Pieminister Minty Lamb Pie Review

You may well have read that on Day Three of British Pie Week we got a pie delivery from Pieminister pies. The Bristol based pie firm had done a Pie Election in the lead up to British Pie Week 2015 in a bid to let pie fans nationwide decide which Pieminister pie they would like to see back on sale at the Pieminister pie stalls and selected Pieminister selling restaurants across the UK.

Pieminister Pie Delivery!

Many votes were cast and the top three pies were:

1) Minty Lamb
2) Thai Chook
3) Arriba Banditos

These are available in many Pieminister-selling pubs and restaurants and market stalls for British Pie Week only, so get on down and reminisce about the good old times with these pies! We're going to be rating all three, starting with your number 1 choice - Minty Lamb!

The pie looked in great condition and at £3.50 for a cold pie from their website it is reasonably priced for a quality British pie made using British meat and quality ingredients. Golden in colour, the pie pastry was nice and crispy on top, really nice and melt in your mouth upon eating. It certainly added a good crunch to the pie experience, and the side and base pastry were lovely and crisp too.

Pieminister Minty Lamb Pie Review

The content of the pie was just as good. The pie had a very good viscosity of gravy, not leaking about all over the plate but noticeably there. It complimented the crisp, but flaky pastry. There was quite a bit of veg in there but I was surprised to find there was only 26% lamb in there, as it was certainly a meaty pie and I was not left bemoaning a drastic lack of lamb! A little more meat would have made this pie ideal but it was very good and gave you some of your 5-a-day veg to boot!

The minty flavour was a little strong at times for me, but it does do exactly what it says on the box so I can hardly criticise them for that! I'd certainly love to have another one of these Minty Lamb pies and delighted they brought them back. It's Pierate Highly Recommended!

All in all, it was great to have another Pieminister pie and a real shame that this pie was only going to be available in the short term. They are a fine example of a local pie chain going global and set a benchmark for many of the smaller pie firms we have rated to as-pie-re to!

Pieminister Minty Lamb Pie
Score: 6.2/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6.4, Condition 6.5, Chewiness 6.25, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6.25, Total: 6.2/7]
RAS

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Barclaycard Arena Chicken and Mushroom Pie Review

Some of you may remember that last British Pie Week Pierateer RAS was at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham to help with the Yonex All England Badminton Championships 2014, but also got a chance to rate the NIA Chicken and Leek Pie. While back in 2013, an NIA Apple Pie was on the menu and got rated on the 7 Cs of pie rating. And with scores of 4.43/7 and 4.2/7 respectively, they both got a decent score but there were a few service faults and certainly room for improvement.

Barclaycard Arena Chicken and Mushroom Pie Review

Back again this year at the badminton - though since last year the NIA has been rebranded the "Barclaycard Arena" - I was please to once again see they had pie on the menu and we have rated the Chicken and Mushroom pie. As you can see from the photo, this is just a top crust pie, made from individual "puff pastry parcels". At www.pierate.co.uk we are quite pie purists, so we would prefer to see a pie fully encased in pastry and a puff pastry parcel lid will lower the score in condition and capacity, however it was good to see the top pastry was quite golden. This top pastry layer was quite tasty and crisp, though there were definite murmurings of a lack of pastry encasement by fellow pie eaters. Without a pie casing, the filling just spilled all over the plate and so the condition wasn’t great and the consistency was rather runny.

The filling spread all over the plate and it was great to have a decent amount of chicken, which was tender and quite flavoursome in the sauce provided. However it is very difficult to judge the capacity with such a lack of pastry structure to support the pie. There was a bit of mushroom in it to bulk out the pie filling, which was quite firm, but it was certainly mainly chicken. At £7.50 for the pie meal, this isn’t really a price I’d be making a racquet over.

While the Barclaycard Arena canteen staff have once again done well to show their support to British pie for all the international guests at the badminton in British Pie Week (as they did in 2011, 2013 and 2014), I would like to have seen them encase the pie in pastry. However, all in all, it was quite a nice top-crust pie meal without challenging for the top seeding.

National Indoor Arena Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Score: 3.79/7
[Colour 4, Capacity 4, Consistency 3, Condition 3, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 2, Content 4.5, Total: 3.79/7]
RAS

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Into Day Four of British Pie Week and there were still plenty more pies for us Pierateers to get our teeth into! Following 15 pies on Day One, another 13 and a half on Day Two and 16 and a half on Day Three, how would they fair on Day Four? And how did you get on? Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge.

