The Real Pie Company Luxury Boozy Mince Pie Review

Real Pie Company Mince Pie Review

There are mince pies. And then there are small meals in the form of a mince pie! For these are certainly no miniature mouthfuls but a real giant on your plate - the Real Pie Company’s luxury boozy mince pies!

Delivered by post in a lovely festive box and all arriving in near perfect condition, I was impressed by the size and the favour of these luxury mince pies. As can be seen in the comparison photo below, these pies dwarf your typical supermarket mince pie and are clearly homemade products. While this does mean the condition is not quite as polished as a factory made standard mince pie, it is a lot more lovingly made and the pastry tasted delicious and buttery.

Real Pie Company v Tesco Mince Pies

One of my concerns with these larger mince pies was whether the filling:pastry ratio would work in such a big mince pie, but they certainly got this pretty much spot on. The pastry was quite thick and covered in sugar (a little too much sugar personally, but at least you can brush that off the top before eating!) but held in the content well. My main critique of these pies is that the pastry is incredibly crumbly, which meant you certainly lost a significant amount of pastry crumbs when eating. It also made cutting them in half (as some friends weren’t quite ready to tackle a whole one due to their size) quite a challenge!

There was sNOw stopping the delivery!

However the filling was moist and a nice balance of fruits, with a clear boozy edge to them. I also happily enjoyed eating the pastry on its own when hovering up the bits that had broken off. While a couple of the pies weren’t quite crammed to the crust as I expected from the Real Pie Company (as that is their motto), most of them were full to the brim and I certainly didn’t finish any of the ones I’d tried feeling I was short changed in any way! Certainly not something to eat straight after your Christmas Day roast, but a lovely mince pie and one that will get your visitors talking!

Real Pie Company Mince Pie Review

At £19.95 for 10 of these mince pies, they are certainly not the cheapest option out there, and that does hold back the score a bit, but factoring in the size I can’t say I’m feeling too out of pocket paying that for such large, unique mince pies. Yet again, the Real Pie Company have set a high bar for pie making and take number 4 spot in our top mince pies (though number 1 for giant mince pies!!)

The Real Pie Company Luxury Boozy Mince Pie
Score: 5.82/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 6.25, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 6.75, Cheapness 4, Content 6.25]

RAS

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The Real Pie Company Steak and Horseradish and All Day Breakfast Pie Reviews

It has been almost two years since I first got my hands on the amazing pies being sold by The Real Pie Company, which all rated at least as Pierate Recommended but with plenty of Pierate Highly Recommended pies including a 6.46/7! And with well over 3,000 views of that review and countless appearances on TV shopping channel QVC now under their belt, I thought it was about time I got hold of a few more! And with me celebrating the big 3-0 last month, it felt an apt time to put in an order to entertain the guests at the pie-rty and see what new offerings The Real Pie Company could provide.



The Real Pie Company pies

I was therefore both amazed and delighted that The Real Pie Company were willing to send us several free boxes of pies - containing 20 pies in total! - to keep our guests happy at the pie-rty and also a couple of new pies that were either new or not quite on their books yet but coming out soon! These were the Limited Edition Steak and Horseradish pie and the All Day Breakfast pie, which contained bacon, sausage, egg and baked beans.

The morning after the pie-rty before!

Firstly the Steak and Horseradish pie, which came in the beautiful packaging of similar style to the previous pies I had before. The pie was a decent size, coming out nice and golden in colour with a great capacity upon cutting it open. Because I served it alongside a Peppered Steak and a Steak and Stout pie, I did have to ensure I got the right one (as they all looked quite similar!) but was delighted to tuck in and find it just as good as the steak pies I had previously and one of the best steak pies I have had in a while.

Steak and Horseradish Pie Review

The filling was “Crammed to the Crust” just like the slogan that adorns the pie packaging on these pies warns you! Not that I'm complaining one bit, with capacity one of the famous 7 Cs we rate pie on. And the Real Pie Company pies had a really good capacity throughout their range. The pies had a good pastry – golden and crisp – with a classic shortcrust base and sides and puff pastry lid. The meat was in general very nice and tender, with a nice gravy and hint of horseradish that added flavour but didn't overpower the taste.

At £2.95 each for a pie so packed with meat, this represents a good price, though they aren’t the biggest pies and thus aren’t quite the perfect value pies. But you can buy in bulk on The Real Pie Company website to get your pies cheaper. I'd certainly rate this pie as strongly as the other Steak pies in their range and let you decide which you'd choose based on your own personal preference of steak accompaniment!

The Real Pie Company Steak and Horseradish Pie
Score: 6.21/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 6.25, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.5]



The Real Pie Company's All Day Breakfast Pie cross-section

It was also a treat to get my hands on an All Day Breakfast pie, particularly as these were so new that they had a temporary packaging while the official package design is completed and printed off! Talk about hot off the press!!!

