We're now just a couple of weeks away from our blog's eighth birthday (which we've named International Pierate Day), and with that in mind we have some very exciting news to share:

Some tickets are still available for our Birmingham Pie Party with a "star baker" and top rated pies on 11th Nov!

The motley crew from our Pie Contest 2013

Yes, on Saturday 11th November from 4:30-7pm we'll be welcoming Great British Bake Off Series 6 star Sandy Docherty and the pies from our number 1 pie maker (out of over 625 pies rated on our blog) - MyPie!

Sandy, for those who don't follow GBBO (or whose memory is a little hazy!), was the contestant who referred to her home baking in episode one with words to the effect of "everything I bake at home seems to turn into a pie!" And for some reason, that seemed to really strike a cord with us on the Pierate Ship!!!

MyPie pies at the 2015 Pie-rty

No surprise then that Sandy immediately became our favourite of that series, despite some real competition from man of many homemade cooking aids Ian, the king of the jungle Paul and series winner Nadiya (who you may remember had the privilege of then cooking the Queen's birthday cake!) You can reminisce on all the bakers from Series 6 here in their pre-show BBC Bios or read up on Series 6 on Wikipedia!

Back to Sandy and she said back in her pre-show bio that "she bakes to show her family, friends and colleagues that she cares about them" - which is a great outlook on baking and we look forward to her bringing some of her baking magic with her when she brings some pies to our pie party and chats a bit about life in the tent and what she's up to these days. We were gutted that Sandy was eliminated before the week when the bakers all had to make a game pie, but can't wait to try her pies for real - not just drool over our TV screens!

Just take a look at some of the pie pictures Sandy has tweeted us:

The journey of @Theakston1827 ale and @FodderHarrogate steak pies @pierateers pic.twitter.com/hu8LWeWJyE

— SANDY DOCHERTY (@SANDYDbakes) 12 March 2017

Short crust lamb shoulder and veg pies, just need gravy. Happy Sunday everyone. X pic.twitter.com/LPpJepzNOD

— SANDY DOCHERTY (@SANDYDbakes) 26 February 2017

Of course us Pierateers are no stranger to the Great British Bake Off either, as our first TV appearance came on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice when we made a Crocodile Pie rated by none other than celebrity chef Michel Roux Jnr!

So while we had a break last year, we're delighted to once again be following the tradition of 2013, 2014 and 2015 in having a Pierate Birthday Pie-rty with friends and colleagues in just a few weeks time! For those wondering what it will be like, here's our review from our 5th Birthday Pie-rty three years ago.

Pie maker Chris with Pierateers Sam, Tim and Rob

Yes, like in 2015, we've once again gone straight to the top of the Pie Rankings to find a Pierate Highly Recommended pie maker to supply the pies at our eighth Birthday Pie Party, with Chris' Steak and Ale Pie our current number 1 at 6.61/7! And we'll have a top vegetarian pie option too.

And what's more, Chris has kindly agreed to donate the pies to us for a charitable donation, with £10 of the £12.50 ticket price going to charity Action Against Hunger. It'll be a busy week for Chris, as alongside baking the pies for our pie party, he's also opening up a pop up on the Southbank in London that week!!

We've still got a few tickets available, so to enquire about ticket availability to book your place at our Birmingham Pie Night in South Birmingham, please email pierateship@yahoo.co.uk with your order (Steak and Ale or Vegetarian pie). For your £12.50 ticket, you'll get to attend the Q&A with Sandy from GBBO (from 4:30-5:15) followed by your MyPie, mash and veg, plus a selection of homemade fruit pies people bring along (5:15-7:00). And if you bring a homemade pie with you - which will be judged by our star baker and the Pierateers - you will get a £2.50 discount on your ticket! Let us know if you're planning to bring a homemade fruit pie!

As you can imagine, we can't wait for our next Pie Party on Saturday 11th November and we hope to see some of you there!!

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised. Make sure you Follow @pierateers and let us know your thoughts!

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Wycombe Wanderers/Pukka Pies - Chicken & Mushroom Pie Review

We have eaten many pies at Wycombe Wanderers matches over the years whilst we follow our home town team through thick and thin. Sadly though in recent years the pies served at their home ground of Adams Park have been pretty terrible. They are currently languishing near the bottom of our Football Pie League. You can read more about this in our 'Pies & Lows of Following Wycombe Wanderers' article.