As for the Pierateers, Pierateers RAS and SJL are competing in the #Pieathon challenge where they both see how long they can last eating only pie! Pierateer RAS will be also be attempting the 50:50 pie challenge over the whole week!

Whatever you do, go crazy for pie this British Pie Week! Enjoy!

Pierateer RAS

Being back at work on Thursday meant pie snacking was limited to a Mr Kipling Apple pie for breakfast, especially with two large Toppings Pies pork pies to sample for lunch!

He was continuing his #Pieathon challenge, seeing how long he could just eat pies for, and by lunchtime had reached half the week eating just pies. However it had been a struggle and the option to eat some fries with his two pork pie samples from Toppings Pies proved too strong to resist.

Later that evening Pierateer RAS had his first meal not encased in pastry with sausages, chips and veg. However upon getting home later in the evening he was eagerly awaiting the winner of the recent Pieminister Pie Election for supper! The "Minty Lamb" was the pie you chose from a selection of their previous pies (no longer on sale) to be brought back for the week and it rated very well indeed! The Minty Lamb pie review can be seen here, and reviews of their other two winning pies will appear soon!

These are available in many Pieminister-selling pubs and restaurants and market stalls for British Pie Week only, so get on down and reminisce about the good old times with these pies! We'll be rating them this week to add to our Pieminister Pie Reviews page!

Previous Total of Pies	Previous Total of Non-Pies	Pies that day	Non-Pies that day	New Total of Pies	New Total of Non-Pies	Ratio (Pies to Non-Pies)
19	0	4	4	23	4	85% : 15%

Pierateer SJL 

Pierateer SJL and ALE had stocked up on pies for British Pie Week, see photo below. Pierateer SJL is attempting the #Pieathon PiePledge, how long can he last eating ONLY PIE?

British Pie Week Pies

Day Four of the Pieathon challenge saw SJL confident of going the distance. He had already consumed 28 pies during the challenge and the mixture of sweet and savoury pies was working well. He had a breakfast of 2 Mr Kipling Apple pies, having had to start a new box having finished one already. SJL was on the train to London for work and was pleased to finally finish off his box of 12 mini Iceland party pies. Whilst they weren't great, these had provided a good option for convenient pie consumption. Now on 32 pies consumed during the challenge a long meeting in a hot room saw SJL starting to feel a bit faint. The plan had been to skip lunch as there weren't any pie options available during the meeting. However, SJL threw in the towel to avoid the risk of feeling more faint. This handed victory to Pierateer RAS in the Pieathon Challenge by just 1.5 hours.

2 x Mr Kipling Apple Pie (209 kcal each) - 418 kcal
1 x Mini Steak & Ale - 83 kcal
1 x Mini Chicken & Stuffing - 87 kcal
Total Day Four Pieathon - 588 kcal (4 pies)
Total Pieathon - 8644 kcal (32 pies)

Whilst disappointed to have lost the challenge, SJL got back on the Pie consumption straight away. Having previously enjoyed Ginster's Pork Pies, SJL picked one up as a quick snack after work. Perhaps surprisingly these are quite good with a nice texture to both filling and pastry.

For the evening meal SJL went for something very special. The Windmill in Mayfair is well known for producing fantastic pies but somehow is a place the Pierateers have not yet visited. Eating in the lower pie room this is a shrine to pies. The pie which takes pride of place is the award winning Steak and Kidney with posters and placemats proclaiming its significance. SJL felt that he therefore had to try the windmill Steak & Kidney. The pie was a delicious suet crust, with plenty of soft meat. The kidney flavour was present but not overpowering. The owner, Karl, came over from another pub for a chat, which was much appreciated. He certainly has a passion for pies and creating new flavours.

Total Day Three - 6 pies
Total British Pie Week - 34 pies


Pie News

After a lot of hard work - and obviously pie eating! - we were really pleased that fellow pie rater Martin Tarbuck finally hit the headlines and got the promotion he deserved for his pie book "The Life Of Pies". The book was featured on the Daily Mail website, alongside some great photos of Martin with lots of pies and a little video too!

We were delighted to be invited to the book launch back on October 24th last year to meet the man himself, and having read the book cover to cover Pierateer SJL reviewed the book last month. Highly rated and well worth getting!

