Pieminister Tipsy Chick and Scrumpea Pie Reviews

Many of you will have enjoyed a pie from top Bristol pie makers Pieminister before. We've already rated 12 of them! With quality crisp pastry and delicious fillings, the Bristol based pie firm have done us proud many a time. However last summer something odd happened. Having produced some of the finest quality pies we've rated on the Seven Cs of pie rating, last summer they inexcusably decided to get rid of the pastry lid to their pies in making a 'lighter' summer range of... well, "pies".

Pieminister Pie Reviews

Apart from, of course, if you remove the pastry lid, they are no longer pies!!!

It bamboozled us so much that we even did some research on the comparison between these 'lighter' "pies" and the normal Pieminister pies, and found that actually the main reason they were less calories was because they were a bit lower in weight and had no pastry lid! But as you know we on the Pierate Ship are pie purists, so the lack of pastry lid hit their 'lighter' pastry products hard on the 7 Cs of pie rating. In fact it left them being some of the lowest scoring pies in our Pieminister leader board, despite the taste being quite good. You just can't ditch a pastry lid in our eyes!!!

However, the good news is that Pieminister have seemingly learnt from their error and this summer their two summer pies are fully encased in pastry! Good work Pieminister!

The two pies in their summer range are the Tipsy Chick Pie and the vegetarian Scrumpea Pie, both containing some dry cider to give them a summery but quirky flavour. So with normal pastry service resumed, how would these pies rate?


Both pies looked in great condition and at £3.50 for a cold pie from their website it is reasonably priced for a quality British pie made using British meat and quality ingredients. Golden in colour, the pie pastry was nice and crispy on top, really nice and melt in your mouth upon eating. It certainly added a good crunch to the pie experience, and the side and base pastry were lovely and crisp too.

Tipsy Chick Pieminister Pie Review

Scrumpea Pieminister Pie Review

The content of the Scrumpea pie - a pea, asparagus, parsley and fennel pie with west country cheddar and orchard pig cider - was also very good in general but let down by some overly solid fennel (or some other vegetable). It was hard to ignore, as unfortunately the vegetable was so solid that I couldn't even get my knife to cut it or my teeth to bite through it. That aside, however, the pie was fine, with the cheese a nice addition and adding some flavour to the creamy potato and pea filling. I did email Pieminister about the crunch and it appears it was probably just an unusually tough bit of fennel, as other pie eaters haven't had a problem with it. But of course I can only rate based on what I ate!

Overall I would say both pies were nice, but didn't quite blow me away like some Pieminister pies have recently. However I'm always pleased to see that Pieminister are not happy to just stick with what they have got, but regularly try out new pies and their pastry is some of the best around. Still worth buying!

Pieminister Tipsy Chick Pie
Score: 4.89/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 4.5, Consistency 4.75, Condition 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 4.5, Content 5, Total: 4.89/7]


Pieminister Scrumpea Pie
Score: 4.43/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 4.5, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 3.5, Cheapness 4, Content 4, Total: 4.43/7]

RAS

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Porters English Restaurant - Pie Reviews

One of the signs in Porters English Restaurant proclaims, 'Life Is Better With Pies'. As we reach the milestone of 300 pie reviews it seems that here at Pierate we have lived out this statement with the little beige delights bringing us more joy than they do for most people. However, as we keep pushing the limits of how much pastry encased filling we can consume perhaps the statement might need an extention, 'Life Is Better With MORE Pies', the more pies we consume the more things seem to be getting better with page views and interest in our blog ever increasing. It almost seems like it is an exponential relationship. We have drawn a graph below to illustrate this.


So as we continued to push the limits to reach some sort of pastry Nivarda we had to make the important decision of where to carry out our 300th pie review? Porter English Restaurant in Covent Garden, London seemed like the obvious choice. Somewhere a bit classy, a bit different but unashamedly proud of their 'World Famous Pies'. They do serve other food but with 10 different pies there is considerable menu space devoted to the object of our obsession. Porters seem to share this obsession with numerous references to pie as soon as you get in the door. Infact there are signs advertising their 'Pi-Fi', British Pie Award and 'Licence to sell pies' even before going in the door. The randomness continues inside with an overtly British theme with Union Flag umbrellas and other British paraphernalia which added to the experience.