There has been a recent upturn in performance on the pitch but this sadly hasn't been matched by an upturn in pie form. On Saturday I attended the entertaining 0-0 draw with top of the table Exeter and was pleased to note that there was a change in pie supplier. Instead of the dodgy 'Bisto' brand pies, Wycombe have enlisted the help of the ubiquitous Pukka pie empire. As I got near to the front of the queue in the lower tier family stand I could see just one pie remaining. With all my mental strength I willed those in front to order something else. A couple of burgers disappeared and I was home and dry at the front of the queue. I had no choice of flavour, it was a Pukka Chicken & Mushroom or suffer the ignomy of a non-pie choice. My delight soon turned to dismay. What I had been served very much looked like the kind of pie that would be left til last. A gravy explosion had rented a gaping hole in the side of the pie. What was remarkable was that somehow the gravy had dried and burnt like a grotesque gravy icicle hanging off the edge of the crust. I had never seen anything like this before in many years of pie reviewing. This was a bad omen, indicating the pie had been cooked for too long. Indeed the sides and base of the pie were very burnt and dried out. It was quite difficult to actually eat because the pastry was so hard, especially at the bottom. It was also far too hot and took ages to cool down. This indicated the problem was probably down to the hot locker the pie had been sat in. Being set so hot it hadn't just kept the pie warm, it had continued cooking it until the pastry had become not much more than a husk to hold the filling. Fortunately the Chicken & Mushroom filling was still enjoyable. There certainly was scope for more pieces of mushroom and chicken but there was by no means an embarassing lack of content. The creamy sauce maintained a good balance of chicken and mushroom flavours (although I do like my mushroom to be subtle). It actually made a nice change to my usual choice of steak pie. However, this couldn't recover what was overall a very disappointing pie due to the pastry! Next time I will have to try and get a pie before the game rather than half time. Hopefully it won't be so dried out!


Chicken & Mushroom (Wycombe Wanderers/Pukka Pies) 
3.34/7

SJL

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Mansfield Town All Steak Pukka Pie Review

A rainy and windy Tuesday night in Mansfield is what being a football supporter is all about. Under those conditions anything can happen which adds to the excitement. While anything can happen, actually nothing extraordinary did occur when we visited for the 0-0 draw with Wycombe Wanderers, although the match was fairly entertaining. When the weather is terrible it makes the match day pie even more obligatory. Rob and I both opted for the classic Pukka All Steak pie option for £3, a pie we have reviewed many times before for our football pie league.

The All Steak Pukka Pie at the One Call Stadium

However, as is often the case at the football the quality was variable. It really was a game of two halves. My pre-match pie was extremely dry which provided a contrast to the extremely wet weather. Rob's was cooked fairly well, although also dry on the bottom. I found mine was so dry the pastry had actually gone quite chewy and was difficult to eat by hand. This was very different to other football pies I have had recently which had soggy and crumbly pastry due to microwave cooking. It seemed that my Pukka had been sat above a heater element in the hot locker which had caused the bottom to burn.



Given that I got my pie before the match it was impressive that they had managed to dry it out so badly. I wondered quite how long it had been sat around for. Mansfield claim to have the oldest football league ground, dating back to 1861. Perhaps this pie had been sat in the locker since 1919 when Mansfield first started playing there? I also wondered how likely food poisoning might be after Mansfield were previously bottom of the football league in terms of their food hygiene rating.


This at least did mean that my pie had been kept warm. The molten gravy proved frustrating as it slowed me down in my pie consumption. I find my desire to devour pies often causes me to bypass my common sense. I keep taking bites somehow expecting the pie to have cooled to a reasonable temperature in the seconds that have elapsed since my previous bite. Whilst the pastry was pretty terrible the filling was just as I have come to expect from Pukka. Ample amount of thick, beefy gravy made the pastry a little more palatable but as usual it was not ideal to eat by hand because the gravy oozed out. The steak pieces weren't huge or overly abundant but none were chewy. Rob however found the opposite with a few gristly pieces.

Overall, sadly the pies weren't leaving us rushing back for more. Despite my claim that I was going to get a second pie at half time, I waited until after the match to get another Pukka pie from Kev's Fish Bar whilst we sheltered from the rain. It was both cheaper and cooked much better!

This review really highlight that whilst a lot of grounds serve similar pies, the choice of how the pies are stored, cooked and kept warm makes a massive difference!

All Steak (Mansfield Town/Pukka)
3.75/7

SJL and RAS

We've rated over 600 pies, including a number of football pies

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More about us and our football pie pedigree:

Sam and Rob being interviewed by BBC Sport's Azi Farni Watch the video on the BBC Sport website

Regulars to our pie blog will know we're the world's leading pie review blog - featuring over 600 pie reviews with multiple football pie media appearances! Two years ago we joined BBC Sport's Azi Farni at Morecambe FC, who make some of the best pies rated on Pierate (let alone football grounds) to discuss what makes the perfect football pie! Watch us featuring in the BBC Price of Football video here.

Check out our PIEremiership article and you'll find that Morecambe FC's Globe Arena is certainly the place to be for top football pies! Top of our football pie league and winners of the British Pie Awards twice, Head chef Graham Aimson at Morecambe FC makes his pies in the kitchen on site by hand, rather than just buying them in! Top work Graham and the team!

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Rating the steak football pie at Port Vale FC by Wrights

Cross section of my Wrights Steak Pie

After a slightly fraught end to my journey to Stoke I finally paid for my ticket by card and got through the turnstiles, having realised I only had enough cash to either buy my ticket OR buy a pie – but not both! Schoolboy error!