Well, well #britishpieweek and Life of Pies is now making the national news http://t.co/h9sDjj0KXg
— Life of Pies (@thelifeofpies) March 5, 2015

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Another day, another day of attempting to eat just pies this British Pie Week! The Pierateers ate 15 pies on Day One and another 13 and a half on Day Two! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge.

As for the Pierateers, Pierateers RAS and SJL are competing in the #Pieathon challenge where they both see how long they can last eating only pie! Pierateer RAS will be also be attempting the 50:50 pie challenge over the whole week!

Whatever you do, go crazy for pie this British Pie Week! Enjoy!

Pierateer RAS

Pierateer RAS had the morning off on day three of British Pie Week, in part to catch up on some pie reviews! You could tell on day three of his #Pieathon challenge, seeing how long he could just eat pies for, that his enthusiasm for just pies was waning. The standard breakfast of two Mr Kipling Apple Pies had reduced to just one apple pie today, but yesterday's pie delivery from top pie makers Nice Pie meant he was well equipped for lunch!

Roadkill Pie!

For lunch Pierateer RAS would be eating two more Nice Pies, following the first two being reviewed this morning. The Red Stag Pie and Cow Pie had already been eaten last night - one of which was Pierate Highly Recommended! You can see how all their previous pies rate in our last Nice Pie review.

The first Nice Pie eaten for lunch was their "Road Kill" pie - complete with tyre-track ingrained top pastry! Containing pheasant, rabbit, venison and partridge, it certainly does encompass a lot of the game meats you would enjoy out in the countryside - though I do hope they weren't actually taken from the side of the road!!! I also had another of their steak pies.

The day also contained two more pie deliveries - the first coming from Pieminister. The Bristol-based pie chain have really upped the quality of pie provision in the UK - both from a market stall perspective and now sold in many pubs and shops across the country. This British Pie Week they had the idea to hold a Pie Election to determine which of their previous pies (no longer on sale) should be brought back for the week. Many votes were cast and the top three pies were:

1) Minty Lamb
2) Thai Chook
3) Arriba Banditos

These are available in many Pieminister-selling pubs and restaurants and market stalls for British Pie Week only, so get on down and reminisce about the good old times with these pies! We'll be rating them this week to add to our Pieminister Pie Reviews page!

Later in the day I had a quite amazing delivery from Toppings Pies too. The box weighed 6kg and I could see why once I delved in and found there were no less than 25 pies, quiches and pasties! Yes - I did say quiches and pasties - not sure why they were included in the delivery, as we of course only rate pies on www.pierate.co.uk! But that will keep my housemates entertained while I focus on the vast array of pork pies and meat pies provided!

During the afternoon I had a Stilton Topped Pork Pie from Toppings pies to get the ball rolling with these and sampled half a Cranberry Topped Pork Pie later that night. In between I had a chicken and mushroom pie at the Barclaycard Arena, where I am volunteering this week at the Badminton Championships. It certainly wasn't a proper pie by our definitions, but it tasted reasonably good.

Another day of just eating pies complete, though I was waning towards the end of the day...

Previous Total of Pies	Previous Total of Non-Pies	Pies that day	Non-Pies that day	New Total of Pies	New Total of Non-Pies	Ratio (Pies to Non-Pies)
13.5	0	5.5	0	19	0	100% : 0%

Pierateer SJL 

Pierateer SJL and ALE had stocked up on pies for British Pie Week, see photo below. Pierateer SJL is attempting the #Pieathon PiePledge, how long can he last eating ONLY PIE?

British Pie Week Pies

Day Three found Pierateer SJL a bit... hungry. He took the remaining 4 Mr Kipling Apple and Blackcurrant pies to work along with a £1 pack of 4 'Vale of Mowbray' Pork Pies. The tactic of alternating between them worked well. However, the pork pies were pretty tiny and the Mr Kipling pies were not very well filled at all. Soon all 8 of these pies were finished with no more available until the evening. Tummy rubbles could be heard across the office. Despite the name 'Vale of Mowbray' sounding like a Melton Mowbray knock off, these were decent pies, with a bit of a unique flavour too them.

The evening saw SJL finally polish off the Peter's Roast Chicken pie. This performed well and was, surprisingly, a pie that SJL had not tried before. Given that he was just about to go out, SJL had to cook the pie and take it with him in a tupperware on the train. This is one of the ways to get around the challenges of having a hot pie on the move whilst taking part in the Pieathon challenge. SJL again delved into the box of Iceland Party pies and had 2 as a starter to the Peter's pie. Returning home late, another 2 of these Iceland Party pies were consumed to bring the total up to 13 pies for the Day! By Day Three these Iceland mini pies had become like a guest at a party who just doesn't know when they have outstayed their welcome. SJL was starting to really dislike the pastry of these pies, Is it too late to revise the review for these pies?

