Marks and Spencer Handcrafted in Yorkshire All Butter Pastry Chicken and Leek Pie and Slow Roasted Ham, Onion and Mature Cheddar Pie Reviews

The Pierateers arrrrgh always searching from the crow’s nest for a pie bargain to be had, so when I was informed of a 3 for 2 pie offer in Marks and Spencer the Pierate Ship plotted a course down to our local store. While the 3 for 2 offer extended further than just pies, we have our eyes firmly on the pies at Pierate HQ!

So with episode one and episode two of ‘Pie Factor’ completed, the final auditions took place on Tuesday 12th November 2013. ‘Why are you telling me the exact date?’ I hear you ask! Well, that only happens to be International Pierate Day, a celebration of eating and rating pie, which coincides with our pie blog’s birthday! It also formed part of my 5-a-day pie quota for International Pierate Day, which demonstrated Piethagoras theorem (see our Pierate Dictionary for a full definition).

Anyhow, I digress! Back to the Pie Factor and we had already had 3 contestants, with two more in the firing range... I mean, on stage for a constructive review on the third instalment of ‘Pie Factor’ (which by sheer coincidence happens to tie in with the final of another, less interesting Factor experience!)

Let's welcome down Pie Factor contestant number 4...

What's your name and where are you from?
I'm the Chicken and Leek Pie from Marks and Spencer.

And what do you do?
I’m one of the 3 for 2 individual sized Yorkshire Pies that you can buy, handmade in Yorkshire and ready for you to enjoy as part of your main meal of the day.

Brilliant! And what talents have you got at your disposal?
Well we didn’t want anyone to accuse us of being “chicken” and all when it came to being on the big stage, so we’ve gone all out to pack our filling with big chunks of chicken!

You’re not wrong there! Some of the pieces of chicken were almost as big as some eggs I’ve eaten!
Well we wouldn’t want to chicken out when it came to content and capacity! They compliment the leek, I hope, but the leek doesn’t overpower the flavour.



Chicken and Leek Pie

That’s a pretty spot on assessment. A much better mix than your steak and ale friend who performed previously.
Thanks. We are friends, but there can only be one winner of the Pie Factor... and we want that to be us!

Well with the nice crisp pastry lid and the well held pastry sides and base, complimenting the chicken and leek on offer, it sure is in with a good shout!
Aww, thanks so much! We do pie our best!

Alright, alright! Leave the pie puns and jokes to us please!
Sorry!

So there we have it – a very good performance even if it is again a little small for an individual dinner portion. I’d rate you as slightly better than the steak and ale option due to having a better mix of content and no “padding out” this time!



Marks and Spencer Ham, Onion & Cheddar (l) and Chicken & Leek (r)

And finally, let's welcome down Pie Factor contestant number 5...

What's your name and where are you from?
I'm the Slow Roasted Ham, Onion and Mature Cheddar Pie from Marks and Spencer.

And let’s just cut to the chase... why do you think you should win the Pie Factor?!
Well I’m one of the 3 for 2 individual sized Yorkshire Pies that you can buy, handmade in Yorkshire and ready for you to enjoy as part of your main meal of the day. Containing big chunks of ham and a nice cheesy sauce, I’m quite unique as there aren’t lots of ham and cheese pies out there! On top of that, I’m full of filling and have a nice, fully encased pastry shell. Vote Team Ham and Cheese!!!

Alright, less of the promotion please – I’ll be the judge of you!
Sorry, just got a little carried away. ***Motions for people to ring in and vote for Ham and Cheese***


Slow Roasted Ham, Onion and Mature Cheddar Pie

 
Right...So let’s not pad this out too much longer. The pastry was again very good. The ham – nice big chunks of it – was very nice if a little chewy in places, perhaps due to being too many large pieces of meat rather than a more ideal smaller, consistent approach. I’ll give you credit for being more original in your flavouring, especially as it is often just steak and cheese or cheese and onion pies you get, so thank you for bringing something new to the table (quite literally!)
Ah, nice one! I see what you did there!

As for the capacity, once again it was strong and it wasn’t compromised by other ingredients. The pie was quite cheesy as the sauce really did come into its own. Could have got a bit much if the pie had been a lot bigger, but all things considered, a good effort! The pie rating for you is 5.43/7.


