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Young's Old Ship pub - Steak Pie Review

I recently paid a visit to the lovely Old Ship pub on the banks of the Thames just down from Hammersmith bridge on my search for London Pie. Owned by Young's brewers, they had a small menu which I was pleased to see still saved a place for a Young's Steak Pie. Apparently this was to come served on a bed of mash and kale. Intriguing, but I had to remember to focus on the pie and not the sideshow that was to come with it.
Unfortunately when my pie came to be served it had fallen off it's glorious vegetable perch. This slightly detracted from the presentation. However, it didn't hide the more noticeable fact that the top of the pie looked to have taken the crispy golden brown colour to the extreme. So much so that it looked dangerously close to being called 'burnt', the dreaded antithesis to the seven C's that we use to score our pies. A burnt pie can lose points on Colour, Condition, Consistency and possibly even Chewiness if it is really bad. But, perhaps this pie was supposed to come 'well done' I had after all not specified for it to be medium-rare.


The first stab with a knife and the pie oozed glorious gravy. The pastry, especially around the sides where it wasn't burnt, was fantastically gooey. The pie had a great Capacity which was packed with Content. However, the first bite confirmed my worst fears. Credit where it is due, the initial taste was certainly what you would expect from a gourmet pie. However, behind that was an all too familiar bitter carbon tang. Like burnt toast, it was so disappointing because this pie could have been in the upper echelons of the pie rankings. My pie eating companion for the evening said that he quite liked the burnt flavour. However he claims that 'pasties are a type of pie'. Clearly he is not fit to judge pie flavours so this view can be safely disregarded. Overall however, I did really enjoy this pie, it certainly did not ruin the experience. The mash and kale in particular were done to perfection. On another occasion I'm sure this could score better but we can only rate what is put in front of us. For the price of a bit over a tenner it is certainly above average for a London pub.

Young's Steak Pie (The Old Ship - Hammersmith, W6 9TD)
5.29/7

SJL

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To mark Queen Elizabeth's 60 years on the throne and as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the Senei produced a royally good pie! Provided at the Jubilee Lunch, hosted by City Church Birmingham, the red, white and blue bunting, flags and decorations by the children only added to the carnival atmosphere, as I dived in to grab the first slice of homemade Chicken & Stuffing Picnic Pie. The first thing to note were the nice chunks of chicken that were spread throughout the centre of the pie, giving every slice of pie that meatilicious content every savoury pie reviewer craves. The chicken and stuffing worked perfectly together, combining well with the nice thick pastry coating. I must have picked the perfect slice, as it did not crumble until the last mouthful, and while I did spot a few slightly crumbling slices on other people’s plates (notably the chef and chefess themselves), it was indeed a very fine and well crafted pie. And even better – it did not cost me a penny! It was packed full of content, my only slight criticism being a slightly higher content of chicken would have rounded it off perfectly, but all in all my first taste of Chicken & Stuffing Picnic Pie has left me craving for more! Bring on the 70 year celebrations!

The Queen would have certainly given this pie her royal seal of approval! A great pie to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee weekend with!

Score: 6.1/7
Chicken and Stuffing Picnic Pie

Bryony's patriotic Jubilee Cake, eaten at another Jubilee celebration!

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Would you pay £8 for a pie? Of course it would depend on the context, but the big cheeses at the Olympic Games have announced that pies will cost £8 at the "Greatest Show on Earth" - London 2012.

Check out this article on it: http://www.metro.co.uk/olympics/900735-punters-set-to-pay-4-for-olympic-beer-and-8-a-pie

Let's just hope they're the greatest pies on earth when we come to get our hands on them in July! A gold winning review is hoped for, though the expectation of the British public will be high!

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Tesco Steak and Red Onion Pie Review

Apologies for the unimaginative title but I have a headache. My remedy for the headache was of course pie. As a Pierateer, more unusual fillings catch my eye and this was no different for the steak and red onion pie I had for lunch today. I looked over the traditional 'steak and ale' and 'chicken and mushroom' and settled on this £2 (or 2 for £3 offer which I greedily took up) pie.


Though cooked for the recommended time, the pie was a little bit burnt on the outside but cold in the middle. However, I think this flaw is very much the fault of my oven rather than the pie. After a quick blast in the microwave to get it hot, the pie turned out to be very tasty. The steak pieces were soft and easy to eat rather than chewy. The gravy was thick and flavourful. The red onion in the pie made a lovely change from the regular white onion, which is often used a a cheap filler in regular pies. The subtle change made the pie a bit sweeter than you might expect but this is really nice. Overall, the pie was not really exciting, but made a fabulous cheap lunch treat.