4 x Mr Kipling Apple & Blackcurrant (214 kcal each) - 856 kcal
4 x Vale of Mowbray pork pies (197 kcal each) - 788 kcal
2 x Iceland Mini Steak & Ale (83 kcal each) - 166 kcal
2 x Iceland Mini Chicken & Stuffing (87 kcal each) - 174 kcal
1 x Peters Roast Chicken - 541 kcal Total Day Three - 2525 kcal (13 pies)
Total Pieathon - 8056 kcal (28 pies)

Pie News

It was great to hear how successful the Pork Pie Off at Princess Victoria Pub was on Monday night, raising over £1,000 for charity Action Against Hunger! (Find out more and give to the charity here.)

Monday night saw Princess Victoria pub and dining room in Shepherd’s Bush welcome a wealth of talented chefs to host the Great British Pork Pie Off competition in celebration of British Pie Week. Newman Street Tavern’s Peter Weeden and his Tamworth pork pie, The Coffin, took home the judge's trophy and his winning pork pie will be sold from Selfridges’ Food Hall in central London this weekend.

Alongside the judges, 60 tickets were sold to the general public – all sales donated to the charity – to see and sample pork pies from some of London’s best chefs. The public rated the pie entries and voted their favourite: the Princess Victoria’s own Matt Reuther and his individual pork, leek and bacon cold-raised pies. Well done to all involved and who supported the event!

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Nice Pie Red Stag and Cow Pie Reviews

After their TV appearance on Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast on Channel 4 recently, where they focused on their Wild Squirrel pie (which we went nuts for when we rated it back in January 2014) we couldn’t resist trying a few more Nice Pies this British Pie Week, with these two eaten on Day Two!

As part of our “How long can we just eat pie for?” Pieathon challenge we thought we’d benefit from a range of their smaller pies, which coming in at £3.50 is pretty reasonable for a hefty, meat filled pie packed with delicious filling and cooked in their lovely butter shortcrust pastry. As I’ve mentioned before many a time with these Nice Pies (for which you can see a full list of all the previous Nice Pies we've rated here), it is amazing how they hold together so well despite being so filled with content. The nature of the pastry means it can be a little crumbly in places but in general it is very nice and lovely and golden once cooked.

Nice Pie Red Stag Pie Review

The Red Stag Pie was, as is a feature in all the Nice Pie range, once again full of succulent and tender meat. It’s quite incredible the meat capacity in these pies, with 70% venison making it one of the most meat-filled game pies we’ve had. The gravy was near perfect consistency, with a lovely moisture yet not too runny – perfect so you could pick the pie up in your hand and enjoy it! The flavours worked really well together and the pastry was crisp and golden, holding together well in spite of all the meat weighing this pie down! The pastry was in general very good, with a crisp outer crimping and a softer but tasty side and base pastry.

My only minor criticism was I felt there was a tad too much onion for me, but the great volume of meat and well-cooked carrot made it one of my most enjoyable Nice Pies in terms of content and a top-rated venison pie I’d happily eat time and time again!

Nice Pie Red Stag Pie
Score: 6.16/7
[Colour 5.75/7; Consistency 6.5/7; Cheapness 5.75/7; Chewiness 6/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6.6/7; Capacity 6.5/7; Total: 6.16/7]

We celebrated British Pie Week 2015 with some Nice Pies!

Nice Pie Cow Pie Review

The Cow Pie was again noted for its very good filling:pastry ratio. The meat was so lovely and tender – a real delight. Once again packed in at 70%, there was no missing the meatilicous content of this pie! The beef was quite flavoured with peppercorns though, which for me was slightly over powering for a pie not sold specifically as a peppered steak pie (which is also available in their range).

The consistency of the gravy was also runnier in the cow pie than the venison pie and the flavour didn’t excite me quite as much. However these are minor comments and while not quite reaching the stag pie’s status, is still Pierate Recommended.