Lifting the lid on the Real Pie All Day Breakfast Pie

We've had a few All Day Breakfast pies in our time on the Pierate Ship, with a slight variety in filling in each one. This one from the Real Pie Company had a layer of bacon, topped with sausage, topped with an egg, surrounded in baked beans and finally all fully encased in pastry! Quite a mouthful to say and also to eat, this pie was once again packed to the top with filling, and when I "lifted the lid" on this pie, so to speak, it was clear what care and precision had been put into making this pie. The layers of food and lovely arrangement of baked beans made it a visual treat, while also gaining consistency in the filling.

A couple of things to note: There was a nice range of flavours in the pie but it was quite dominated by the sausage meat (which does make sense, as it was the largest item in the pie). Plus the baked beans didn't really have much of a distinct tomato-ey taste, which was fine for me as I don't like overly-tomato flavoured foods, but for someone who loves the normal tomato-ey taste of full English breakfast beans, this wouldn't tick your box! I however enjoyed the taste combo, and my main reminder to you is that this pie is a lot more filling than you might imagine, what with it being a calorific all English breakfast which has then been encased in pastry as well!!! All in all though, it was the best All Day Breakfast pie I'd sunk my teeth into, so great job!

The Real Pie Company All Day Breakfast Pie
Score: 6.11/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.75, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.25]

So there we have it: they real-ly have done a great job with these pies – with two more Pierate Highly Recommended pies to add to their long list of accolades! And I'm delighted to hear there are other pies in the pie-peline, so we look forward to giving them a pie rating soon!

Many thanks to Brett at The Real Pie Company for sending both these two pie samples and lots of other pies for our Birthday Pie-rty. It was a great night because of the great pies! And thanks to Amy, Becca, Dan, Hannah, Jeremy, Katharina and Laura for coming along to our after pie-rty pie meal!

RAS

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The Real Pie Company Steak, Chicken and Pork Pie Reviews

Forget the 7 colours of the rainbow or the 7 dwarves. We have a far more important “7” to tell you about on the web’s leading pie review blog – and for once it’s not actually the 7 Cs! (Though let’s face it, they’re going to get a mention or two!)

For a box of pies arrived on my desk recently that were not just any old pies – these were the real deal! Or at least that’s what the pie packaging indicated – but we’ll be the judge of whether these are real-ly good pies or not when they get an official pie rating on the 7 Cs!

The pie packaging was a real pielight

The Real Pie Company packaging

I think the first thing to mention is that these were some of the most nicely packaged pies I have ever seen – and believe me, I’ve seen a lot of pie packaging in my time! While the pie packaging is not specifically part of the actual pie review, it certainly gave a great first imPIEression – and quite unique in offering a cross-section of the inside of the pie. This is something pie companies often don’t show, perhaps because they are scared that their lack of filling will be exposed, resorting to hiding their poor air:filling ratio inside the pastry parcel.

Well at www.pierate.co.uk you will not be surPIEsed to hear that we are loving the “Crammed to the Crust” slogan that adorns the pie packaging on these “The Real Pie Company” products. After all, with capacity one of the famous 7 Cs, we certainly think highly of a strong filling! And these The Real Pie Company pies had a really good capacity throughout their range.

But before we get down to the specific flavours, a word on these hand crafted pies in general…

Some of the golden cooked pies

The pies had a good pastry – golden and crisp – nice eaten cold but preferred hot. They had the classic shortcrust base and sides, with golden puff pastry lid. As mentioned previously, the pies scored very well on the 7 Cs for capacity - packed to capacity with lots of meat! The meat was in general very nice and tender, though in some of the pies the pieces of meat were rather big and the flavours might have mixed better had the meat been chopped up slightly finer and mixed better within the sauce/gravy. Also there was some nice gravy and sauces, in the steak and pork pie in particular.

At £2.95 each for a pie so packed with meat, this represents a good price, though they aren’t the biggest pies and thus aren’t quite the perfect value pies. But you can buy in bulk on The Real Pie Company website to get your pies cheaper.

The Steak and Mushroom Pie at our Piecnic

Steak and Mushroom
This pie was eaten cold at the world’s first ever Piecnic, which you can read about and see in our video here. The meat was lovely and tender, with a nice thick gravy which complemented the steak really well. Would happily eat this pie hot or cold, a real bonus on the 7 Cs to rate so well as a pie eaten cold.

The Real Pie Company Steak and Mushroom Pie
Score: 6.21/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 6.25, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.5, Total: 6.21/7]

Steak and Guinness
A nice Guinness flavour to this pie’s gravy added to the nice tender steak. The pie was packed with steak and the flavours worked well.

The Real Pie Company Steak and Guinness Pie
Score: 6.21/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 6.25, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.5, Total: 6.21/7]

Steak and Kidney
The pie was a good balance of steak and kidney – slightly more weighted towards the steak (as we believe steak and kidney pies should be!) The flavours worked well together.

The Real Pie Company Steak and Kidney Pie
Score: 6.04/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.5, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6, Total: 6.04/7]

Meat and Potato
The Meat and Potato pie had the same good quality pastry and was packed to the crust with filling, though the minced beef and potato struggled to live up to the amazing standards of the other meat pies. The flavours in the pie were quite strong and while the mince and potato tasted nice, they didn’t blow me away. A decent pie but never going to challenge the others on the 7 Cs.

