I delved in this golden delight it was a return to form for Morrisons. There was a lovely thick sauce oozing out with actual proper chucks of meat. While the capacity of the pie was still big this time it was really packed with content. I felt like I was getting a great value pie experience. Again the pastry was great; Morrisons certainly know how to mix their flour and fat. This was almost the perfect pie, however it just needed a bit more of a full on flavour, a shame as it did everything else so well. However, for the price this was still one of the best value supermarket pies I have had.


The hand crimped pork pies were also rather special. These weren't like traditional pork pies. You can see from the photos that they had an ergonomic shape which meant they were rather satisfying to hold in the palm of the hand. I spent a while just admiring this pie not wanting to ruin its delicate edges. You might think that it seems like it has too much pastry given that pastry for a pork pie is often rather solid. However the pastry for this pork pie was quite soft and light and the extra pastry was a pleasure to eat. The meat was pink, unlike the grey of a melton mowbray pork pie, and it had a taste somewhat reminiscent of a sausage roll except it had a much more satisfying texture because it wasn't at all mushy. It also lacked the jelly of a traditional pork pie which made it seem much less fatty. Overall it was a lighter, flakier version of a pork pie, but because it still retained wonderful solidness it was perfect for a summer picnic.




So, after a slight disappointment Morrisons show their Northern Soul with two fantastic pies. It is great that we can still rely on the only supermarket with a pie counter. However, Morrison are not the only ones to have a pie counter. The Pierateers also have a pie 'counter' which has just ticked over 200 pies reviewed. We can count on more Morrisons pies to get us to 300.

Steak, Mushroom & Bacon (Morrisons Pie Counter)
4.12/7

Chicken, Ham & Leek (Morrisons Pie Counter)
5.76/7

Hand-Crimped Pork Pie (Morrisons Pie Counter)
5.55/7

SJL

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Beef and Mushroom Pie Review at Aston University, Birmingham





Aston University Beef & Mushroom Pie
Score: 5.45/7

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Chicken and Ham and Steak and Mushroom Pie Reviews from Urban Pie

Last month, Pierateer RAS told us all about the great fast food bar that is Urban Pie. Two reviewers went to the Birmingham branch yesterday to grab a tasty lunch bite! It was our first time at Urban Pie, and due to all the great reviews we were expecting the best. We were not disappointed. At just under £4 for any pie, the cost of these pies is not the lowest, but for the quality and at a restaurant, the price was actually quite decent. You can choose many extras with these pies including, mash, cheese, gravy and curry sauce. Mash costs an extra £1.75 but you get such a large helping, these two reviewers shared a portion (with some yummy cheddar cheese on top!) I was a first taken aback by the large selection of pies and didn't know what to choose, but settled on a lovely chicken and ham number. My fellow reviewer choose a steak and mushroom, though he wanted plain steak they had sold out because they were so popular. While none of these reviewers are vegetarian, I was surprised at the choice one had if one was so inclined.

So, the chicken and ham. Firstly, I was pleased that chicken was teamed up with something other than mushroom. While I will have mushroom in a pie if there is little other choice, I prefer the slimy fungus to be absent from my delicious pie. At first glance, I could tell that this pie was professional, the lovely crispy pasty was the warm golden colour you expect from a high quality pie, and it was in a great condition. These pies are all made the same, round, small but quite a deep fill giving them a large capacity. Inside, was was a good content of gravy and lots of good quality meaty chunks, making the pie slip easily down the throat (so low chewiness - which I like). This pie was good right down to the last bite - so very consistent.

The steak and mushroom was also spectacular: great, creamy gravy with very high quality steak chunks.

Overall, Urban Pie scores very highly. While some might say the pies are on the slightly small size, with a nice large dollop of mash, this meal will fill you right up. Additionally, the pies themselves were still a little pricey for someone on a tight budget, so it might be best to visit at the end of the day to get a reduced price! Also there is that bonus of INSTANT PIE!

Urban Pie Chicken and Ham
Score: 6/7

Urban Pie Steak and Mushroom
Score: 6/7

ARL

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Today's pie review is of an unbranded steak and mushroom pie purchased from a local butchers shop. It's always good to support local small shops, enabling them to continue trading against the backdrop of enormous supermarkets - so I buy two. Unfortunately I cannot make an exact comment on their cheapness as I also bought some other items and didn't get a receipt, but you can't put a price on supporting your local community. I make the assumption that this pie is "handmade", and I also make the assumption about an appropriate cooking time (since there is no packaging to indicate cooking time). Selecting the cooking method of "fan oven", and the cooking time of "until they look about done", I insert the pies into the oven and wait.
















These look about done! They are already scoring highly on colour with their beautiful, traditional, golden brown pastry topping that flakes off as you touch it. This reminds me of the magical 8th C - crispiness - the pie is certainly a point scorer in this category. I cut through to check that it is piping hot throughout - it is. This also provides me with an ideal opportunity to make some preliminary assessments of the capacity, content and condition.


















This pie certainly looks meatylicious. The balance between pastry and steak looks quite ideal, with a 1:1 ratio. To those who think that this pie looks a bit to heavy on the pastry, do remember that due to the puffed nature of the pastry, the pastry zone is mostly air and is easily counterbalanced by the density of the steak. The pie is not large, but the steak is packed in well - scoring points for capacity. Although I don't actually like mushroom, I am aware that other people do. While there were elegant notes of fungus within the gravy of this pie, I found only one small tidbit that could be identified as mushroom. Had I been a fan of mushrooms, I would have been disappointed by the lack of mushroomy content. The condition in which this pie was purchased was exemplary, and the pie contained much of its supreme form throughout the cooking process.

The consistency of the pie was delectable, and the gravy was of a premium thickness. However, I felt slightly deprived of sufficient gravy, which added a small element of chewiness to the steak. All in all, for steak pieces in a pie, they were certainly of high quality and not nearly as bad as some other chewy-steak offenders.

I very much enjoyed eating this pie, and would recommend trying out an unbranded pie from your local butcher in the near future.

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