In any case, the match at Vale Park – which was on a surprisingly sunny Saturday afternoon, unlike your typical “cold, wet Tuesday night in Stoke” that has become a bit of a cliché – was about to kick off when I arrived, hence there being absolutely no-one in the queue in front of me and free access to the food bar! After a slightly awkward conversation with a steward about why I was taking a photo of the food menu – “Are you lost?” “No… just taking a photo for a food blog I write…” – I ordered my Wrights Steak Pie and made my way to my seat behind the goal.

Matchday is Pie Day! Agreed!

Simply served in a silver foil tray, I could immediately tell why the lady at the bar gave me a few napkins to hold the pie in, as it was steaming hot! Clearly the hot locker had been doing its job, which gave me a few extra minutes to sit down, take a few photos and cheer the lads out before the whistle blew and I was ready to take my first bite!

The pie was pretty golden in colour and while not looking particularly large it was just £2.50, one of the cheaper football pies I’ve bought. I soon found out why…


Taking the pie out of the foil to take my first bite, the large overhang of lid pastry was immediately apparent. I took a first bite and all I got was quite dry, biscuity pastry. My second was hardly any better, and in fact it wasn’t until about bite four that I got anything resembling a meaty chunk and some proper gravy. The pastry overhang, in comparison to what was quite a small pie, was in my eyes far too large (if indeed needed at all), so I had to keep biting through in order to get to the meaty chunks in the middle!

Finally some flavour! In fairness, the meat and gravy was actually quite nice for a “just steak” pie. I turned the pie upside down and could see how small the base of the pie was in comparison to the lid. The base was significantly smaller and explained the experience of dry overhang pastry I’d suffered from in the first few bites. The base pastry was significantly softer and actually quite pleasant, so I focused on eating that with the meat and gravy. However that wouldn’t cut the mustard when it came to rating the pie, and one of the chunks of meat was also particularly chewy, which didn’t help either (though overall the meat and gravy was the redeeming feature!)

Soooo much pastry overhang on the two sides!!

In the end I struggled to finish the pie due to the excessive dry pastry edge and felt short changed at even £2.50 for a football pie. While the pie didn’t collapse in the way that my Wrights pie at Wolverhampton Wanderers had (reviewed in the article I wrote for Buzzfeed), it seemed to have gone the other way and been overly solid, especially the lid. Hopefully Wrights can find a happy medium next time!

Wrights Steak Pie
Score: 3.32/7
[Colour 4, Capacity 3, Consistency 2, Condition 3, Chewiness 3.25, Cheapness 3.5, Content 4.5]

We've rated over 600 pies, including a number of football pies

As for the match itself, Wycombe Wanderers dominated the vast majority of the match, cruising to a 3-0 lead within the first half hour. At that point I was seriously thinking I’d see Wycombe score more goals than this pie would score on the 7 Cs! But with just 5 minutes to go and the points seemingly in the bag, Wycombe coughed up two quite simple goals and had to hang on for a 3-2 win in the end!

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More about us and our football pie pedigree:

Sam and Rob being interviewed by BBC Sport's Azi Farni Watch the video on the BBC Sport website

Regulars to our pie blog will know we're the world's leading pie review blog - featuring over 600 pie reviews with multiple football pie media appearances! Two years ago we joined BBC Sport's Azi Farni at Morecambe FC, who make some of the best pies rated on Pierate (let alone football grounds) to discuss what makes the perfect football pie! Watch us featuring in the BBC Price of Football video here.

Check out our PIEremiership article and you'll find that Morecambe FC's Globe Arena is certainly the place to be for top football pies! Top of our football pie league and winners of the British Pie Awards twice, Head chef Graham Aimson at Morecambe FC makes his pies in the kitchen on site by hand, rather than just buying them in! Top work Graham and the team!

RAS

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In my attempts to find the best pie in my local area around Gloucester I had to try The Queen's Head on the edge of the city. Very highly regarded, it is best to book in advance for dinner as it can get booked up. What is so good about the Queen's Head is that they don't try and be pretencious, they just do traditional British classics very well. They also do generous portions for the price, in particular, their signature Longford Lamb is difficult to polish off. However, they don't actually normally have pie on the menu which had always seemed a crying shame to me. So I was delighted when I went for a weekday lunch and found that Steak & Kidney pie was on the lunch menu. I had no choice but to sample their pastry creation.


But maybe there is a reason The Queen's Head don't serve pie on their brilliant dinner menu. It simply wasn't very good and it seems they have no idea what is needed to make a good pie. They won't be challenging the best pies in Gloucestershire that is for sure. The first basic error they made was smoothering the whole thing in a generic gravy. A common complaint from us on Pierate, gravy really needs to be on the side. It didn't really complement the pie and also made it all very soggy. The second basic error was to go for a slice of pie rather than an individual pie. Whilst this does meet our pie definition (and is much better than a casserole with a pastry lid) it just isn't what I am looking for in the Ultimate Pie, it just isn't as satisfying.