The Real Pie Company Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 5.29/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 4, Content 5, Total: 5.29/7]

The Real Pie Company's Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Chicken and Ham
Chicken and Mushroom
Ironically their ‘packed to capacity’ philosophy was almost slightly to the detriment of the chicken pies we rated, with a bit too overpowering a chicken flavour (overly large chunks of chicken) and a sauce that was nice but didn’t blow me away. The two chicken pies almost had a bit too much chicken in them and not enough other flavourings to get the perfect content on the 7 Cs, so while not bad pies it didn’t quite reach the heights of the pork and steak pies.

The Real Pie Company Chicken and Ham Pie and Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Score: 5.57/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 5.5, Condition 5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5, Content 5.5, Total: 5.57/7]

The Pork and Chicken pies from The Real Pie Company

Pork, Bacon and Parsley
Wow! The main criticism of this pie is that one just wasn’t enough - it was just too nice! Flavoursome and with a nice thick sauce, with great tender pies of actual pork (not the cured pork you would often find in a traditional pork pie) and bacon. I could probably have eaten 3 or 4 in one sitting – they were just so tasty. The sauce was really nice, complementing the meat well. I just wish there were more pork meat and sauce pies out on the market, with this one surely being the pork and sauce pie to beat! A great scoring pie!


The Real Pie Company Pork, Bacon and Parsley Pie
Score: 6.46/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 7, Consistency 6.75, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.75, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.75, Total: 6.46/7]


So there we have it: they real-ly have done a great job with these pies – all scoring at least Pierate Recommended status but with 4 Pierate Highly Recommended pies! But the stand out pie for me was the Pork, Bacon and Parsley Pie. A great job by The Real Pie Company and I eagerly await their fruit pie offerings too!

(And yes, for those counting, there were actually 7 mentions of the 7 Cs in this article – not including this last one! It’s as if I planned it that way…)

RAS

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#MakeAPicnicAPiecnic

You can find out more about the campaign by visiting our "Make a Picnic a Piecnic" article, but on Sunday 3rd August the campaign became a reality, as we held the World's first ever official Piecnic! So without further ado, here's the short video PIElights for you to enjoy and insPIEre you to have your own piecnic soon!



Of course we'd love to hear from you if you "just added pie" to your picnic and made it a piecnic! Do leave a comment below, tweet us at @pierateers (ideally using #MakeAPicnicAPiecnic) or contact us. We'll happily add photos of other piecnics happening up and down the country, so if you email us then we can give you your 5 seconds of pie fame!

Of course with any production of this nature, it takes a whole group of people to make it happen, so thanks particularly go to our pieduction man ("BH") - yes, he was paid in pies! - and all who starred in the video - particularly our first ever Honourary Pierateer Toby, who kindly took time out of growing his curly hair to be with us (and yes, he did eventually say "PIE!!!!" - Good lad, Toby!)

Thanks also to The Real Pie Company for providing some free pies, to Gill and Helen for providing homemade pies and Rach for bringing a highly sought after Bray’s Cottage Pork Pie all the way from Norfolk!

All it really remains for me to say is: When you're planning your picnics this summer, make a picnic a piecnic and just add pie!!!

Pies at the World's first ever Piecnic!

RAS

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#MakeAPicnicAPiecnic

So on Sunday 3rd August, around 40 members of City Church joined Pierateer RAS as he organised the world’s first ever Piecnic. The visitors to the park were all strongly encouraged to bring a pie or – even better – to bake a homemade pie and bring it to share! So with the rugs set out, the sun shining and pies a plenty on offer – and believe me, there were plenty of pies on offer – the scene was set for a piefect afternoon!

Pies at the World's first ever Piecnic!

Amongst the pie offerings was a Bray’s Cottage Pork Pie, very kindly brought all the way from Norfolk by Rach, which we have pie rated recently and tasted great! This was in fine company with a number of Pat Gorman pork pies from Aldi, a pie from Morrisons, pork pies from Sainsbury’s and one from Higgidy’s!

Higgidy's Chicken and Smoky Spanish Chorizo Pie

But one of the pielights was the Real Pie Company’s Steak and Mushroom pie, which I decided to try cold. With a whole selection sent for us to rate and the label mentioning they could be eaten hot or cold, I decided one of them should be tried at the world’s first ever piecnic. And what a great decision! Packed to capacity, just as it mentioned it would be on the wrapper, it was a delightful pie and I look forward to eating the others this week.

Finally, a huge thank you should be made to Gill and Helen, who both brought along homemade pies to share! In particular Gill made this delightful looking pie, made following the Hairy Biker’s reciPIE for ham, potato and apple pie!

The Hairy Biker's Ham, Potato and Apple Pie

Thanks to everyone who came along, including our first ever Honourary Pierateer Toby, and – while I may be a little pie-ased – it seemed a roaring success well worth repeating! And with a fair bit of filming done while we were at the park, here is our very own #MakeAPicnicAPiecnic promotional video!




RAS

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