Marks and Spencer Handcrafted in Yorkshire All Butter Pastry Chicken and Leek Pie
Score: 5.79/7
[Colour 6/7; Consistency 6/7; Cheapness 4/7; Chewiness 6.25/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6.25/7; Capacity 6/7; Total: 5.79/7]

Marks and Spencer Slow Roasted Ham, Onion and Mature Cheddar Pie
Score: 5.43/7
[Colour 6/7; Consistency 5.5/7; Cheapness 4/7; Chewiness 5/7; Condition 6/7; Content 5.5/7; Capacity 6/7; Total: 5.43/7]

So there we have it!

Five pie contestants, but only one of them can go away with the title of “Pie Factor” winner for Marks and Spencer. I hope you’ve enjoyed finding out more about our five contestants but before we go, here’s our round up of the pies in question:

Rank	Pie Producer	Pie Flavour	Score	By
1	Marks and Spencer	Handcrafted in Yorkshire All Butter Pastry Chicken and Leek	5.79	RAS
2	Marks and Spencer	Handcrafted in Yorkshire All Butter Pastry Steak and Old Peculier Ale Pie	5.50	RAS
3	Marks and Spencer	Handcrafted in Yorkshire All Butter Pastry Slow Roasted Ham, Onion and Mature Cheddar	5.43	RAS
4	Marks and Spencer	Gastro Pub Beef And Ale	5.40	RAS
DNQ	Marks and Spencer	Gastro Pub Aberdeen Angus Steak Yorkshire Pudding	DNQ	RAS

RAS

See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour. Make sure you Follow @pierateers and let us know your thoughts!

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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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Tesco Mince Pie Review

With the final remaining place in the “12 Pies of Christmas” video up for grabs, I thought the fairest way to decide which of the “Big 3” supermarkets – Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco – to buy from was to ask them why I should buy their pie! However when I’d asked the three stores if I would be able to film part of my video in store, Sainsbury’s had got back to me to say that I couldn’t – as it would cause “too much disruption in their store”. This left Asda and Tesco, so when I tweeted out to them, this is what I got back:

@pierateers @asda We have an answer! The answer my friend is @Tesco #ToPieFor : )
— Tesco (@Tesco) November 30, 2013

Unfortunately Asda didn’t reply at all. Therefore with a good pie pun – even if they hadn’t actually told me why I should buy Tesco pies over any other – I purchased the 10 mince pies I needed for the video. These pies also formed part of the first ever Pierate “Pie Rating Demo” which will be reviewed on www.pierate.co.uk soon!

10 Tesco Mince Pies


So how did these Tesco mince pies rate?

Well the mincemeat was nice and flavoursome, with a good capacity. There was plenty of fruity flavour, giving a quite good consistency, and a good ratio of filling to pastry. The pastry was a bit pale in colour and quite solid, a bit dry but held together well. Upon cutting in half, the pie did however crumble and break off quite badly. The design on the pie was quite basic but did the job and at £1.00 for a box of 6 pies (making them just 16.7ppp) they are the second cheapest pies in the 12 Pies of Christmas video, but certainly not the lowest scoring.



Tesco Mince Pie

These mince pies were a very solid performer and good value at just 16.7ppp. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was blown away by them, I would certainly have no problem in sharing a box or two at a Christmas party I organised.

Tesco Mince Pie
Score: 5.25/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 5.25, Consistency 5, Condition 5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 6, Content 5, Total: 5.25/7]
RAS

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(Image: flickr// Robert Couse-Baker)

Some people claim baking the perfect pie crust is an art, but actually it can be just as much a science. Experts at the University of California, Los Angeles, have looked into the science of baking the perfect apple pie, and have made a few suggestions for how baking the perfect crust can really be easy as pie.
First of all, you want to achieve a lovely golden brown colour with your pie crust. A chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction is your friend here. This occurs at high temperatures between amino acids such as proteins, and sugar molecules such as lactose, and it gives the pie crust its beautiful brown complexion. So brushing the pastry with something with lots of protein, like egg, that’s mixed in with a lactose-rich solution, such as cream, means you’ll promote these browning reactions and score highly on the 'C' of 'colour'.