Tescos Steak and Red Onion Pie
Score: 4.0/7
ARL

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Word on the street is that Miss Crabtree likes to crack out her chicken and rice speciality dish to all her guests, providing them with a delicious chicken in white wine sauce. Great...but why is this being mentioned on the world’s number one pie blog? Well let me tell you! For it was an absolute delight when recently frequenting said friend’s house for said chicken and rice speciality dish that the chicken dish had been covered in pastry and turned into a pie!* Excellent!

Yes, that is rice...

Chicken Pie
RAS

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Fuller's Ale and Pie House Review

With some pubs you are happy to see one or two pies on the menu so when there is a choice of nine, it is like walking into a pie wonderland. This is what happened when the Pierateers visited The Mad Hatter pub in Southwark, London. This is another Fuller's Ale & Pie House like The Jack Horner visited recently.

It is also a bit of a nightmare because you want to try them all. Fortunately the pub had thought of this already by providing a mini pie platter containing five pies. In order to try more pies the Pierateers decided to split all five pies and one full sized pie between them. There were practical problems with this. With such small pies each Pierateer got a tiny amount and so there was not much time to decide a score before the flavour was gone. However the tastebuds of the Pierateers are honed to perfection and hopefully on average the scores are fair. Notes were made by the Pierateers at the time but they are fairly unintelligible now. I will try my best to decipher them. Here goes....


The Mad Hatter House Pie - Chunks of game with an orange zest in a brandy gravy.
The Pierateers were pleased that while the orange zest was very much part of the flavour of this pie it was not overpowering. The balance was good however we felt the game was slightly on the Chewy side.
TJP - 5.59   SJL - 5.56   RAS - 4.60
Overall - 5.25

Broccoli, Spinach & Cheddar
TJP described this pie as 'insipid' however it was noted that it was 'healthy considering the genre'. It must have done something right though as RAS described it as 'not too bad' and he is known for his carnivorous nature.
TJP - 4.72   SJL - 5.07   RAS - 4.30
Overall - 4.70

Steak & Fuller's Ale
'Where's the ale?' were amongst the comments from the Pierateers. The meat was noted as a bit Chewy and the Content lacking, although to be fair this was a very small pie. However special mention was reserved for the mushrooms. The decision overall was that this pie was decidedly 'nothing special'.
TJP - 4.29   SJL - 4.89   RAS - 4.40
Overall - 4.53

Chicken, Thyme & Apricot Stuffing
The comments for this pie focused on the lack of meat. The pie just tasted of onion and stuffing to some of the Pierateers, however the scores show this wasn't necessarily considered to be too bad. The Pierateers were undecided whether they would choose to eat the whole large pie in this flavour.
TJP - 4.50   SJL - 4.99   RAS - 4.90
Overall - 4.80

Gammon, Apple & Potato
Strangely this was the only mini pie not also available as a full size pie. SJL complained that he had no apple. TJP said that he had all the apple. TJP and RAS liked the gammon but controversially there is quite a divergence on scores for this pie. SJL said 'I was very disappointed, it just tasted of potato'.
TJP - 6.03   SJL - 3.56   RAS - 4.80
Overall - 4.80 

Venison, Port & Prune
As this flavour sounded very different and intriguing the Pierateers decided to choose this as the full sized pie. However, it has been said by some that this was the biggest disappointment of their pie eating career. Two out of three Pierateers failed to finish their small share of the pie as they felt 'it was only just edible'. There was however one good comment from SJL that the venison was 'melt in the mouth' but the 'bizarre flavours' let it down. The use of juniper berries was particularly questioned.
TJP - 2.09   SJL - 2.37   RAS - 1.5
Overall - 1.99

So there you go, while it was a disastrous end with, in our view, one of the worst pies ever eaten by the Pierateers, the pie platter scores quite high on average.

SJL

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Getting people to read your blog posts is all about getting a good title. I think this one is pretty good, I actually came up with it before eating the pie. I then refused to change it despite the fact that the pie didn't really get close to the 'sparks flying' level of a great pie. So I am sorry, I have misled you. Don't get me wrong, this was a good pie, it was clearly premium quality, but if I were to give it a fantastic score I would be forgetting one of the most important 'Cs' that we use to rate our pies here at pierate; cheapness. At pierate we want to let you know about pies that you would want to buy, not just which pies taste better than others. If a pie is expensive it needs to do something a bit special to make me buy it again and sadly this didn't.

Now, I am slightly doing this review backwards, I should tell you what the pie was! A gastropub branded West Country Steak and Cornish IPA Ale from Marks and Spencer. This was an individual pie which cost me £3.15, fairly pricey for a small pie from a supermarket.

The pastry was fantastic, it used the classic, puff pastry lid and short crust sides combo. Despite being oven cooked it was nice and gooey. There was loads of gravy which was certainly above average. However, the steak let it down for me, I didn't feel it was premium standard. It was chewy in places when I was expecting melt in the mouth.