The menu even advertises a 'pie consultant' to help you decided what pie to get. This really was a step above and beyond the normal pie eating experience and was much appreciated by people such as us who take pies very seriously. Our waiter doubled as our pie consultant, fortunately he let us know that some of the pies were of the 'top-crust' variety with only a pastry lid. On The Pierate Ship we prefer fully encased 'Proper Pies' so we all chose these versions for this special occasion. All the fully encased pies were 'shortcrust hot raised pies' which typically gives a harder, more solid pastry, although this wasn't necessarily the case for these pies. Pierateers TJP and SJL decided to go half and half with their pies and hence these were joint reviews.



Minced Beef, Onion, Pea and Red Wine Pie

Like all these pies the Colour was a wonderful dark golden brown, much darker than many pies. This one arrived in perfect Condition and really looked like a quintessentially English pie. Being quite tall it had a good height to width ratio and consequently a strong Capacity. The Content tasted akin to a casserole with quite a sweet taste from the wine and vegetables. It would probably count as one of your five-a-day because there were plenty of peas to be seen. However, this did mean that it wasn't as meaty as some pies. There were no complaints about Chewiness with a filling that slipped down well and pastry with a nice crunch on top and a bit of gooiness on the bottom (but not soggy). The pie was Consistently good with a nice variation to the flavour throughout due to the mix of flavours. This was a pie which left you wanting more, despite being quite large, which is surely a sign of a good pie! At £12.85 this is quite an expensive pie but comparable to other London pie restaurants. It came with a hearty meal so overall not bad value.

Porters Minced Beef, Onion, Pea and Red Wine Pie
Score: 5.71
[Condition 7, Capacity 6, Colour 7, Cheapness 4, Consistency 5, Content 6, Chewiness 5]
SJL and TJP

If there wasn't enough veg in the pie there is more on the side

Cross section of minced beef, pea and red wine pie

Gamekeepers Pie

This was the pie which had won Silver at the British Pie Awards, but would it win any awards from the Pierateers? In terms of Condition and Colour this pie was very similar to the Minced Beef pie, however it was slightly more expensive at £13.50 but given that game tends to be expensive it didn't gain less points for Cheapness. The Capacity was again strong for a pie of this size. The Content was a great mix, containing Pheasant, Venison, and Rabbit which left it tasting really meaty, there was not a hint of veg in this pie. The venison in particular added a strong flavour which was delicious to begin with. However, this pie was not as Consistently good because the strong flavour began to get too much after a while and it was not a pie you could eat forever. This didn't mean it wasn't a good pie, the meat was tender and not at all Chewy. The texture and taste of the pastry was again top notch. Overall this was one of the best game pies eaten on The Pierate Ship.

The Porters game pie looks fantastic

Pie rating isn't a game! Game pie

Porters Gamekeepers Pie
Score: 5.57
[Condition 7, Capacity 6, Colour 7, Cheapness 4, Consistency 4, Content 6, Chewiness 5]
SJL and TJP

Lamb and Apricot Pie

The Lamb and Apricot pie was eaten by Pierateer RAS and selected because it was one of the fully encased pies on the menu, with a full encasement of short crust hot raised pie pastry. The pie came with chips and a jug of gravy, which I didn’t actually use because the pie itself was moist enough and the beef gravy I had been given in the gravy jug would not have worked at all with the lamb and sweet apricot flavoured gravy inside.



Porters Lamb and Apricot Pie - Shame about the condition

In general, the condition of the pie was quite good, apart from a bit of an indent in one side, which was disappointing when you are paying over £10 for a pie meal. The condition is of course the first of the seven Cs to be scored, so to have your immediate first impression being a big indent is not ideal. The outer pastry suffered from this, and this in fact led to it being a bit dry in places. The lid pastry was very nice, and the sides and base were not too bad in general, however there were patches of dryness and the short crust hot raised pie pastry didn’t quite do it for me as a result.