But the crust isn’t all about colour; you also want the right crust texture so that it holds itself together and scores highly on 'condition', but isn’t too doughy or tough. When it comes to crust texture, the formation of gluten protein networks is the key player. Flour contains two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, which form gluten when mixed with water. If your flour has a high protein content, when it meets water it will form quite extensive gluten protein networks which make the crust too dense and score poorly on 'chewiness'. Using flour that’s lower in protein will make the crust more tender. Interestingly, you can also add alcohol or vinegar to the mixture to prevent the formation of theses gluten network and get a tenderer, flakier crust. So a nice vodka pie crust is not a bad idea at all.

flickr// Robert S Donovan

Now consider butter. Really it is just water droplets dispersed in a fat matrix. When this water is heated, it turns to gas, filling your pie crust with air. This gives the crust a nice flaky texture. Note that butters can vary in their fat and water content, so using a butter with a lower fat content and higher water content should give you a flakier crust. Importantly, however, butter also prevents flour from forming the gluten networks we’ve been talking about. Therefore you want to make sure that your butter pieces are small enough to be evenly distributed throughout the dough and mop up all the dry flour before the water is added. However don't forget to also add some larger butter pieces to form nice air bubbles and keep the pastry flaky.

So for the perfect pie crust, use a low-protein flour, add alcohol, use a low fat butter that’s high in water content, and make sure your butter pieces are small to mop up the dry flour. That is the science of pie baking.

You can read more about the science of pie baking at the New York Times.

TJP

See our Pierate Pie Rankings for some top pie crusts or find our homemade pies on Pierate. Make sure you Follow @pierateers and let us know your thoughts!

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Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pie Review

When supermarkets get in the big guns – and I’m talking BIG BIG, such as celebrity chefs like Heston Blumenthal - you immediately expect big things. It’s only natural! A top chef by trade, Heston can be seen Blum-ing everywhere! Which is no bad thing as the reviews of his produce are normally top notch. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here... you can read reviews of Heston’s recipes or books wherever you want, but if you want to know about his pies then you need to be on the home of the pie review - www.pierate.co.uk! It’s just that simple!

So when I heard some glowing reviews of Heston for Waitrose mince pies from last year, I had to get my hands on a box (or two) for our '12 Pies of Christmas’ video and naturally submit a review on Pierate. I picked up the Puff Pastry Mince Pies from a Little Waitrose in Birmingham (which will only feature externally in the “12 Pies of Christmas” video, as the media team at Waitrose never replied to my email about filming in store). At £2.73 per box of 6 (that’s 45.5ppp), they seemed rather pricey but I was hoping they’d live up to the cost.


Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pies

I opened the box to find the six pies alongside a packet of pine sugar, something I’d not come across before. It did suggest on the packet to warm the mince pies up slightly before sprinkling on the pine sugar but as we were doing our “mince pie rating demo” with mince pies straight from the box, a sprinkle of pine sugar was added to the cold pie. The first impression – I have to admit – was “Have I just been given a mince pie box with sausage rolls in?!” For I don’t know about you, but the shape of these pies did not look like any mince pies I’d ever seen before! However this in and of itself would not detract from the scoring of the pie per se, as the filling was still fully encased in pastry with clearly defined base, sides and lid.

A quick bite into the pie and I could immediately tell this pie hadn’t quite got the pastry:filling ratio right in my opinion. The first bite was pretty much all pastry and unfortunately the cross section tells its own story with too much pastry on the sides, top and bottom. Some may also query why this pie had a puff pastry lid to, as this isn’t usually the pastry use for mince pies, but I didn’t have a problem with that. I though the puff pastry tasted quite nice and a good alternative to the typical short crust, but it was a little dry and the amount of pastry made it a bit chewy.



Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pies

The mincemeat itself tasted nice, with a strong fruity flavour included in the recipe. The content was nice and fruity, however it was clear that there wasn’t really enough of it when you ate the pie. The pine sugar to add to the top didn’t really do anything special for me either, however fancy it sounded to be adding it. Ultimately I’d rather have a well filled pie (which the puff pastry lid didn’t really provide due to a reasonable air gap) than a fancy pie sprinkled with pine sugar. While I’m sure Heston’s mince pies will be a talking point around many a Christmas table this year, for the price involved and the ratio of pastry:filling it certainly isn’t the highest scoring mince pie, despite the big name.

Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pie
Score: 4.89/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 4.75, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 3, Content 5, Total: 4.89/7]
RAS

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You’d think that with so many exciting adventures aboard the Pierate Ship at present there would hardly be time for any more hot off the press news, but anyone who read our 4th Birthday celebration article will know that there sure is! For we can now officially announce that www.pierate.co.uk are the official programme sponsors of The Woodfield Entertainers 2013 pantomime “Captain Hook’s Revenge”, being performed from Thursday 12th to Saturday 14th December 2013.

