The Ship's Cook once again cooks up a storm in the kitchen during British Pie Week to try out an intriguing new pie flavour we've yet to try before! For all 20+ of the previous reci-pies made by the Ship's Cook, check out our Reci-pie Page!

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Grab a pie, take a seat, and let me tell you a tale about a legendary pasta pie!


Many years ago, before I’d joined the Pierateers as Ship’s Cook, a television cookery show introduced me to a pie concept so fantastic that I spent the next decade dreaming about making it. Seriously, I just looked it up and it was an episode of the Hairy Bikers back in 2006. They went to Emilia Romagna in central Italy and made a recipe called “Pasticcio di Maccheroni” inspired by Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. “Pasticcio di Maccheroni” is a pasta pie – how brilliant is that?!

 
Ever since then I’ve been threatening to make my own pasta pie. Twelve years later and I’ve acquired an English translation of Pellegrino Artusi’s book and a husband who’s part-Italian, and I’ve put a four course dinner and a three-tiered cake in pastry, so this British Pie Week I decided it was finally time to tackle the Pasticcio di Maccheroni…

It didn’t quite go to plan.

For a start, the recipe has a very long list of ingredients that didn’t sound all that appealing. We’ve put a lot of things in pies over the years (pythons and crocodiles, for a start) but I really didn’t fancy chicken gizzards. I also didn’t have a clue where to get them from, and even if I had there was a bigger problem heading my way – some of the worst snow, ice and storms that the UK had seen in years. Getting to the shops proved to be pretty hazardous, but a Pierateer will not be stopped, so I decided I was going to make my very own pasta pie with whatever I could find in my kitchen cupboards.

The Recipe: 


This is probably one of the shortest ingredient lists you’ll ever see:

• Shortcrust pastry - I only had wholemeal flour, so that’s what I used, and I added some grated parmesan in an attempt to be a bit more Italian.
• Pasta – I used rigatoni but I see no reason why you couldn’t use spaghetti or any other type of pasta.
• Pasta sauce - I had some Dolmio Pasta Bake sauce, but you could use whatever you’ve got left in your cupboard after the Beast from the East.
• Cheese – I used Parmesan.
• Milk or egg to brush the top of the pie.

The method is just as simple. I rolled out two thirds of the pastry to line the pie dish, then blind baked the base.

 
Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta and added the sauce. Once the pie base was ready I filled it with pasta and sauce and grated some cheese on top.

 
Finally, I rolled out the rest of the pastry to make a lid, put it on top of the pasta and crimped the edges to make a proper pie. I didn’t have any eggs so I brushed the top with milk, then baked the pie until pastry was crisp and golden brown.

 
The Seven Cs:

Colour: A lovely golden brown – I find it a bit harder to tell when wholemeal pastry is cooked so I had to tap it to check it was nice and crisp.

Consistency: A little bit boring, as it was just pastry, pasta and sauce. It needed some meat or vegetables or something to add some more texture.

Capacity: Very full, but if you made this and really squashed the pasta down, or poured a really thick sauce over the top before adding the pie lid, you could probably get even more filling in here.

Chewiness: I’ll admit, this was a bit chewy, but then pasta is meant to have a bit of bite to it so if you’re going to put pasta in a pie then there’s not a lot you can do about the texture.

Content: Not the most exciting of fillings, but it tasted nice. I think Pellegrino Artusi might have been onto something with his much longer list of ingredients - pasta pie needs an interesting sauce (layers of Bolognese or cheese sauce would have been nice, I think).

Cheapness: Really cheap. In my case it was technically free because I had all the ingredients in the cupboard already. It’s also really filling because it’s pasta wrapped in pastry, so you get quite a few servings from one pie.

Condition: Surprisingly good! The first slice fell apart completely but the rest of the pie stayed intact and once it had cooled down a bit the slices held their shape really well – I think pasta pie needs time to set and should be served warm instead of hot.