The pie was well filled with meat chunks but had quite a high proportion of kidney. I have never in my life come across anyone who prefers kidney to steak so this ratio could have been better if it was more bias towards the steak. The meat was quite tasty if a bit chewy in places. The pastry also tasted nice but was thick and had a bit of a weird texture, perhaps due to the gravy bath it was sat in. I found the pastry sticking to the roof of my mouth.

Overall, sadly more negatives than positives and this pie really didn't live up to expectations. There are much better pies in the local area.

Steak &Kidney (Queen's Head [Gloucester]) 
3.67/7

SJL

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For those who don't know, it's coming up to 8 years since the Pierate Ship first set sail on a mission to rate all the pies we could find. And sure, we've had some pies and lows over the years, but each and every time we've rated a pie it's been added to our official pie rankings page. And now, with 626 pies rated and ranked, our Pierate Pie Rankings page has just reached a landmark 30,000 page views! Thank you pie fans!!!

Our top 10 most viewed pages (doesn't include pie review articles)

#1 - MyPie London Steak and ale pie

Over that time we've had a number of pies be our number 1, the most notable being Paul's Pies Steak and Guinness pie, which was our number one for over three and a half years. But when Paul hung up the oven gloves and stopped trading, in October 2016 we crowned our new number 1 pie! Since that date, for the last 10 months, our new number 1 pie has been MyPie's Steak and Ale pie! Check out the amazing review we gave it!

And further congratulations are due to Chris Brumby who, since we started tasting his pies a few years ago following his 'Roll-off' 2014 win (best sausage roll), has produced further numerous efforts of ex-pie-tese that have been Pierate Highly Recommended, and has dominated our top 10 pie list! Just take a look at the current top 10 below:

Rank	Pie Producer	Pie Flavour	Score	By	Info
1	MYPIE London	Steak and Ale	6.61	R/S
2	MYPIE London	Venison, Chilli and Cheese	6.57	SJL
3	King's Farm [HP22 6BH]	All Steak	6.5	SJL
3	Piebury Corner [N7 8DL]	Venison and Red Wine [Thierry Henry]	6.5	RAS
3	Piebury Corner [N7 8DL]	Lamb and Veg with a hint of mint [Ian Wright]	6.5	RAS
3	JB Christie [ML6 6BU]	Minced Beef Scotch	6.5	SJL
7	MYPIE London	Mince, Bacon and Cheese	6.46	SJL
7	The Real Pie Company	Pork, Bacon and Parsley	6.46	RAS
9	Jekyll and Hyde Pub [B4 6BJ]	Steak	6.45	RAS
10	The Pie Kitchen	Chicken, Chantenay Carrot and Bacon	6.43	SJL
10	The Brampton Pie Company	Steak & Ale	6.43	SJL

But of course this top 10 is just the tip of the iceberg, with 616 other pies listed from best to worst on our Pierate Pie Rankings page! Check it out to find out where all the other pies we've rated rank in the list! And if you prefer to see the top pies in a variety of categories - such as best chicken or beef pie - see our Pies: Categorised page!

However if you see a top pie missing in the rankings list, why not leave us a comment below or use our Suggest-A-Pie page to let us know where we still need to rate? Alternatively you can drop us a suggestion on our @pierateers twitter page!

Thanks to all those who have viewed our pie rankings page thus far and here's to the next 30,000 views of our ever growing Pierate Pie Rankings Page!

The Pierateers with our number 1 pie maker - Chris! (L to R - Chris, SJL, TJP. RAS)

RAS

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Take the nation's favourite pastry product. (That's a pie - obvs.) Add the world's most played and watched sport. And sprinkle in some hungry spectators demanding half-time grub! Of course I'm talking about half time pies at the football! But not all match day pastry hits the back of the net. Some are Championship winning material, where as others are destined for relegation as soon as you bite into them. That's why bookmakers Coral have been investigating what you - the football pie eating public - have to say on the topic!

Pie at the football!

Having analysed the data from their Pie Survey launched a few months back - which we blogged on in our article "We bet you'll want to feedback on football pies!" - the results are out and we've got the pies and lows to discuss! So, where do football fans think they can find piefection when it comes to their golden pastry snack?! Find out below!

Regulars to our pie blog won't be surprised to hear Coral teamed up with the world's leading pie review blog - featuring over 600 pie reviews with multiple football pie media appearances! A few months ago we were asked to give our opinion on the state of Premier League pies at present, as while the annual BBC Price of Football Survey indicates the price of pies, that really is only part of the story when it comes to pie rating.

We of course contributed our opinion to the survey results they collated regarding the Premier League's top pies and you won't be surprised to hear we have a few opinions on the results too! So once you've read the Coral results article, take a look at our view on the results below!