Pirates of the Caribbean Ashtead, Surrey!

For further info, do check out The Woodfield Entertainers website and @Woodies12 twitter feed.

RAS

Visit the website or call them for more details.

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Canteen Christmas Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Pie Review

Now I don’t normally focus on non-pie items in restaurants that I visit – we do, after all, like to keep our eyes on the pies on the web’s leading pie review blog! – but there’s something I’ve got to tell you about Canteen, before I even laid my hands on the pie in question. Canteen is a pie reviewers dream! In fact, I’d go as far as to say I have seen the future of pie reviewing in Canteen London, Canary Wharf branch! They offer free wifi* AND power sockets for your laptop, making it the only pie place I’ve been to so far where I could write and post my pie review IN THE RESTAURANT! How cool is that!!!

Arriving in Canary Wharf, I couldn’t miss the red and blue signage lining the wall outside the store and it overlooked the ice rink in the adjoining square, making it an ideal choice to warm up with a nice hearty pie after your skating or Christmas shopping! The restaurant is nicely presented and has a nice, lowly lit ambience to it. No school canteen nightmares came running into my head!

I’d arranged to meet Ashleigh and Olivia there, who interviewed us a few weeks ago on International Pierate Day. They are fans of the blog and wanted to give pie rating a go themselves! (You can read their views on the Canteen Pie on their website.) But let’s face it; you’ve had enough build up and you clearly want to know how the pie rated! So let’s get on with it then...

The pie I chose was the Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Canteen Pie – part of their “Great British Food” campaign. The pie came out well presented with a side of mash and veg. The pie pastry was brilliantly golden – pie perfection and worthy of a 7/7 for colour - and when I cut into the pie it was well filled, pretty much to the brim with very good capacity. This was very much a turkey focused pie, which I for one was not at all complaining about! For me, the meat is the key ingredient in any meat pie – so the more the merrier!



Canteen Christmas Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Pie

The pie included large chunks of tender turkey were really enjoyable, nice and moist as well due to the gravy (which can be an issue in other pies, as turkey meat is often quite dry). However the gravy was not leaking out of the pie all over my plate, a good sign of the right consistency to keep the pie moist but not overly runny inside.

The turkey was very tender and not at all chewy. While it perhaps didn’t have the strongest flavour and the pie wasn’t filled with lots of herbs and spices, it was clear from the outset that Canteen keep things simple and make the simple things in life taste great! I’m totally with them on this – no need to add every herb and spice under the sun into the pie if the pie tastes just fine as it is. While the pie did receive some feedback from Olivia as not being overly memorable in flavour, I still felt that I ordered a turkey pie and I got a turkey pie. In other words, I was satis-pied that what I ordered I got! (After all, I didn’t order a “Turkey and a thousand spices” pie – and I wouldn’t have wanted to!)



Inside the Canteen Turkey Pie

That said, the pie is sold as a turkey, leek and cranberry pie and there was not much evidence of either in the content of the three turkey pies we had between us. (Yes, I know... that does mean I didn’t eat “3 Canteen Pies” all by myself...) While I had no problem with this, as I was here for the turkey, not the leek or cranberry, it is worth noting for the leek and cranberry fans out there! Ashleigh for one would have liked a bit more Leek and Cranberry flavour in her pie. And it has to be said that £12.50 for a pie meal is quite pricey, especially when you can get them for £9 or less in other pie establishments in London. But hey, I’m sitting in London in the Canary Wharf area eating and enjoying a delicious pie – how can I really complain! (Especially when Canteen kindly let me have the pie for free, so thank you, even if I had to rate the pie based on the expectation of a pie fan paying £12.50 for it!)

Canteen Turkey, Leek and Cranberry Pie
Score: 6.14/7
[Colour 7, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 6, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 5, Content 6.25, Total: 6.14/7]
RAS

*As a side point, in my opinion it is worth visiting Canteen in Canary Wharf just to ask them what their wifi password is – it made me smile before I’d even laid my hands on the pie! Go on... ask them next time you visit!

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Robinsons Bakery Hand Crafted Mince Pie Review

It’s not often you find a craft bakery – let alone one as old as 1864! But that’s exactly what you get with Robinsons – the Master Bakers in Manchester. For almost 150 years – yes, that’s almost one hundred and fifty years – the Robinsons bakery has been producing the goods and so we thought it well worth a little detour out of Manchester city centre to Failsworth (in the north of the city) for a taste of their mince pies. And boy, were we in for a treat!!!