 
So in the end, my pasta pie didn’t end up being anything like Pellegrino Artusi’s. It was a lot of fun to make, and it definitely fulfilled some of the key pie criteria of being warming, filling and tasty. Having said that, I’m not altogether sure that pasta needs to be in a pie after all.

Next British Pie Week perhaps I’ll try a pizza pie like SJL…

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The results of the 10th annual British Pie Awards are the headline of Day Five of British Pie Week. We were delighted to be able to judge and provide media coverage of the Pie Awards with friend of the blog Ben (who was judging for the first time) and would like to officially congratulate Turners Pies on taking home the Supreme Champion award this year! More details below and a full summary of all the results will be coming next week!

As always there is a summary of each day of Pie Week at the bottom of this article and on our dedicated British Pie Week page. Enjoy!

Pierateer RAS

I've made four #PiePledge commitments this British Pie Week, which are the following:

1) One or more pies eaten every day
2) 2 days of annual leave taken to eat, rate and tweet about pies (one of which was Friday just gone, in pre-pie-ration and to get some pies delivered for pie week!)
3) Organise a pie night - which happened on Tuesday evening in Birmingham!
4) Live blog the British Pie Awards

Ben, Pierateer Rob and Pierateer Sam at the British Pie Awards 2018

With hundreds of you following our live blog of the British Pie Awards 2018 - Live! on Wednesday, it's clear that there's an ap-pie-tite for top pies and knowing who will be crowned the Supreme Champion out of the 960 pies that were rated on Wednesday! So without further ado, we are delighted to announce that the winner of the British Pie Awards 2018 is Turner's Pies Steak and Ale pie with Highland Top Rump and Dark Ale.

The news was unveiled by the Evening Standard online this year as the British Pie Awards twitter feed didn't do a class-by-class unveil or even post about who had won as Supreme Champion! We're grateful to Gareth from Dubs Pies for unveiling the winning shot on his twitter later Friday evening:

#Britishpieawards

Supreme Pie award

Turner's Steak and Ale pie pic.twitter.com/oib609vPop

— DUB Pies (@dubpies) March 9, 2018

🏆‼️ WE DID IT ‼️🏆

Absolutely honoured to be named the SUPREME CHAMPION 2018 at this years #britishpieawards #BritishPieWeek

Our Steak & Ale Pie overcame stiff competition from 963 other pies to be crowned #1 In the UK.

More news to follow soon...MR T@BritishPies pic.twitter.com/0yTfZvMDUJ

— Award Winning Pies (@TurnersPies) March 10, 2018

And after their win yesterday, Turner's Pies immediately set their eyes on another award - this time becoming the number 1 pie on Pierate!

Thanks guys, we were waiting for the official press release before we told the world but it seems that’s not coming today. We’re chuffed! Only accolade we need now is no1 pierated!!

— Award Winning Pies (@TurnersPies) March 9, 2018

After an oven failure unfortunately meant we never got to rate the pies we obtained from Turners a few years ago, we certainly need to get our hands on them now following their Supreme Champion win! We'll make that arrrrghhh mission in the coming months!!

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Day Four of British Pie Week always feels like a bit of a lull each year, coming between the judging of the British Pie Awards on the Wednesday and the results being announced on the Friday. However there's still plenty of pies to eat and a great landmark to celebrate today on the Pierate Ship!

As always there is a summary of each day of Pie Week at the bottom of this article and on our dedicated British Pie Week page. Enjoy!

Pierateer RAS

I've made four #PiePledge commitments this British Pie Week, which are the following:

1) One or more pies eaten every day
2) 2 days of annual leave taken to eat, rate and tweet about pies (one of which was Friday just gone, in pre-pie-ration and to get some pies delivered for pie week!)
3) Organise a pie night - which happened on Tuesday evening in Birmingham!
4) Live blog the British Pie Awards


With all bar the pie eating completed in terms of my #PiePledges it was a bit of a quiet day on the blog and twitter, in part due to sad news in the family with the passing of my gran this morning, so I dedicate this post to her memory.