We've rated over 600 pies, including a number of football pies

So, firstly the winner of the Coral football fan's survey was... West Brom! Now, with a piefect score of 5/5 we do question the result of this really, as in searching for pies up and down the country we've never quite found pie-fection, especially not in a football ground! Typical football pies are a bit overpriced and often rather mass-produced efforts, sitting in hot lockers for far too long! However we are pleased that this is seemingly starting to change with producers like Piglets Pantry (catering for Brighton and Tottenham, amongst others) and Man City's Football Fan Fayre raising the standards significantly.

What I do wonder is whether the football fans rating West Brom as 5/5 were eating the same Pukka Pies as I did when I went to the ground about a year and a half ago? Because while it was a decent Pukka Pie, it certainly wasn't anything to write home about and not worth a full 5/5! One wonders if the people who gave such a high score were actually people in the West Brom hospitality boxes, as what our pie sources tell us is that there they actually serve award winning Piglets Pantry pies, unlike on the main concourse, which certainly would be more worthy of a 5/5 score! Alas we will sadly never know, but that could explain things.

Man City's Chicken Pie with FA Cup Trophy!

Sadly we've not yet rated the pies at Watford, Stoke and Burnley - this can be our "goal" for the season! - but we can certainly highly recommend Man City pies! In fact our top Premier League pie - and number two pie in our Football Pie League - is from Man City and was a fabulous combo of Beef Bourguignon and Chicken and Ham pies at the Etihad Stadium. They highlight that it is often better to pay a bit extra for a top quality pie, rather than less for a very mediocre product.

Sadly it didn't surprise me that the capital's supporters tend to favour a beef burger over a half time pie, however I was pleased to see the Northerners sticking up for their local pastry treat! Certainly the backing for a Steak and Ale pie came as no surprise to us either, with our number one football pie of that flavour. However what was surprising was a lack of mention of the Chicken Balti, which has become quite a fan favourite at many football grounds we've been to!

And to wrap it all off, we're pleased that football fans are by and large a wise crowd when it comes to knowing a pasty is NOT a pie! I'm sure many of you have heard us ramble on about the topic enough - though for anyone wanting an education you can check out our analysis of the shock pasty win in the 2016 British Pie Awards here.

So all in all, I think this survey highlights there are still some top football pies out their for us to sink our teeth into! Sadly not all pies rate as highly as West Brom, but there's only one way for us to really know! We'll be tucking into more football pies up and down the land this coming season! Game on!!!

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More about us and our football pie pedigree:

Sam and Rob being interviewed by BBC Sport's Azi Farni Watch the video on the BBC Sport website

Two years ago we joined BBC Sport's Azi Farni at Morecambe FC, who make some of the best pies rated on Pierate (let alone football grounds) to discuss what makes the perfect football pie! Watch us featuring in the BBC Price of Football video here.

It was outside of the scope of the Coral survey, which focused on the Premier League, but Morecambe FC's Globe Arena is certainly the place to be for top football pies! Top of our football pie league and winners of the British Pie Awards twice, Head chef Graham Aimson at Morecambe FC makes his pies in the kitchen on site by hand, rather than just buying them in! Top work Graham and the team!

RAS

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Pieman - Dublin Pie Review

I admit it, I am obsessed about pies. If I visit a new place one of my first thoughts will be to find out if there are any highly regarded pies. It was no different when I went on a stag do in Dublin over Easter. A quick internet search revealed the Pieman to be worth trying. However, it was such a fun filled weekend I was worried I might not get an opportunity. Fortunately The Pieman is located in the Temple Bar area which happens to be where a large amount of the pubs are. My luck was in when we went to The Temple Bar pub just around the corner. So while everyone was getting merry in a rammed pub, I thought no one would notice if I slipped away briefly, the perfect crime. Or so I thought. After I came back from my brief pie visit I realised everyone had gone! It took me some time to find them but served me right really for being rude enough to duck out the festivities! I eventually found them half way across the city, made all the harder by lack of internet on my phone because Dublin is apparently 'abroad'.


But was the pie worth it? I went for the Chili Beef & Chorizo which was recommended by the staff. It was a decent effort but I regretted not having gone for a classic Steak & Guinness which would have given me a real taste of Ireland and also might have had a potential to score higher. Whilst it was nice to tick off another country where we have reviewed a pie (we must be over a dozen or so countries by now) I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to have this one again. See the score break down below.


Colour – 4.0 out of 7 – Straight away looking at this pie I realised I had made a bit of an error. It was swimming in gravy. It looked like the colour had been nice but the soggy appearance took the sheen off it somewhat.
Condition – 3.5 out of 7 – A solid condition, no flaws to speak of. However, the gravy it was sat in was watery and I thought made it look unappealing.
Cheapness – 3.0 out of 7 – I know that this is a pricey tourist area and that the post-referendum exchange rate is not good at the moment but I thought €6.50 was a lot of money for a pie on its own (roughly it was equivalent to £5.50). It was a sit in establishment but a cafe rather than a restaurant.
Capacity - 5.2 out of 7 - As you might expect for a premium pie, it was quite a good size and it was also well filled.
Chewiness - 4.5 out of 7 - Minced beef was used which didn't provide as much to get your teeth into. However, there were also chunks of chorizo which were a bit more satisfying. The pieces of carrot seemed a bit limp to me. Despite the gravy, there was quite a nice biscuity crunch to some of the less damp pastry, particularly the thick crimp at the top.
Content - 4.5 out of 7 - The mixture of beef, beans, carrot, onion and chorizo gave the filling a nice variety but it was still satisfyingly full of meat. The flavour was quite spicy and also quite salty. It was a shame the gravy didn't go with the taste of the pie filling but I have tried to ignore this in my score.
Consistency - 4.0 out of 7 - The pie held together well and I think the filling, although slightly more unusual, went well with the pastry.

