I recently undertook the Devon Coast to Coast cycle. I highly recommend this 99 mile trip from Ilfracombe to Plymouth. Mainly off road or on quiet lanes, the route included some lovely countryside and went through some picturesque villages and towns. One of these towns that impressed me was Tavistock near Dartmoor. There were some quite impressively large buildings such as the grand town hall for a small town. Of course, all the cycling had made me hungry! Naturally I went for a wander down the high street to see what the pie options were. Pleasingly I found the butchers 'Palmers of Tavistock' had a large range of pie options. I grabbed a Pork Pie for £1.60 and a Hommity pie for £2.40.


Saving the Hommity pie for later I tucked into the pork pie, it might not have been a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie but it did hit the spot. See the breakdown of scores below.

Condition - 3.4 out of 7 - A bit of an ugly duckling, this pie was certainly heavy on the handmade charm. There was a bit of boil out. It wasn't pretty but I kinda liked it.
Colour - 5.0 out of 7 - I loved the golden brown colours on this pie
Cheapness - 3.5 out of 7 - This was a medium sized pork pie, so the price wasn't too dissimilar to what you pay in a supermarket, there was a lot of filling for the money.
Capacity - 6.5 out of 7 - A huge capacity for it's size and it was packed with filling. If anything there was a bit too much filling compared to pastry
Chewiness - 5.5 out of 7 - The pork was satisfyingly granular but not chewy. There was a nice crunch to the outside of the pastry and softness in the middle.
Content - 4.5 out of 7 - I enjoyed the content but would have liked a bit more seasoning. The pinkness to the meat revealed it was cured meat.
Consistency - 5.5 out of 7 - A nice consistency, it worked well as a package, handmade by Palmers themselves (and you could tell).

While not exceptional, this was a good pie and given that they have a large range of pies to choose from, I would visit Palmers again.

Pork Pie (Palmers of Tavistock [PL19 0BJ])
4.84/7

SJL

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Dickinson & Morris - Pork Pie Review

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


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


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

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

Individual Pork Pie (Dickinson & Morris)
6.15/7

SJL

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The weekend of British Pie Week gave even more time fore pie eating. Upon taking a trip to a Co-op in Ipswich SJL was pleased to find they stocked pies made by a local Suffolk pie company called Hollybush Farm. There was a great selection of pies to choose from but SJL decided that the one that would be best to eat cold was the Onion Marmalade Pork Pie. A bit of a twist on the classic pork pie this pie was a delight to eat. The pastry was crumbly and soft. The filling was not at all chewy or fatty and the onion marmalade gave it a lovely sweet edge. This was one of the best pork pies SJL had tasted and at 99p it was quite good value for a sizeable pie.

While in co-op SJL also grabbed a box of apple pies in order to compare them to their contemporaries in other supermarkets. The day involved a long shopping trip in Ipswich to buy things for a new house which SJL had moved to. SJL was hugely thankful he had the pies as they gave a much needed energy boost. Three were consumed and it must be said they were pretty good. For once these pies actually looked better in real life than on the box! The pastry was soft, the filling sweet and full of apple and there wasn't much air gap in the pies. They also arrived in good condition unlike some of the Morrissons pies reviewed recently....


Hollybush Farm Produce - Onion Marmalade Pork Pie - 5.60/7
Co-op Bramley Apple Pies - Bramley Apple Pies - 4.55/7

SJL Pie Count Day Six: 4
SJL BPW Total: 21



With just two days of British Pie Week remaining, there was no time for Pierateer RAS to start resting on his laurels! However following a nice lie in, there was no need to have a breakfast pie on day six, as RAS went straight into lunch. Of course, the lunchtime menu contained pie. A Tesco Chicken and Bacon Lattice Pie, to be precise. But as much as he would have liked to eat the family sized pie all himself, RAS used this pie eating time as an opportunity to spread the love of pie with his new Italian housemate, Vincenzo. While Vincenzo had eaten a pork pie already in his first month of living in the UK, now that he had just moved in to live with a professional pie eater this was his first op-pie-tunity to try out a full meat and sauce/gravy pie. Vincenzo wasn’t to be disappointed!



Vincenzo's "Deliziosa" Pie!

The Tesco Chicken and Bacon Lattice Pie was very good (full review coming soon) and Vincenzo described his first proper pie experience as being “Deliziosa!” Here’s to many more delightful pies in the weeks and months to come!

Following the dinner, Pierateer RAS continued his Morissons Pie consumption with pie number 9 of his boxes of 12, before submitting the review of those pies (which became the 150^th and 151^st pies to be reviewed on the world’s premier pie blog – www.pierate.co.uk!)

 But possibly the highlight of the day was the opportunity that Pierateer RAS had that evening to share the joys of pie blogging with about 200 other volunteers at the Yonex All England Badminton Championships. Following the conclusion of play on Saturday, the volunteers had a buffet and drinks reception, put on by Badminton England. And to his delight, Pierateer RAS was asked to say a few words about pierate as he handed a prize out of official pierate merchandise – a bag of goodies which included a pierate t-shirt, mug, pen and book! The 60 seconds to promote the blog and some useful networking after the event helped make it the biggest audience to date for promoting pierate. It was good networking experience for when the Pierateers go to the British Pie Awards later this year (which we all have down in our diaries for Wednesday 24^th April 2013.)

Pierateer RAS then caught up with two university friends (Stu and Helen), to hang out and chat pie, and then met another old university friend at the end of his sponsored 100 mile bike ride. Well done Dan! To celebrate this amazing achievement, Pierateer RAS had his own celebration with a Steak and Kidney Pukka Pie and chips! This was RAS’s 5^th Pukka Pie of the year, as part of the Pierateers joint attempt to eat 50 Pukka Pies in 2013 to celebrate 50 years of Pukka Pies!

RAS Pie Count Day Six: 3
RAS BPW Total: 17


Day Six Total: 7
British Pie Week Total: 44

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