On the sixth day of Christmas the Pierateers ate for tea...

The bakery contains a huge selection of bread, cakes and most importantly pies! They have a whole range to choose from – pork pies, steak pies etc – but for my visit, I had my eyes on the mince pies! So with a couple of boxes of pies, a few short video clips taken for the ’12 Pies of Christmas’ video and a nice little chat with the staff there (with my big suitcase getting rather in the way I had to mention I’d just eaten some Italian pies When in Rome...), I set back home and eagerly awaited the right opportunity to eat them!

So here’s what I thought:

The mince pie was firm to the bite but the pastry crumbled delightfully and wasn’t crunchy, revealing a dark, fruit filled centre to the pie. The capacity was strong and you could see the pieces of fruit bursting out. The content was rich and full of flavour, without being overpowering. It was a little chewy due to the strong fruity concentration in the centre, but not in a bad way. I certainly came away with a nice fruity taste still in my mouth, unlike some mince pies I’ve had which had an after taste of quite dry, overly thick pastry.



Robinsons Mince Pies

Speaking of the pastry, it was quite light pastry and a lovely short crust flavour. It was a bit softer and more buttery than I have often tasted with mince pies and blended with the filling delightfully. My main issue with this pie, which I can’t let go without saying, is that in my mind it was a slightly shallow pie and also a bit pricey (at nearly 50p a pie, £2.99 for 6). I would have liked a bit more depth to the pie really. That said, it was a bit wider than your average supermarket mince pie. And there was no air in this pie! Oh no! Some pies we’ve reviewed have certainly been guilty of airing the gaps, but not Robinsons!

In summary, I would definitely recommend getting some of these hand crafted mince pies – they are a real treat in comparison to the far more standard supermarket bought pies. A tad expensive but well worth the effort of visiting a local craft bakers for! Thanks Robinsons!

Oh and I have an admission to make... when I bought the pies, I thought they were boxes of 3! You can only see three through the plastic window and nowhere on the box does it actually say how many pies you get... so while I thought I was buying 2 boxes of 3 (for the sixth day of Christmas...) I actually ended up buying 12 pies! Oh well... more pies for me!!!

Robinsons Bakery Hand Crafted Mince Pie
Score: 6.18/7
[Colour 6.25, Capacity 6, Consistency 6.75, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5, Content 6.75, Total: 6.18/7]
RAS

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Lidl Snowy Lodge Luxury Mini Mince Pie Review

Often you don’t want a little mince pie, especially when you could get a larger version. But how about a luxury Lidl mince pie? Yep, the low value German retailer have produced some tasty mince pies over the years. Ask Which? Magazine, who blind taste tested the Lidl Snowy Lodge Luxury Mince Pies and rated them as their number 2! But enough about that... what did the Pierateers think?!



Lidl Snowy Lodge Luxury Mince Pies

Well the pies were pretty mini - that cannot be denied! At two bites per pie, I therefore ate 3, just to make sure I got a full flavour of the filling. The capacity was very strong, filled with nice, moist fruity mincemeat which complimented the buttery short crust pastry. The pastry crumbled upon biting but held together well when the pie was being bitten into. Unfortunately a few of the lids broke off rather to easily or cracked rather easily, but in general the condition was good.



Lidl Snowy Lodge Luxury Mince Pies - Cross Section

Small pies do sometimes suffer from a poor filling:pastry ratio, due to having such a small centre to fill and a lot of pastry encasing it. However with such a strong capacity of filling in these pies, I never thought these pies were too pastry heavy. The filling was quite sweet and just lightly spiced, which suited my taste buds just fine, and there was just a light brandy taste to them to improve the mincemeat flavour. While the colour could have been a bit stronger (the photo demonstrates that the lid is rather see-through), the cheapness was okay at £1.35 for 9 luxury mini mince pies – 15p per pie - (though the fact you could buy 12 full sized Lidl (non-luxury) mince pies for £1.49 means these aren’t the cheapest).

A nice little pie which would certainly please the dinner guests at your Christmas pie party and be a Lidl conversation starter!