The capacity of this pie was quite strong, with plenty of pieces of lamb in there. The lamb was moist and quite tender, though there were a few more chewy bits too. On the flip side though, there was rather a lot of apricot too, which was soft and flavoursome but did rather bulk the content out. It was a lamb and apricot pie – I accept that – but I really wasn’t up for such a sweet fruity hit in so much of the pie, and some mouthfuls were 100% apricot. For a dinner pie, that just didn’t sit well with me. The ratio was definitely too strong in favour of the apricot. I wanted a meatilicious pie and while the apricot gave it something a bit different, I wouldn’t ever choose to have this combination again. I’d stick to lamb and mint (perhaps the lamb shank pie on the Porter’s menu) and leave the apricots for the pudding menu.



Porters Lamb and Apricot Pie

We were eating a whole meal – not just a pie - in a restaurant near Covent Garden in Central London, so I guess you have to expect a £12.85 price tag comes with the territory. However we are always considering with “Cheapness” whether the pie is worth the amount we pay, and I have to say I’ve had better pies for quite a few pounds less in London. It’s therefore not going to be a high scorer on cheapness.

All in all, there were plenty of things going for it in this pie - the lamb was succulent and the pastry pretty good, but the content mix just didn’t really work for me. I’d stick to just the lamb pie next time and then this really would be a top ranked pie.

Porters Lamb and Apricot Pie
Score: 4.71/7
[Colour 7, Capacity 5, Consistency 3, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 4, Content 3]
RAS



So in summary two very good pies we would recommend, one a bit less so but still not bad! Worthy pies to be our 298th, 299th and 300th pie reviews. It is commendable that with all of these pies they have tried to do something a bit different, they certainly aren't the standard fare. Overall the experience at Porters was fantastic and it is somewhere we would go back to, especially given that there are so many more pies to try! We leave you with this picture, one of many words of advice hanging on the walls at Porters. It is important to get your pie-orities right, we know where ours lie; life is better with pies!

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ASDA Beef and Mushy Pea pie review

Beef and mushy peas in a pie? Pies and peas traditionally go together in the UK, and more traditionally in the North of England.

But rather than at a football match, I found this pie in my local ASDA in London – and it was sporting a blue badge of just £1 (trial price). But is £1 even too much to pay for this hearty treat? Let’s find out.

That is quite an impressive cross-section there. The two layers of the pie are perfectly delineated, although the thinness of the pastry sides has meant this pie has collapsed somewhat when I cut through it. The puff pastry lid, however, has a decent flakiness to it, and is a lovely golden brown colour. The pie is filled near enough to full capacity, although there is a slight air gap if you look closely enough.

However, it is rather pea-heavy, with there seemingly being more pea in this pie than actual beef. The beef and onion mince also looks pretty standard and what I’d expect of a cheaper supermarket pie. I can’t help but think that the excess of peas simply bulks out the pie, at the expense of putting mince beef in there. That’s more than the “good dollop of mushy peas” which the description promotes – it’s a very good dollop!

So this review really goes down the same lines as other supermarket beef and onion pies, except with the addition of mushy peas. Cheap, but nothing special in my mind.

Plus I know that beef pies and mushy peas are a traditional mix, but it’s certainly not one that I am a personal fan of. I found both the mushy peas and the mince to be rather tasteless. On top of this, the mushiness of the beef mince combined with the mushiness of the peas meant that this pie was altogether very mushy indeed. It left me clamouring for something to bite onto – thankfully the edges of the pastry lid had a bit of crunch amongst the general mush. I’m not elderly quite yet, so while I still have my teeth I don’t want my food to come ready-mushed.

ASDA Beef and Mushy Pea pie
Score: 3.26/7
TJP

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Lovett Pies - Pie Reviews

Lovett Pies have only been in the pie selling business for just over 18 months and they have already won numerous awards including a couple of Silvers at the British Pie Awards 2013. Lovett Pies have already become highly regarded around their Bath base in the South West of England so I was very pleased to get my hands on a whole box of Lovett pies, containing all 7 flavours. Co-owner Phil is the creator of these pies. He was working in a pub as a chef and found that his pies were so popular he was inspired to set up Lovett Pies with business partner Chris.


Phil seems to have a way with blending flavours together.
Lovett Pies already set themselves apart simply by some unusual fillings. However, these aren’t strange flavours just to make the pies different. They are flavours which just seem to make a lot of sense!

The pies also look beautiful. The pastry looks like hot water crust (like a Scotch Pie) as these pies are perfectly formed cylindrical delights and the pastry holds together so well. The pastry is strong enough for the pie to stand up tall on its own and they are completely encased.