Nice Pie Cow Pie
Score: 5.68/7
[Colour 5.75/7; Consistency 5/7; Cheapness 5.5/7; Chewiness 6/7; Condition 5.75/7; Content 5.5/7; Capacity 6.25/7; Total: 5.68/7]



Once again Nice Pie have done us proud, producing more Pierate Recommended pies (including the Highly Recommended Stag Pie!) – and while it’s hard to resist the amazing range of exotic pies Nice Pie do, you would certainly be missing out if you didn’t tuck into a more traditional pie flavour from their range when given the chance!

RAS

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You will have probably noticed that we are encouraging people to take up a #PiePledge this British Pie Week and we are certainly not shirking away from making #PiePledges of our own.

This year Pierateers RAS and SJL have committed to the Pie-athon #PiePledge. The idea is simple, it is a com-pie-tition to see who can eat ONLY PIES for the longest. How long will it be before the temptation of another food becomes too much?

See our blog updates from Day One, Day Two, Day Three and Day Four to see how we got on and the pies we consumed! The contest has finished and the results are below:


Pierateer RAS lasted 3 days and 14 hours (86 hours) in total before the craving for some spiral fries to accompany yet another pork pie became too much on Thursday lunchtime!

Pierateer SJL lasted 3 days and 12.5 hours (84.5 hours). Pierateer SJL had eaten 32 pies but started to feel a bit funny at lunch time on Thursday so threw in the towel with a sandwich.

Congratulations to the Pieathon Winner...

Pierateer RAS! 

This contest turned out to be extremely close with both contestants making it through half of the week. It has also helped set new records for the amount of pies consumed on the Pierate Ship, with a whopping 71 pies eaten between the two Pierateers in British Pie Week 2015!

If you have been entertained or impressed by our ridiculous antics then please support us by donating a bit of cash to Action Against Hunger by clicking here, who seem like a worthy charity to remember this British Pie Week. Square Pie are also raising money for Action Against Hunger, alongside the Princess Victoria Annual Pork Pie Off and the @BritPieWeek twitter feed.

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As we enter Day Two of British Pie Week how many pies have you eaten?! The Pierateers ate 15 pies on Day One! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge.

As for the Pierateers, Pierateers RAS and SJL are competing in the #Pieathon challenge where they both see how long they can last eating only pie! Pierateer RAS will be also be attempting the 50:50 pie challenge over the whole week!

Whatever you do, go crazy for pie this British Pie Week! Enjoy!

Pierateer RAS

Pierateer RAS had to go back to work on Tuesday but that didn't stop him only eating pies all day! The standard breakfast of two Mr Kipling Apple Pies helped him get off the mark on day two of his #Pieathon challenge, to see how long he could just eat pies for, and a delightful surprise awaited him when he arrived at work to find a pie delivery from top pie makers "Nice Pie". You may have recently seen them - and their controversial but delicious squirrel pie - on Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast recently and you can see how all their previous pies rate in our last Nice Pie review.

For lunch Pierateer RAS tucked into a previously rated Pork Pie from Pork Farms, which claim to be the nation's most popular pork pie in terms of value sales. Another Mr Kipling Apple Pie followed for dessert, but the main pie intake would be saved for the evening. Upon getting home, Rob was delighted to find a selection of five Nice Pies to munch through this week, with the first two to get reviewed being the Red Stag Pie and Cow Pie - one of which was Pierate Highly Recommended!

Previous Total of Pies	Previous Total of Non-Pies	Pies that day	Non-Pies that day	New Total of Pies	New Total of Non-Pies	Ratio (Pies to Non-Pies)
7.5	0	6	0	13.5	0	100% : 0%

Pierateer SJL 

Pierateer SJL and ALE had stocked up on pies for British Pie Week, see photo below. Pierateer SJL is attempting the #Pieathon PiePledge, how long can he last eating ONLY PIE?

British Pie Week Pies

Iceland mini Pies

After a 3210 calories and 7 and half pies on Day One Pierateer SJL had perhaps forgotten that this was a #Pieathon not a #PieSprint. The morning breakfast consisted of two Mr Kipling Apple & Blackcurrent pies (which we reviewed long ago!). The two Sainsburys Pork Pies left over from Day One were eaten mid-morning. For lunch the second half of the Pasta Pie Bake was consumed which went down very well to add a bit of healthy veg to the pie consumption!