Chili Beef & Chorizo (Pieman [Dublin])
4.10/7

SJL

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Pierate and UK Piefest flyers

Four months after our last trip to Melton Mowbray for the British Pie Awards 2017 Pierateer Rob is heading back to the heart of pork pie country - Melton Mowbray! This time though he's not about to join around 100 judges to rate well over 800 pies from across Britain and beyond. Instead he's one of the guest speakers at UK Piefest, doing a talk on "How to Rate a Pie".

Anyone who knows us well will already know we rate our pies on the 7 Cs of pie rating - our method of reviewing that we have used to rate over 625 pies on Pierate. In fact, we think we've easily reviewed more pies than anyone else, meaning there are very few pie experts with more ex-pie-rience than us when it comes to judging the pie-fect pie! So we look forward to sharing more about the 7 Cs and how we rate pies at the Pie Festival.

You can read about everything you need to know prior to UK Piefest in our dedicated article, and check back here during the day for live blog posts below and on Twitter as we look to share the pielights of UK Piefest 2017 - Live!



8.00 It's an early start for Pierateer Rob but he is now on his way to Melton Mowbray for UK Piefest 2017! Having done this journey a number of times now, we know the signal on the trains is a bit intermittent at best, so we'll keep you posted when we can but normal service will resume when we arrive in Melton Mowbray around 10:30am!

Pierateer Rob is due to do his talk on "How To Rate A Pie" in the Pie Theatre at 11:30am.

8.50 Did you know Pierateer Rob was on BBC Radio yesterday talking pie?! He was interviewed by Martin on BBC Leicester about how to rate a pie, his favourite flavours and his view on the classic Melton Mowbray pork pie! Catch up on it by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p057ql6j and the show on 28/7/17 from 42 to 49 minutes in!

9.50 So Twitter is starting to buzz with excitement as there's only a few more minutes til the gates open at UK Piefest! Just a reminder you can now only buy tickets on the gate (not online) but it's still only £4! #Bargin

10.15 Just leaving Leicester train station - next stop Melton Mowbray!!!

10.35 So I've arrived in Melton Mowbray (my first time coming for anything other than the British Pie Awards!) Now to not be distracted by pie shops and head to the Cattle Market!!

10.55 Organiser Matthew has kindly given me a tour of UK Piefest and of course focused on the pie stalls! (Other foods are available...)


11.20 Already spotted Brockleby's pies and Great North Pie Co pie stands at UK Piefest! And Neil from Great North Pie Co (a British Pie Awards Supreme Champion winner) is lending me a pie to talk about in my talk! Cheers Neil!

The "Pie Theatre" Rob is speaking in!

11.30 Time for my talk on How to Rate a Pie!

12.00 Well that was fun! Always nice to see the stewards having to put out extra seats due to all the people who want to listen! Thanks to those in a crowd who participated and for listening in. My biggest live pie talk to date with about 80-100 people in the audience!

12.25 Currently listening in to Stephen Hallam from Dickinson and Morris pie shop talking about how to hand raise a Melton Mowbray pork pie!

12.30 Stephen has now got 3 amateur bakers up on stage to give hand raising a pie a go! The next generation of pork pie bakers!!

13.00 Next up in the Pie Theatre is 2013 Great British Bake Off winner Frances Quinn! Looking forward to hearing her top pie tips! Meanwhile there's still lots of people piling in!

13.15 Frances Quinn is sharing how to make blueberry cloud-shaped pies in the Pie Theatre right now, including anecdotes from the Bake Off tent!

Frances Quinn making a pie

13:45 Frances Quinn has been chatting to people at the end of her demo. I asked her about the Picnic pie she made in the 2013 final, which she said she's never repeated since the final! Never too late to try Frances!

14.10 We've been hearing a bit more about the Bake Off tent, including how the crew always ended up taking bits home, how hot it was in the tent and how they had to submit all their plans right through to the final when they applied.

14.30 With half an hour til heading to get my train home I've been chatting to a few pie company owners, including Neil from Great North Pie Co and Ian from Rutland Pies. Looking forward to sampling them when I get home!!

15.00 Sadly time to bid farewell to Melton Mowbray but have enjoyed my day out here! If you have not got plans for tomorrow I do recommend you head down. Most of it is inside or under cover and there's great pies and pie talks on offer! Over and out!


