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Showing posts with label wycombe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wycombe. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Football Pie: Why Can't Wycombe Get it Right?!
Wycombe Wanderers/Pukka Pies - Chicken & Mushroom Pie Review
We have eaten many pies at Wycombe Wanderers matches over the years whilst we follow our home town team through thick and thin. Sadly though in recent years the pies served at their home ground of Adams Park have been pretty terrible. They are currently languishing near the bottom of our Football Pie League. You can read more about this in our 'Pies & Lows of Following Wycombe Wanderers' article.
There has been a recent upturn in performance on the pitch but this sadly hasn't been matched by an upturn in pie form. On Saturday I attended the entertaining 0-0 draw with top of the table Exeter and was pleased to note that there was a change in pie supplier. Instead of the dodgy 'Bisto' brand pies, Wycombe have enlisted the help of the ubiquitous Pukka pie empire. As I got near to the front of the queue in the lower tier family stand I could see just one pie remaining. With all my mental strength I willed those in front to order something else. A couple of burgers disappeared and I was home and dry at the front of the queue. I had no choice of flavour, it was a Pukka Chicken & Mushroom or suffer the ignomy of a non-pie choice. My delight soon turned to dismay. What I had been served very much looked like the kind of pie that would be left til last. A gravy explosion had rented a gaping hole in the side of the pie. What was remarkable was that somehow the gravy had dried and burnt like a grotesque gravy icicle hanging off the edge of the crust. I had never seen anything like this before in many years of pie reviewing. This was a bad omen, indicating the pie had been cooked for too long. Indeed the sides and base of the pie were very burnt and dried out. It was quite difficult to actually eat because the pastry was so hard, especially at the bottom. It was also far too hot and took ages to cool down. This indicated the problem was probably down to the hot locker the pie had been sat in. Being set so hot it hadn't just kept the pie warm, it had continued cooking it until the pastry had become not much more than a husk to hold the filling. Fortunately the Chicken & Mushroom filling was still enjoyable. There certainly was scope for more pieces of mushroom and chicken but there was by no means an embarassing lack of content. The creamy sauce maintained a good balance of chicken and mushroom flavours (although I do like my mushroom to be subtle). It actually made a nice change to my usual choice of steak pie. However, this couldn't recover what was overall a very disappointing pie due to the pastry! Next time I will have to try and get a pie before the game rather than half time. Hopefully it won't be so dried out!
Chicken & Mushroom (Wycombe Wanderers/Pukka Pies)
3.34/7
SJL
continue reading "Football Pie: Why Can't Wycombe Get it Right?! "
We have eaten many pies at Wycombe Wanderers matches over the years whilst we follow our home town team through thick and thin. Sadly though in recent years the pies served at their home ground of Adams Park have been pretty terrible. They are currently languishing near the bottom of our Football Pie League. You can read more about this in our 'Pies & Lows of Following Wycombe Wanderers' article.
There has been a recent upturn in performance on the pitch but this sadly hasn't been matched by an upturn in pie form. On Saturday I attended the entertaining 0-0 draw with top of the table Exeter and was pleased to note that there was a change in pie supplier. Instead of the dodgy 'Bisto' brand pies, Wycombe have enlisted the help of the ubiquitous Pukka pie empire. As I got near to the front of the queue in the lower tier family stand I could see just one pie remaining. With all my mental strength I willed those in front to order something else. A couple of burgers disappeared and I was home and dry at the front of the queue. I had no choice of flavour, it was a Pukka Chicken & Mushroom or suffer the ignomy of a non-pie choice. My delight soon turned to dismay. What I had been served very much looked like the kind of pie that would be left til last. A gravy explosion had rented a gaping hole in the side of the pie. What was remarkable was that somehow the gravy had dried and burnt like a grotesque gravy icicle hanging off the edge of the crust. I had never seen anything like this before in many years of pie reviewing. This was a bad omen, indicating the pie had been cooked for too long. Indeed the sides and base of the pie were very burnt and dried out. It was quite difficult to actually eat because the pastry was so hard, especially at the bottom. It was also far too hot and took ages to cool down. This indicated the problem was probably down to the hot locker the pie had been sat in. Being set so hot it hadn't just kept the pie warm, it had continued cooking it until the pastry had become not much more than a husk to hold the filling. Fortunately the Chicken & Mushroom filling was still enjoyable. There certainly was scope for more pieces of mushroom and chicken but there was by no means an embarassing lack of content. The creamy sauce maintained a good balance of chicken and mushroom flavours (although I do like my mushroom to be subtle). It actually made a nice change to my usual choice of steak pie. However, this couldn't recover what was overall a very disappointing pie due to the pastry! Next time I will have to try and get a pie before the game rather than half time. Hopefully it won't be so dried out!