The evening meal was provided by Iceland. The main course was an Iceland Chicken & Mushroom pie with two of the Iceland Party Pies as a starter. (I could get used to having two mini pies as a starter before my main pie!) See the review of the Iceland pies, the main course was a bit of a disappointment with a content resembling soup! When reviewing the calories count the Iceland pie was only 365 calories, no wonder when there was nothing to it! Whilst it was very tempting to eat some salad, Pierateer SJL was just about hanging on in there to maintain the #Pieathon.

Iceland 'Chicken Soup' Pie

2 x Mr Kipling Apple & Blackcurrant 214 cal each - 428 cal
2 x Sainsbury's Basics Pork pies 254 cal each - 508 cal
Pasta Pie Bake (half) - 850 cal approx 
Iceland Mini Steak & Ale - 83 cal
Iceland Mini Chicken & Stuffing - 87 cal
Iceland Chicken & Mushroom - 365 cal
Total Day Two- 2321 calories (7.5 pies)
Total British Pie Week - 5531 (15 pies)


Pie News

It was also great to hear from Kate Henry, who I'm sure you won't need reminding was star baker in pie week in the 2014 series of the Great British Bake Off! Kate's managed to get her pie recipe in the latest Delicious Magazine, which is all very exciting! Well done Kate!

It of course wasn't just Kate making pies though for British Bake Off last year, as we managed to get Michel Roux Jnr to rate our Crocodile pie on Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice!

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Iceland - Pie Reviews

These pies were eaten as part of the Pierateers #Pieathon Pie Pledge to see who could go the longest eating only pie during British Pie Week! 


With some pies from Iceland having been Highly Recommended by Pierateer RAS I have been meaning to try them out for a while. It was good to have some pies in freezer for British Pie Week in case I started to run low on pies whilst attempting the 'Pie-a-thon' Challenge where I had to eat only pie for as long as possible. Whilst Gloucester Iceland didn't have the Chicken and Bacon pie recommended by RAS, the box of 12 Party Pies for £3 seemed intriguing. They were similar to the Morrisons version previously reviewed.

This genre of pie is difficult to get right, generally there isn't enough filling. However, these seemed to do a decent job in that respect. They had so much filling that they actually both burst open. They came in both Steak & Ale and Chicken & Stuffing flavours. Both fillings were pretty generic tasting but nice enough and I enjoyed them. The meat came in small pieces so I didn't notice whether they were chewy. Whilst small, the pieces of meat were bigger than the mince in the Morrisons version. The sauce was rich and thick. The pastry was good but a little chewy. The main downside for both these pies is that they stuck to their foil cases, so the only way to get a cross-section was to take off the lids! Certainly not what you want to happen if you are serving these at a party. A shame as they performed well otherwise. Neither of the fillings stood out so I have scored them both the same.

Condition - 5.0 out of 7
Colour - 4.0 out of 7
Cheapness - 3.0 out of 7 - £3 for 12 works out at 25p a pie which I thought was expensive for such small pies. A couple of bites and they are gone. Offers are available if you buy more than one pack. They are cheaper than the Morrisons version though!
Capacity - 4.8 out of 7 - Good capacity for such a small pie and well filled.
Chewiness - 4.5 out of 7 
Content - 4.0 out of 7 - Nice enough.
Consistency - 3.5 out of 7 - Let down ultimately because they need scooping out of the foil!



Party Steak & Ale / Party Chicken & Stuffing (Iceland)
4.11/7


Whilst I was in Iceland I also wanted to try one of their regular sized pies to see how they fared against the bigger supermarkets versions. I have nothing against frozen pies, in fact I have had some pretty good ones. Pastry can cook quite nicely from frozen. There was a slightly disappointing selection of pies in my local Iceland, one Steak & Ale or Chicken & Mushroom in the individual pie size. I picked up a box of 4 Chicken & Mushroom for £1.50.


Condition - 4.8 out of 7 - Whilst not doing anything special, the puff pastry lid rose nicely and I thought that it looked well proportioned.
Colour - 4.5 out of 7 - Pretty good brown colour.
Cheapness - 3.7 out of 7 - 37.5p each is cheap although they were slightly smaller than a standard individual pie (or at least my idea of how big they should be). But then you get what you pay for...
Capacity - 2.5 out of 7 - Disaster, there was a large capacity but there was little content to speak of. The pie was filled with what I would describe as Chicken & Mushroom soup. Once this had flooded out onto the plate, it seemed pretty much empty.
Chewiness - 2.6 out of 7 - As you can imagine, with a soup-like filling there was little to get my teeth into. That said the pastry lid had a nice crunch. The shortcrust base and sides had a biscuity texture.
Content - 2.9 out of 7 - Bland, bland, bland and boring. Whilst not tasting bad, the filling didn't taste of much. A shame when the pastry tasted good! There were a few small chicken chunks. Whilst suspiciously cuboid in shape, they tasted okay.
Consistency - 2.4 out of 7 - A pie with a lack of filling like this one is just never going to work

Chicken & Mushroom (Iceland)
3.34/7


Overall, these weren't exactly Iced Gems although the mini pies might come in handy during the British Pie Week challenge of only eating pie. A bit of a disappointment but with so many other pies to enjoy this British Pie Week the disappointment won't last long.