RAS

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Mr Kipling Apple, Apple and Blackcurrant and Cherry Pies

Whether it be a British Pie Week “eat as many pies as you can Pieathon”, a roadtrip or a casual Pierateer get together, there always seems to be a reason to pick up a box of 6 handheld Mr Kipling pies to help us on our way. They have become synonymous with Pierate gatherings – the consistent little pie hole filler that allows us to have pie for breakfast, lunch, pudding or supper (and it has been known dinner too, when Pierateer Rob ate just apple pies for the day in 2013!)

And one of the leading pie manufacturers in the small handheld pie market are the legendary cake and pie makers Mr Kipling. They claim on their boxes to be the nation’s favourite apple pies and to be honest, for years now we have relied on the consistent goodness to keep us filled with pie on many a roadtrip and outing or simply as an easy breakfast or dessert pie option.

But it has come to our attention that these reviews are quite old now, being over 7 years since they were pie rated, so they are in need of a review. With so many other pies having been eaten since these initial reviews (some of the first on the blog) are they still that good? Add to the mix that we’ve never actually reviewed the Cherry pie yet and we thought that better change!

Mr Kipling Fruit Pies (l-r: Apple and Blackcurrant, Cherry, Apple)

The question the box poses to us when pie rating is whether the Mr Kipling’s range really is exceedingly good pie? I can assure you – they are!

After all, there’s a reason why they are called the nation’s favourite apple pies (their branding and claim to fame, not mine). And there’s got to be a reason we keep going back to them time and time again! Packed with crisp apple-y goodness, the Mr Kipling Apple Pie ticks all the boxes and ensures it is the premier portable snack sized fruit pie. The apple and blackcurrant pies have a nice sweet mix of apple flavouring balanced with small pieces of blackcurrant (though the seeds can get in your teeth at times!) and the cherry pie is also nice and sweet, though again no fruit pieces to get your teeth into.

Sadly none of these pies have a particularly strong natural fruit content with pieces of fruit in your pie, relying more on a fruity jam like consistency. The capacity of these pies is also quite low – though if you eat one you’d probably agree you don’t want much more sweet filling if you’re going to finish said pie! But then this has been the case in nearly all of the small, portable fruit pies you get from supermarkets and similar companies. However if you want pies with actual pieces of fruit in, it’s best to go for pies from bakeries or farmers markets, which tend to be sold in larger sizes to cram the fruit in!

In summary, whether on a roadtrip, at a cake and pie sale, having just played sport, or at a friend’s leaving meal... the possibilities for cracking out a top tasting Mr Kipling Pie are almost endless! In terms of the small fruit pie market they are one of the best out there, consistently available across many supermarkets and corner shops up and down the country. And there has certainly been no lack of consumption of these pies in the past 10 years or so (easily pre-dating the creation of the Pierate Blog!) I would make a relatively safe guess that between the Pierateers there have been well over 200 Mr Kipling Apple Pies eaten alone (often all 6 in a pack eaten in one group sitting), which make these surely the most eaten pies in Pierate history!

Mr Kipling Apple Pie
Score: 5.82/7
[Colour 6/7; Consistency 6/7; Cheapness 6/7; Chewiness 5.75/7; Condition 6/7; Content 5.75/7; Capacity 5.25/7]

Mr Kipling Apple and Blackcurrant Pie
Score: 5.61/7
[Colour 6/7; Consistency 6/7; Cheapness 6/7; Chewiness 5/7; Condition 6/7; Content 5/7; Capacity 5.25/7]

Mr Kipling Cherry Pie
Score: 5.61/7
[Colour 6/7; Consistency 6/7; Cheapness 6/7; Chewiness 5/7; Condition 6/7; Content 5/7; Capacity 5.25/7]

RAS

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Brockleby’s Wild Deer and Longhorn Steak with Stilton and Ale Pie Reviews

Brockleby's Pie Reviews

Three years is a long time in politics – and is equally a long time in pie reviewing! The range of pies sold can vary hugely in that time and some pie businesses even come and go in that time frame. But when a pie company you have tried and rated highly turn up selling their pies pretty much in your back yard - at your local community festival - it’s a bit of a no-brainer to give some more of their pies a go (as well as enjoy an old favourite!)

So with a large Wild Beaver pie already in the bag to share with friends – and before I go any further, no beavers were harmed in the making of that pie! See our previous review for why it gets its provocative title! – it seemed foolish to pass up the op-pie-tunity to rate a few more of their pies. At £4.50 each or 3 for £12, I was sold! The two pies I’m therefore reviewing today are the Wild Deer and Longhorn Steak with Stilton and Ale pies in their decent repertoire.

Graham on the Brockleby's Pie Stall at the Selly Oak Festival

Brockleby's Wild Deer Pie

Of note for both pies were that the pastry was a very nice consistency, particularly the lids of both pies – firm enough to hold in the content but not too thick to detract from the taste. They were also both packed to capacity with large meaty chunks and had a decent amount of gravy without it flowing out all over the place! I’d personally suggest slightly smaller chunks of meat which can be more covered in gravy and be a little tenderer in places, as there were a few large chewier pieces of meat that weren’t quite as succulent. However in all the meat was very nice and well filled, so I couldn’t find much to fault them.