Chicken & Mushroom (Wycombe Wanderers/Pukka Pies)
3.34/7
SJL
Monday, 1 May 2017
The Pies and Lows of following Wycombe Wanderers!
I think it's one of the worst kept secrets on Pierate that we are fans of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club. After all, most of the football pie reviews we've done have been at games involving the club - and we've done 4 different pie reviews at Adam's Park in the past 4 and a half years (they seem to change their pie suppliers as often as their kit suppliers!) It's also no secret that we've not been too impressed at the pie provision at our home town club recently either - seeing the Blues slip down our Pierate Football Pie League as a result of poor scores off the pitch.
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| Pie at the Oxford v Wycombe match - May 2016 |
Wycombe's Pies Rated! January 2014 - It was all going so well! Peter's Pies Chicken Curry Premier Pie received a Pierate Recommended score of 5.02/7 in our "Wandering How Good the Pies Are at Wycombe?" article! December 2014 - Roll on 11 months and with a summer signing of Phat Pasty Co the Phat Pasty Co Steak and Potato Pie scored only 3.36/7 in our "Will the Wycombe pies be a phat lot of good?!" article! September 2015 - There was another foray into the pie transfer market and by the next September we were wondering "Why Come to Wycombe?" if their Bisto Steak Pies were only scoring 3.13/7!!! May 2017 - This season they've continued selling Bisto Pies (as Pierateer RAS found out earlier in the season) meaning we await movement in the summer transfer window for an im-pie-rovement! October 2017 - A surprise move to Pukka pies in the 2017/2018 season saw a slight increase in score but sadly the pie was cooked so badly it was still a bit of a disaster scoring 3.34/7 See "Why Can't Wycombe Get it Right?".
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Being the world's leading pie review blog - featuring almost 600 pie reviews with multiple football pie media appearances - we can't deny we're disappointed at the quality of pie served at our hometown club. Yet it appears we are not suffering alone, with a current Premier League football pie survey looking to unearth the golden treasure from the pre-heated rubbish of Premier League pie provision. Looking at our football pie league only 7 out of 23 pies have scored 5/7 or above (our indicator of "Pierate Recommended" status), which works out at just 30.4%, compared to a whopping 338 out of 586 pies scoring 5/7 in our overall pie rankings (57.7%)!
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| Sam and Rob being interviewed by BBC Sport's Azi Farni Watch the video on the BBC Sport website |
And it really begs the question that if Morecambe FC - who have one of the smallest budgets in League Football - can produce such great quality pies, then why can't Wycombe, or anyone else for that matter?! Even looking at the three pies Wycombe have sold in the past 4 seasons, it seems crazy from a pie eating point of view to change supplier to such a worse scoring pie! Maybe it was a commercial deal too good to refuse or a particularly well cooked pie sample when the pitch was made, that far outstrips the quality of pie served in the terraces on a matchday? And that's not to mention the game earlier in the season that caused a bit of outrage on social media when our beloved Wycombe announced that they didn't have any pies to sell at the match! Serious own goal!!!
In any case, whatever happens in the final games of the season, let's hope that there are more pies than lows come next season - at Wycombe and beyond!