SJL

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Higgidy - Hand Pulled Pork & Sweet Potato Pie Review (Limited Edition)

This pie was eaten as part of the Pierateers #Pieathon Pie Pledge to see who could go the longest eating only pie! This was eaten on Day One of British Pie Week 2015.



Here we have a Higgidy OPEN TOP Pulled Pork pie. Controversial to start British Pie Week with a review of what is technically not a pie by our own definition! However, Higgidy have been good to us, sending vouchers for our 200th pie review back in the day. They also sent vouchers for our #Pie4EveryMeal challenge last year but they arrived too late, so I thought I owed them a review this year. To be honest, I hadn't realised it was open top when I bought it and was a bit saddened when I got it out of the box! My own fault though, it was clearly visible. Then I had a brain wave, there was nothing to stop me from adding my own pastry lid! Hey presto, a proper pie!

This pie worked really well as part of the Pie-a-thon #PiePledge that RAS and myself are attempting. The flavour was original and added a bit of variety to the excessive pie consumption. The flavours of the filling were delicious.


Condition - 3.5 out of 7 - A great looking product, despite the filling being naked. The crinkled edge was a nice effect. But, without a lid it just didn't look right....
Colour - 5.0 out of 7 - A range of colours to the filling which is nice to see. The pastry was a good colour.
Cheapness - 4.0 out of 7 - This was on offer for £3 in Sainsbury's. About £3.50 normally. This is about the going rate for an up market pie of this size from a supermarket.
Capacity - 4.8 out of 7 - The open top means that you can straight away see that there is plenty of filling. But I genuinely felt that without the additional pastry lid, there would not have been the right pastry to filling ratio.
Chewiness - 5.9 out of 7 - Brilliant texture, the pork was soft but had enough bite to get your teeth into. The sweet potato and other veg wasn't mushy although I perhaps felt the sweet potato was a bit too hard. The pastry was nice and crunchy.
Content - 6.0 out of 7 - Strands of pulled pork in a slightly sweet and slightly spicy filling. It had a bit of kick but not too much. The bits of pepper added some variety. The meat was delicious and the flavours worked well with the shortcrust pastry.
Consistency - 4.5 out of 7 - It could never score really highly, not having a lid, but if you feel like adding your own you will get the full pie experience and a really great tasting pie! With the additional pastry lid it looked good and worked really well!


Open Top Pulled Pork & Sweet Potato (Higgidy)
4.81/7


SJL

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The countdown timer has struck zero and British Pie Week 2015 has begun – so what more motivation do you need?! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge. Here’s some things you can do this British Pie Week!

You can see some of the events going on up and down the country on the British Pie Week Facebook page.
You can follow the Pierateers on Twitter and find out how their crazy #PiePledges are going!
You can read about pies.
You can choose a pie (we have almost 500 pies reviewed in our rankings table!)
Think up some puns for the Pie Dictionary!
You can suggest a pie you’ve enjoyed.

As for the Pierateers, we are ready and waiting for probably the biggest British Pie Week yet! Pierateers RAS and SJL are competing in the #Pieathon challenge where they both see how long they can last eating only pie! Pierateer RAS will be also be attempting the 50:50 pie challenge over the whole week!

Nice Pie's Pierate Logo Pie from British Pie Week 2014!

It seems this year, more than any before, people are bigging up British Pie Week. Plenty of pubs and shops are doing something special for British Pie Week and even Jus-Rol, creators of British Pie Week, have got on board more with a dedicated @BritPieWeek Twitter feed and a #PiePledge to donate money to charity for every follower they get on Twitter!

And while we may not have the amazing Pierate Logo pie to enjoy this year (made especially for us by Nice Pie, the stars of a recent episode of Channel 4's "Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast" with their squirrel pie being a real conversation starter!) we are certain there will be plenty of pie antics this coming week! Especially if our crazy #PiePledges are anything to go by!