So the pie did score highly in a number of areas but some faults stop it from gaining top Marks.

West Country Steak and Cornish IPA Ale (Marks and Spencer)
5.05/7

SJL
 
P.S. I have just noticed the name of the pie on the box says 'IPA Ale'. As IPA stands for Indian Pale Ale, they have said Indian Pale Ale Ale on the packet. Surely that isn't right???

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This is a big year for Britain. Have we got the energy to put on a memorable celebration for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee? Can the country step up to the plate and deliver a great Olympics? At pierate.co.uk we think this comes down to whether the plate handed to the average Britain has enough energy in it. And there is more to energy than just calories. Britain needs inspiration. Britain needs passion. Britain needs something to fight for. Britain needs something warm and comforting to get through the times when the rain just doesn't stop.

Britain needs fantastic pies.

This is the fifth year of the British Pie Awards

This is where the British Pie Awards can help. By giving the best pie makers across the land the recognition they deserve this helps drive up standards. As the home of pies the bench mark is already high in Britain but we need the absolute best from our pie makers this year. The 2012 awards were held in Melton Mowbray on Wednesday 25th April. They didn't just judge Melton Mowbray pork pies but a number of different pie categories. It is good to see a number of pies recommended by us here at pierate that were among the winner. The team at Morecambe Football Club were again successful in a number of areas including best football pie and best small producer. The supreme champion was Dunkleys of Wellingborough (no I didn't know where it was either but apparently it is near Northampton). They won with a very intriguing flavour of Chicken, Ham, Mushroom, Buttered Leeks & Suet Pastry Pie. Congratulations to all at Dunkleys, it appears the Pierateers have a new destination to sail to.

SJL

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Steak Pie on Beacon Hill, Leicestershire

I was over in Leicester recently visiting my mate Mark, and had a delightful trip out to an area of outstanding natural beauty. But enough about “Birds the confectioners”(at The Nook in Anstey) which served me a small, but deeply filled, Steak pie on my travels... We went on to another equally beautiful location, namely the Beacon Hill, north of Leicester. It was a lovely place to wander round and catch up with a good mate, and equally a great place to eat a lovely meatilicious pie! The only downside was a lack of heating elements to warm up my pastry beauty on top of the hill. Oh well – can’t have everything I suppose!

Birds in Anstey, north of Leicester

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Ahh no. You know that feeling when you've got a slight backlog of pies that you've eaten and need reviewing, but you've misplaced your memory card that holds the photos? It is just slightly annoying.

Anyway, it hasn't escaped our notice that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have placed an advert in Gloucester encouraging us all to become vegans because otherwise we'll all die from overeating meat pies. I'm not sure why PETA specifically chose Gloucester to place the advert, but we thank them for their concerns over our health as well as the animals. Obviously one too many pies is bad for the body, but veganism isn't exactly sustainable for human health either (B12 deficiency, anyone?).

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/peta-coffin-anti-meat-obesity-pie-advert-controversy.html

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Some question why most of our pie scores seem to be so high. Our average score seems to be around 5/7 which is over 70%. One obvious reason is that we do endeavour to follow up recommendations and search for the very best that the pie universe has to offer. Another is as a pie is a great product to start with you don't have to do a lot to make a great pie. Yet further reasons exist; we all eat many more pies than we have time to review so sometimes, unfortunately, the average pies are the ones that either get forgotten or just aren't interesting enough to review.

This brings me nicely to a pie I had in London the other day at The Jack Horner pub on Tottenham Court Road. This is a Fuller's Ale and Pie House which makes these average pubs sound more interesting than in fact they are. With the average decor, service and below par ambiance it would be easy not to realise that the pub had any special link to pies. However, all the pubs in this London chain have a very decent range of pies. The best part is that each of the 13 pubs has it's own House Pie. I love this fact and it does make me want to go to each location and try them all. I of course ordered the Jack Horner house pie which was Beef, Bacon and London Porter. I was a bit disappointed they missed the link to the Jack Horner nursery rhyme by not including plum in this pie.

The shape of this pie was quite interesting with a square puff pastry lid on a round shortcrust base. There was also a nice addition of a gravy boat included. Unfortunately this was needed to soften up the shortcrust pastry of this pie which tasted like cardboard in some places. I genuinely thought for a few moments that perhaps the sides were not supposed to be eaten and I was eating the container by mistake. The filling rescued it somewhat. The sauce was nice and thick and the meat was tasty but too chewy in some places. At £10.50 with mash and veg this was a pretty standard price for a pie in London.

So this pie is the perfect example of average, not bad, but nothing special. I think this deserves a middle of the road score so I have gone for 50%. I would eat it again, but why bother, there are so many better pies out there, with much more passionate service and at a similar price (e.g. Canteen)

Beef, Bacon and London Porter (The Jack Horner)
3.50/7

SJL

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