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| We've rated almost 600 pies, including a number of football pies |
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| Steak... but where is the pastry?! |
As a little aside - and not particularly pie related (as they decided to serve a delicious steak but not fully encase it in pastry - go figure?!) - I had a great time supporting the Wycombe players at the annual Wycombe Wanderers Player Awards Dinner at Adam's Park on 30th April. I can confirm the food - while sadly not pie - was of a great standard and the awards was a great evening. I was fortunate to be sat with Wycombe left back Joe Jacobson (who is also in the photo near the top of this article, holding a pie) and had a great chat with him about topics such as GPS tracking, Boxing Day matches and - of course - pies!
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| Pierateer Rob and Joe Jacobson (minus the pies!) |
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| Awards host Rachel (minus the pies!) |
Check out the video of the Wycombe Players having got pied from Rachel's twitter feed below:
This is happening right NOW - @wwfcofficial getting PIED 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/7tHH0juKUy— Rachel Stringer (@RachStringer) February 3, 2017
All in all, it was a great evening and while it's only a slim chance, it's still all to play for in the final game of the season this coming Saturday! Come on you Blues!!!
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| Adebayo Akinfenwa (Beeeeeast!!!) winning player's player of the season and celebrating with the lads! |
Want to find out what the Pierateers really make of the state of the (pie) game in English Football? Check out our analysis in our Pies of Football 2016 article to find out what makes a great football pie!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!
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Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Why Come to Wycombe?
Wycombe Wanderers FC/Bisto - made by Peter's - Steak Pie Review
Having eaten quite a few pies at football matches in our time (see our football pie league), one of the main problems tends to be whether the pie is cooked properly. When trying to prepare so many pies in a short space of time it is tempting for clubs to not cook them for long enough and then let them dry out as they try and keep a large number of pies warm. The Phat Pasty pies being served at Wycombe last season were a prime example of a pie done in a bad way. Whilst it wouldn't put ardent fans off from attending the game given that Wycombe are struggling with falling attendances perhaps some of the more casual fans are wondering why come to Wycombe when the pies are so bad?
Having attended the Wycombe v Cambridge match last night I was excited to see a new pie being served. Had Wycombe taken our advice to replace the Phat Pasty pies after just 1 season? Now they are serving Bisto branded pies which is a brand I had not come across before. A Bisto branded pie does make sense to some extent. I expected that whilst it might not do anything outstanding, if it was made with Bisto gravy it would at least not taste bad, after all apparently Britons have 1.6 billion meals with Bisto every year! I grabbed the last Steak pie for £3.
I then noticed that the pie was in fact made under licence by our friends in Wales, Peter's Pies. I was please about this because before last season's change, Wycombe served Peter's Premier Pies for a number of years and we had previously scored them well. My expectation was that this would effectively be a standard Peter's pie under a different brand. I was soon left feeling rather deflated as I delved into the pie, the pastry sides and base were decidedly soggy and completely fell to pieces, just like my hopes of a good pie. It seemed like this pie had not been cooked properly at all. It seemed as if it had been microwaved. My fears were soon confirmed when I learnt that the pie can be microwaved cooked from frozen. Whilst this can save time it is not normally recommended by the Pierateers, it will often result in soggy or dry pastry. Sadly, poor cooking has again let Wycombe down.
This wouldn't have been a complete disaster if the pie wasn't also completely tasteless. I would have expected it to at least taste like Bisto gravy but in fact the gravy was just tasted watery, starchy and fatty. The only redeeming feature was the good amount of steak chunks in the pie. There weren't any chewy pieces. However, these were also somehow fairly tasteless! I couldn't help but feel that this really was a pie to avoid even if it had been cooked properly. The only thing that impressed me was that Wycombe had managed to find a pie which scored worse than last season. Oh well, at least it can't get worse, can it? See the score breakdown below. Fortunately for Wycombe, they were so near the bottom of our Pie Football League (the PIEremiership) that losing some points does not currently see them move down the table.
Condition - 3.5 out of 7 - The pie arrived wrapped in Bisto branded plastic. The wrapper gives away that these pies come frozen and can be microwaved.