So whatever you do, go crazy for pie this British Pie Week! Enjoy!

Pierateer RAS

Having stayed up past midnight, Pierateer Rob saw in British Pie Week 2015 by posting this first day article alongside tucking into a Mr Kipling Apple Pie. This was the first of a number of fruit pies to start his #Pieathon challenge. And it was great to see a good handful of pie fan seeing in British Pie Week with us, with over 30 views in the first half hour! Here's to many more pies and pageviews this coming week!

#BritishPieWeek trending on Twitter!

Waking up to hear that there had been a British Pie Week shout out on known pie celebrity Chris Evans' breakfast show on BBC Radio 2, it seemed to kick off a #BritishPieWeek twitter storm and there was a sharp boost to our pageviews as a result of our pie tweeting as the hashtag trended as the second most popular phrase on twitter at one point!

Having enjoyed two more Mr Kipling Apple Pies for breakfast, Pierateer RAS tucked into half a Pat Gorman Pork Pie for lunch and then tried some 99p steak pies from Aldi for dinner - though these did not go down well! Full reviews of those to follow later this week! The day was rounded off with another couple of Mr Kipling Apple Pies for dessert and supper. All in all it was quite a low pie count, considering all he ate was pies, but Pierateer RAS put that down to being so busy volunteering at the Badminton in the NIA on day one of the tournament that he hardly had time to stop for pie!

Previous Total of Pies	Previous Total of Non-Pies	Pies that day	Non-Pies that day	New Total of Pies	New Total of Non-Pies	Ratio (Pies to Non-Pies)
0	0	7.5	0	7.5	0	100% : 0%

Pierateer SJL 

Pierateer SJL and ALE had stocked up on pies for British Pie Week, see photo below. Pierateer SJL is attempting the #Pieathon PiePledge, how long can he last eating ONLY PIE?

British Pie Week Pies

Pierateer SJL had a controversial start to British Pie Week. He decided to go for a Cooperative Rhubarb pie (which was the pie he also started British Pie Week with last year) but it turned out to be a Cooperative Apple pie! Oh well... it was still a pie at least, not a slice! SJL had half the pie for breakfast and finished the other half during the day.

Two Sainsburys Basics small pork pies quickly followed the Coop pie before 9 o'clock had even been reached!

At lunch time Pierateer SJL had another controversy, when he opened his Higgidy pie he realised there was no lid, it wasn't a real pie! However, he added a small piece of pastry on top to quickly fix the problem and get on with reviewing this Pulled Pork and Sweet Potato pie. The Higgidy pie was accompanied by two very small Iceland party pies (which served as a starter whilst the Higgidy pie cooked).

For the #Pieathon challenge SJL attempted something completely new, cooking some pasta in order to make a Pasta Pie Bake. A creamy pesto sauce worked well inside the pie, as did the addition of vegetables. However, it was quite heavy due to massive amount of carbs so SJL only managed half alongside a famous Pukka Steak pie, which was in fact one of the very first pies reviewed on Pierate.

Having eaten 3210 calories and seven and half pies, SJL had successfully navigated a whole day of the #Pieathon challenge having eaten many more pies than normal. However, he was still some way off the 3362 calories consumed on Day Two of British Pie Week 2013.

Coop Apple - 600 cal approx
2 x Sainsbury's Basics Pork pies 254 cal each - 508 cal
Iceland Mini Steak & Ale - 83 cal
Iceland Mini Chicken & Stuffing - 87 cal
Higgidy Pulled Pork - 583 cal
Pasta Pie Bake (half) - 850 cal approx (Pastry alone was 1220 cal)
Pukka Steak - 499 cal
Total - 3210 calories (7.5 pies)

Pierate Pie Reviews - Pie advisers to the BBC!

Pierateer TJP

While Pierateer Tim may be about to fly out to Greece in search of Greek pie, he still had time to write a brand new article entitled "What People Are Saying About Us" - featuring among other things our appearance on the BBC Sport website in their "Pies of Football" video and our appearance on Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice with our Crocodile Pie!!!

And before he set off Tim also had time this weekend to promote the Princess Victoria Pork Pie Off, happening tonight (Monday 2nd March) for all those who live in London and love their pork pies! Plus you'll be eating pies to raise money for charity! See our Pork Pie Off 2015 article for why you should go!

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