In regards to the wild deer pie, it was certainly my preference out of the two. The meat on the whole was very nice, the gravy very rich and flavoursome and it really complimented the shortcrust pastry. It was therefore a deer pie very well done, and at £4.50 the price wasn’t too dear either! (Even better at £4 when buying 3 pies for £12!)

The steak, stilton and ale was a little more disappointing, simply due to the lack of a significant stilton flavour to the pie. I and a few friends who tried a mouthful too did not sense much of a stilton hit at all, so while by all means the steak was quite nice, as a steak and stilton pie it didn’t reach the same high levels as the wild deer pie and steak and beaver ale pie I’d had before. The steak was however nice in the main and the gravy was nice despite the lack of cheese.

Brockleby's Steak with Stilton and Ale Pie

With strong recommendations towards their Salmon pie and Moroccan Lamb pies, we’ve certainly got other chances to rate a few more of their pies – and hopefully I might pick up a sample or two at UK Piefest at the end of July! I’d certainly recommend you check out their stall if you go, as these pies are Pierate Recommended!

Brockleby’s Wild Deer Pie
Score: 5.86/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6.5]

Brockleby’s Longhorn Steak with Stilton and Ale Pie
Score: 5.32/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6, Consistency 5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5, Content 4.5]

RAS

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Pierate and UK Piefest flyers

What is UK Piefest?

Set up by the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association – who also run the British Pie Awards we attended back in March 2017 – in the self-proclaimed “Capital of Pies” Melton Mowbray, this is one big celebration of pie love! You can taste award winning pies from British Pie Awards winners – and more importantly bag some to take home! – as well as attending talks and demonstrations on how to make the perfect pie from experts like 2013 Great British Bake Off winner Frances Quinn! There will even be a Questions and Answers session with some of the expert pie makers there, as well as cheese, beer, cakes, chocolate, cider and entertainment!

Oh, and we’ll be there too, giving a talk on “How to Rate a Pie!”

When is UK Piefest?

Melton Mowbray will host UK Piefest

UK Piefest is in its second year and is held in the summer, this year on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th July from 10am-4pm (so not long to wait!)

Where is UK Piefest being held?

Well when you think pork pies, you think Melton Mowbray! So it makes absolute sense that the town is the host of UK Piefest! With a number of local producers selling their wares at the event, you need to follow the smell of freshly cooked pies and get down to Melton Mowbray Cattle Market, Scalford Road, Melton Mowbray, LE13 1JY

Frances' Rainbow Picnic Pie - Screenshot from BBC

Who will be there?

Well apart from all the wonderful pie sellers – many of whom are past British Pie Awards winners – the star baker and demo pie maker is none other than Great British Bake Off 2013 winner Frances Quinn, who you may recall did a stunning Rainbow Picnic Pie in the final!

However why we’re quite so excited about UK Piefest is that we have been invited as guest speakers this year, to share our wisdom and ex-pie-rience on “How to Rate a Pie!” Yep, if you don’t know your 7 Cs of pie rating or haven’t heard enough pie eating anecdotes to last a lifetime, join us at 11:30am on Saturday 29th July! (Sadly we can’t make it on the Sunday too.) As well as explaining the 7 Cs of pie rating – what to look for in a top pie – there will be some pie anecdotes including how we ended up being on hit BBC One show “Rip Off Britain”.

Pierateer Rob, who appeared on BBC One's "Rip Off Britain" will be speaking at UK Piefest

What else can I do at UK Piefest?

Well, the pies the limit! At the very least for your £4 entry fee (or £3 if you buy online in advance) you’ll get tasting samples of some of the best pies known to man, the op-pie-tunity to buy some to take home and more pie based tips, info and trivia than you can fill in a fully encased pie crust!

When did it all start?

This will be the second UK Piefest, with the first last year being such a success story that they couldn’t resist hosting again! In fact, this year it’s being promoted as “The UK’s Greatest Pie Festival”! You can find out more about the history of pies and the pie festival on their website www.ukpiefest.co.uk

How can I find out more about UK Piefest?

Well the best place to look is their website www.ukpiefest.co.uk or give their twitter a follow on @ukpiefest but of course we will be there on Saturday 29th July and give you the low down on both this blog and our twitter @pierateers – so we hope you’ll feel you can join in the ex-pie-rience even if you can’t make it this year! But even better would be to get down to Melton Mowbray for this great celebration of all things pie! We certainly can’t wait to get our hands on even more top pies while we’re there!!

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If you have any questions you want answered by Pierateer Rob at UK Piefest, why not leave a comment or drop us a question @pierateers? We’d love to hear from you and answer your questions if we can! Also do let us know if you’re coming too, as we’d love to meet you there!

RAS

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