Colour - 2.0 out of 7 - Whilst the flaky lid looked crispy brown the sides and base appeared raw and unappealing.
Cheapness - 3.5 out of 7 - A pretty standard price for league 2 but I would normal expect something a bit better at the price. I guess it did at least have quite a lot of steak chunks.
Capacity - 4.9 out of 7 - This was an area where the pie did quite well, it was a decent size and also well filled.
Chewiness - 3.5 out of 7 - The texture to the tender steak was let down by an awful texture to the pastry, it just fell apart when I tried to take it out of the case. The sides and base were so soggy and under cooked it felt like I was really eating raw flour.
Content - 2.0 out of 7 - Terrible, I am not sure how they made the whole thing so tasteless, I really didn't enjoy it. My Dad also tried it a said it was a '1 out of 7', whilst I might not be that harsh, I doubt many people would say they enjoyed the taste of this pie.
Consistency - 2.5 out of 7 - Soft and stodgy, the pastry had a horrible consistency. Perhaps the filling was not so bad, the sauce being just about thick enough to stay in the pie (had the pastry not fallen apart). This is quite a new pie from Peter's, having been released this year and I think it needs more work. Peter's have experimented with making pies under other brands before, such as the Heinz pies we have reviewed, however, it seems that they are best when they are using their own brand. I wouldn't expect these Bisto pies to be around for long.
Steak Pie (Wycombe Wanderers/Bisto - made by Peter's)
3.13/7
SJL
Having eaten quite a few pies at football matches in our time (see our football pie league), one of the main problems tends to be whether the pie is cooked properly. When trying to prepare so many pies in a short space of time it is tempting for clubs to not cook them for long enough and then let them dry out as they try and keep a large number of pies warm. The Phat Pasty pies being served at Wycombe last season were a prime example of a pie done in a bad way. Whilst it wouldn't put ardent fans off from attending the game given that Wycombe are struggling with falling attendances perhaps some of the more casual fans are wondering why come to Wycombe when the pies are so bad?
I then noticed that the pie was in fact made under licence by our friends in Wales, Peter's Pies. I was please about this because before last season's change, Wycombe served Peter's Premier Pies for a number of years and we had previously scored them well. My expectation was that this would effectively be a standard Peter's pie under a different brand. I was soon left feeling rather deflated as I delved into the pie, the pastry sides and base were decidedly soggy and completely fell to pieces, just like my hopes of a good pie. It seemed like this pie had not been cooked properly at all. It seemed as if it had been microwaved. My fears were soon confirmed when I learnt that the pie can be microwaved cooked from frozen. Whilst this can save time it is not normally recommended by the Pierateers, it will often result in soggy or dry pastry. Sadly, poor cooking has again let Wycombe down.
Condition - 3.5 out of 7 - The pie arrived wrapped in Bisto branded plastic. The wrapper gives away that these pies come frozen and can be microwaved.
Colour - 2.0 out of 7 - Whilst the flaky lid looked crispy brown the sides and base appeared raw and unappealing.
Cheapness - 3.5 out of 7 - A pretty standard price for league 2 but I would normal expect something a bit better at the price. I guess it did at least have quite a lot of steak chunks.
Capacity - 4.9 out of 7 - This was an area where the pie did quite well, it was a decent size and also well filled.
Chewiness - 3.5 out of 7 - The texture to the tender steak was let down by an awful texture to the pastry, it just fell apart when I tried to take it out of the case. The sides and base were so soggy and under cooked it felt like I was really eating raw flour.
Content - 2.0 out of 7 - Terrible, I am not sure how they made the whole thing so tasteless, I really didn't enjoy it. My Dad also tried it a said it was a '1 out of 7', whilst I might not be that harsh, I doubt many people would say they enjoyed the taste of this pie.