From the outside at least I would say they embody the quintessential essence of the ‘proper pies’ that we search for on the Pierate Ship. The perfect golden Colour scored highly. There is a letter on the top of each pie, made of poppy seeds, to signify what flavour the pie is. This wouldn’t be allowed in the British Pie Awards but on the Pierate Ship we have no rules against external non-pastry decoration so I saw this as a good thing, scoring more points for pie Condition.

In terms of how the pastry performed in the taste test all the pies were very much the same. The pastry is quite thin so, quite unusually, these pies have more filling than pastry (filling at 66%) which earned them a high Capacity score. This must be the highest filling to pastry ratio I have ever found. The pastry really was secondary here to the filling and the actual taste and texture of the pastry was good but didn’t stand out, partly just because there wasn’t much of it!

The price of these pies depends on where you buy them. At the farmers market they are £3.50 or £6.50 for 2. This is a high price for a small pie but reasonable value given the high proportion of filling and meat.

But do the pies taste good? I will run through the first few in order of preference:

Ham Hock, Black Pudding & Pea

What a marvellous pie this was, the best ham pie I have ever tasted, the best black pudding pie I have ever tasted and also my absolute favourite pea pie. Upon slicing the pie open I was impressed by how colourful it was. There weren’t just peas in this pie but also carrots, celery and onion which meant there was quite a lot of veg. The variety of contents meant each bite was different which kept things interesting. Despite the large amount of veg the pie was still really meaty because of the taste of the soft black pudding and the proper unprocessed gammon. It felt like a rounded meal in one small pastry case. Like all of these pies there wasn’t a runny gravy but everything was kept moist by being held together in a small amount of thick sauce. This one seemed to be the most gooey and moist. The pie was well seasoned and also contained truffle oil which made the flavour stand out even more. The balance of flavours were spot on and the pie was a real pleasure to eat. It was not at all dry, it was packed with content so it is no surprise this pie scores highly.

6.37/7



Venison, Haggis & Redcurrant (Seasonal)

I didn't expect it but the combination of venison and haggis is perfect for a pie! Both have a strong flavour and make this pie deliciously meaty. Of course, this Lovett pie was packed with meat as they all were, there was no filler here. I know haggis is made of lamb offal and other such things that I wouldn't normally eat but lamb offal doesn't normally tastes so good! The meat was melt in the mouth and the flavours anything but bland. A hint of sweetness from the redcurrant and carrot was just right for me. The texture was perfect, with a soft filling and little bit of crunch from the pastry. Like all these pies the ingredient list was long but as everything was subtle you couldn't tell that the pie apparently has elderberry concentrate and cacao powder in it.
The one thing I did miss with this pie was a bit of gravy. I guess this is not really what Lovett are going for but just a little bit of gravy which oozes out when you slice the pie is my ideal situation. I didn't find this one as moist and as varied to eat as the ham and black pudding. Still an excellent pie and a shame it isn't available all year!

5.98/7


Bath Pie - Beef & Ale with Blue Cheese

This pie was again packed with meat. This time tasty, slow cooked beef which fell apart easily. The cheese tasted nice and unlike some Steak & Stilton pies you could actually taste the blue cheese, certainly a good thing in my book. For the Ham and Black pudding the fact that the filling wasn't mixed seemed like a good thing as it gave a variety to the flavour. However for this pie I felt it was a bad thing. There were some really cheese bits and then some mouthfuls of beef which tasted a bit dry without the cheese to keep it moist. Not a bad effort but not as good as the other two.

4.68/7


So in summary we recommend you get yourself some of these pies to try. The variety of flavours mean there is sure to be something for everyone. It is worth noting they really are not very big pies (200g) and I did eat all 3 of these in one go! However, being a Pierateer I do have an usually high love of pie so don’t take this as representative! Despite being small they really are All Killer, No Filler. I have never seen pies with such a lot of filling. Because these pies look so good I can really see myself buying them for those occasions where you want to make an impression. They can also be eaten cold and then perhaps the lack of gravy will mean these are the perfect portable snacks? You will find out more about this in my next Lovett's Pies review.

Lovett Pies attend Bath and Swindon farmers markets every week. Their pies can also be found in various pubs across the South West.

SJL

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