Lidl Snowy Lodge Luxury Mini Mince Pie
Score: 5.64/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 6, Consistency 6, Condition 5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 5, Content 6.5, Total: 5.64/7]
RAS

Guest Pierateer Rufus gave the pies 6.14/7

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Nicholson's Steak and Kidney Pudding Review

As you are probably aware by now if you’ve read the Open Letter to Nicholson’s Pub, I was unfortunately provided with a Steak and Kidney Pudding last week, even though I did in fact order a Steak and Kidney Pie from their menu. You can also read feedback provided by the pub chain regarding the mistake they made in providing one of the Pierateers a non-pie.



Ordered a PIE, served a PUDDING, required to pay for a PUDDING

However let me just take a moment to stress that it is not the pudding itself I have the problem with – it’s the mislabelling of a steak and kidney pudding as a pie. At the end of the day, I still ate it and it tasted reasonably good. It’s just that I don’t write for “puddingrate” or any such thing! In fact, there’s nothing wrong with selling horse burgers either – as long as they are labelled as being horse burgers, rather than being sold under the beef burger name. Likewise it must be pointed out that there is nothing wrong with a pudding, as long as it is sold as a pudding and not as a pie.

But there are some noticeable differences between puddings and pies – which are documented in more depth in this article by the Telegraph. My own visual summary is as follows:


It does make me wonder at times why there is any need for a pudding at all, as surely it makes more sense to serve the food item with the lid on top, rather than on the bottom! Anyway, with this food item almost meeting our requirements of filling fully encased in pasty with a clearly defined base, sides and lid (bearing in mind the base, sides and lid distinction is not quite so clear on this product and the lid is on the bottom of the product!) let’s see how it rated:



Nicholson's Steak and Kidney Pudding

The suet pasty was quite tasty, but a bit thick and thus the filling to pastry ratio was not ideal. There were certainly points where I had far too much pastry in my mouth compared to filling, which is not the ratio it should be. The pieces of steak were quite prominent and I certainly didn’t feel the content was too steak or too kidney focused – it was a very well managed balance of the two. However I would have liked to see a bit more meat in the pie, making it slightly larger to better balance out the filling:pastry ratio.

The gravy had a nice consistency to it, not overpowering and not too runny. The condition was reasonably good considering it was a pudding, even when I needed to turn it the right way up to eat it with the lid facing upwards, as you would a pie. The colour was quite good to, with a nice golden shimmer to it. The capacity was quite strong; with fortunately not much padding with other things (there was a slight bit of onion, but not enough to make me think they were trying to overly pad the content and capacity out with non-meat).

If it had been a pie, I think £10.50 would have been a little bit more expensive than it was worth, but as I was in fact sold something I did not order (and that wasn't even on the menu!), in my opinion I don't really think I should have been billed anything! Overall, if this were a pie I think it would probably have rated at about the 5.5/7 mark, but as it was not a pie, it won’t be able to go on the Pierate Pie Rankings list.

Finally, a few suggestions:

- Ensure you label your food correctly to avoid confusion, particularly between pies and non-pies.
- If something on your menu is not correct (printing error etc.), remember to inform the customer of this before they order (and ideally update the menu as soon as possible with stickers or a reprint).
- If you have online menus, you have very little excuse for not updating these almost immediately.
- Respond to customer feedback as soon as possible.

RAS

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We Love Cake Gluten Free Mince Pie Review

I love mince pies and feel that they should be available all year round!! To avoid disappointment I always stock up on mince meat at Christmas so i can make them at other times of the year too!!  Something slightly disappointing about shop brought mince meat in jars or in pies, is that it always seems to taste the same!! Something you don't have to put up with if you make your own mincemeat from scratch. Despite this, I am still up for a shop brought mince pie every so often, which is what made me try these.


I actually quite like the packaging for this pie and the name of the company 'love cake'.  It's questionable why a cake company is making pies, but I think I'll let them off on this occasion!! Upon opening the box, every single pie was in tact!!  One comment i would make is that they weren't very golden in colour. They tasted great, and I really looked forward to trying another one the next day to see if it would be as good - and it was. The pastry was almost a bit crunchy, but its hard to get GF pastry to work!! I would definitely recommend these pies and eat one again.


Scores:
Colour = 4
Consistency = 5
Content = 5
Capacity =  5
Chewiness = 4.5
Cheapness = 5
Condition = 7

We Love Cake Gluten Free Mince Pie
Score: 5.07/7
ALE

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Left to Right, Plum & Pear, Apple & Cranberry and Rhubarb pies

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