Consistency - 2.5 out of 7 - Soft and stodgy, the pastry had a horrible consistency. Perhaps the filling was not so bad, the sauce being just about thick enough to stay in the pie (had the pastry not fallen apart). This is quite a new pie from Peter's, having been released this year and I think it needs more work. Peter's have experimented with making pies under other brands before, such as the Heinz pies we have reviewed, however, it seems that they are best when they are using their own brand. I wouldn't expect these Bisto pies to be around for long.Steak Pie (Wycombe Wanderers/Bisto - made by Peter's)
3.13/7
SJL
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!
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Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Will the Wycombe pies be a phat lot of good?!
Phat Pasty Co Steak and Potato Pie Review
It’s a tough job keeping track of all the comings and goings in football’s summer transfer window, especially with the distraction of the World Cup (and our World Cup pie blog) this summer! But one transfer we Pierateers did spot was a change in the pie supplier at Wycombe Wanderers FC, who are the local club of the Pierateers.
As you may well know, the Pierateers have rated pies in grounds up and down the country and are looking to expand the number of pies in their Pieremiership table! But in amongst all this, having already rated last season’s pie at Wycombe, we rated the new offering at Adam’s Park – made by Phat Pasty Co. who we also rated at Portsmouth FC – as Wycombe Wanderers took on Southend United. Would they hit the back of the net?!
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| Phat Pasty Co's Steak and Potato Pie Review |
Not only do we want tasty pastry and a fabulous filling, but the pie needs to be able to be eaten by hand and have a not-too-runny consistency to save spills on your football shirt! It can also be difficult to get value for money when in a sports arena, but we take that into account when looking at the cheapness. The steak and potato pie by Phat Pasty Co certainly looked appealing, with a good depth to it and cleverly including the word “phat” into the top pastry. However when Pierateer RAS went to take his pie out of the foil, there was a monumental collapse of the pastry, resulting in the lid and parts of the side being completely separated from the rest of the pie.
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| Phat Pasty Co's Steak and Potato Pie Review |
The content itself was on the whole pretty good, though it was noted that a meat pie – rather than meat and potato – would most probably have scored higher. The potato in this pie though was cooked well, and nice and flavoursome. There could have certainly been a bit more meat and there was a bit of chewy meat in there, but overall the flavour of the filling was enjoyed. The capacity was pretty much spot on and at £3 for a pie, that’s pretty good value for a hot pie of that size eaten out.
Our post match summary then: While we commend a big meat and potato pie with an enjoyable filling, the pastry on this pie sadly wasn’t strong or tasty enough for top marks. It was too thick and still tasted quite floury. For a football pie, the pastry didn’t hold together well enough to pick it up and eat it, so a longer baked and stronger pie pastry would be ideal.
Phat Pasty Co Steak and Potato Pie
Score: 3.36/7
[Colour 3.5, Capacity 5, Consistency 2, Condition 3, Chewiness 2, Cheapness 4, Content 4, Total: 3.36/7]
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!
|
Saturday, 18 January 2014
Wandering How Good the Pies Are at Wycombe?
Wycombe Wanderers/Peter's Pies - Chicken Curry Premier Pie Review
At Pierate we well know that football and pies are a match made in heaven, just have a look at our pie football league table. However, all too often the pies can be mass produced sub-standard fare, not living up to the excitment on the pitch. That was why it was so good to see the Morecambe Football Pies score so well in our recent review. But you can get good pies even if they aren't as hand crafted as those offered by Morecambe. The quest to find these took me to Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club.
In the past Wycombe pies have suffered from 'dry pie syndrome' where, despite potentially being decent pies I have found them to have sat around in a heater too long and hence dry out. This seems to have improved with myself and Pierateer ARL both picking up pies in good Condition. I opted for the Chicken Curry and ARL opted for the Steak which we have reviewed before. Both of these were from the 'Peter's Premier Pies' brand. I can tell this because they are much taller than the shallow 'oval' pies in the standard range (we have also reviewed these). For some reason the chicken curry pie came in a very plain packaging and didn't say 'premier' on it. However, according to their website, Peter's don't do a standard chicken curry pie so it must be 'premier'.
The choice of the premier range by Wycombe is a good one. The two offerings from the Welsh company that we have reviewed before both scored very well (Steak 5.75 and Steak & Fullers 5.20). At Wycombe they are retailing at £2.70 for just the pie. This may seem high compared to other hot pies, but of course football grounds tend to be more expensive so we take this into account. If you look at the BBC price of football raw data this is about average for League 2.
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The pie looked quite good, standing tall which gave a good Capacity. The Colour looked a bit pale in places which hinted at soft pastry, which was indeed the case. I would like to see more of a golden colour. The pie passed the 'hand held' test which is vital for the perfect football pie. The pastry held together and the filling was thick. The Content was vibrant, not overly spicy but just enough to give it some flavour. It didn't do anything particularly special given that it was similar to standard chip shop curry sauce. The small amount of onion was a welcome addition. The chicken did retain some bite although it was suspiciously homogenous and of course tasted a bit mass produced. However, I still really enjoyed this as a change from steak pies which have been really in form for me. The pastry was a little too soft in my opinion, it was nice that it slipped down so easily but there wasn't much to get your teeth into. It also felt a bit stodgy.
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Overall, this line up of Wycombe and Peter's is a good partnership. They have a bit of creativity going for the chicken curry pie option which hit the back of the net. It was vital that the pie was good because it was an otherwise disappointing game and result for Wycombe, losing in the last minute of injury time 1-0 at home to Accrington Stanley.
Chicken Curry (Wycombe Wanderer/Peter's)
5.02/7
SJL
continue reading "Wandering How Good the Pies Are at Wycombe?"
At Pierate we well know that football and pies are a match made in heaven, just have a look at our pie football league table. However, all too often the pies can be mass produced sub-standard fare, not living up to the excitment on the pitch. That was why it was so good to see the Morecambe Football Pies score so well in our recent review. But you can get good pies even if they aren't as hand crafted as those offered by Morecambe. The quest to find these took me to Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club.
In the past Wycombe pies have suffered from 'dry pie syndrome' where, despite potentially being decent pies I have found them to have sat around in a heater too long and hence dry out. This seems to have improved with myself and Pierateer ARL both picking up pies in good Condition. I opted for the Chicken Curry and ARL opted for the Steak which we have reviewed before. Both of these were from the 'Peter's Premier Pies' brand. I can tell this because they are much taller than the shallow 'oval' pies in the standard range (we have also reviewed these). For some reason the chicken curry pie came in a very plain packaging and didn't say 'premier' on it. However, according to their website, Peter's don't do a standard chicken curry pie so it must be 'premier'.
The choice of the premier range by Wycombe is a good one. The two offerings from the Welsh company that we have reviewed before both scored very well (Steak 5.75 and Steak & Fullers 5.20). At Wycombe they are retailing at £2.70 for just the pie. This may seem high compared to other hot pies, but of course football grounds tend to be more expensive so we take this into account. If you look at the BBC price of football raw data this is about average for League 2.
The pie looked quite good, standing tall which gave a good Capacity. The Colour looked a bit pale in places which hinted at soft pastry, which was indeed the case. I would like to see more of a golden colour. The pie passed the 'hand held' test which is vital for the perfect football pie. The pastry held together and the filling was thick. The Content was vibrant, not overly spicy but just enough to give it some flavour. It didn't do anything particularly special given that it was similar to standard chip shop curry sauce. The small amount of onion was a welcome addition. The chicken did retain some bite although it was suspiciously homogenous and of course tasted a bit mass produced. However, I still really enjoyed this as a change from steak pies which have been really in form for me. The pastry was a little too soft in my opinion, it was nice that it slipped down so easily but there wasn't much to get your teeth into. It also felt a bit stodgy.
Overall, this line up of Wycombe and Peter's is a good partnership. They have a bit of creativity going for the chicken curry pie option which hit the back of the net. It was vital that the pie was good because it was an otherwise disappointing game and result for Wycombe, losing in the last minute of injury time 1-0 at home to Accrington Stanley.
Chicken Curry (Wycombe Wanderer/Peter's)
5.02/7
SJL
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!
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