Ben, Pierateer Rob and Pierateer Sam at the British Pie Awards 2018

Something that put a bit of a smile on my face on Thursday evening after quite a hard day was seeing the amazing response to our blog on the Wednesday and Thursday, with over 20,000 views of our Radfords Pie Review on Wednesday (our most hits on an article in one day in Pierate history!) and thousands more of our British Pie Awards 2018 - Live! article and other pie week posts meaning that by Thursday night we had officially passed 900,000 views!!

It's quite amazing to think that what started as a little bit of fun from a punny name has spawned into the world's leading pie review blog that is now under 100,000 views from a landmark 1 million views!! Thanks to everyone who has even glanced over just one of our articles, making it what it is today!

The pie of the day was this Bowen's Steak pie and Steak and Stilton pie, which I hope to review later in the week. We've already pie rated the Steak pie as Pierate Highly Recommended, and will review the Steak and Stilton soon!

So it was a bit of a late night snack last night (well I had been at the pie awards all day!) but very much enjoyed this steak pie from @BowenPies last night! #BritishPieWeek pic.twitter.com/RCmGr1sfMX

— Pierate (@pierateers) March 8, 2018

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With Day Three of British Pie Week 2018 featuring the 10th annual British Pie Awards, what more motivation do you need?! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge. You may have already read our article "Everything you need to know about British Pie Week" but either way, here’s some things you can do this British Pie Week:

You can follow the Pierateers on Twitter and find out how our #PiePledges are going!
You can read about pies.
You can choose a pie (we have well over 600 pies reviewed in our rankings table!)
You can think up some puns for the Pie Dictionary!
You can suggest a pie you’ve enjoyed.

As for the Pierateers, we are ready for probably the biggest British Pie Week yet! We've made Pie Pledges for this week in our Friday Pieday Pie Week Special, showing our commitment to pie, plus this year the British Pie Awards 2018 are once again taking place today in British Pie Week! We'll be there as media to cover the event and Pierateer Sam will be judging again.

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

Pierateer RAS

I've made four #PiePledge commitments this British Pie Week, which are the following:

1) One or more pies eaten every day
2) 2 days of annual leave taken to eat, rate and tweet about pies (one of which was Friday just gone, in pre-pie-ration and to get some pies delivered for pie week!)
3) Organise a pie night - which is what is happening on Tuesday evening in Birmingham!
4) Live blog the British Pie Awards


On Day Three of British Pie Week all eyes were on Melton Mowbray for the 10th annual British Pie Awards, which both Pierateer Sam and I were attending. Sam was there to judge the Savoury Pies (Cold) class and I had taken the day off to provide live blogging of the greatest show in pies!

We will be writing up the results of the British Pie Awards 2018 after the results are out on Friday. However for now you can check out our @pierateers twitter feed for photos from the British Pie Awards, a number of which are also viewable on our British Pie Awards 2018 - Live! article.

Ben, Pierateer Rob and Pierateer Sam at the British Pie Awards 2018

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Judges at the British Pie Awards, including Pierateer Sam

The day of the British Pie Awards has arrived! Held in the heart of pork pie country - Melton Mowbray - the scene is once again set for around 120 judges to rate well over 900 pies from across Britain and beyond! Of course you won't be surprised to know we've been invited again this year - having been a judge, media or helper at the British Pie Awards since 2013 - and this year we're there as judge (Sam) and media (Rob) to give you the inside scoop of what takes place - Live!

More than 900 pies entered from a record 179 piemakers. Around 120 judges will spend about 4 hours chomping their way through the best pies in the land. What's not to like!

— British Pie Awards (@BritishPies) February 27, 2018

As great as the alternative venue was last year, we're glad that we'll be back where it all began as the 10th annual British Pie Awards heads home to St Mary's Church in the heart of Melton Mowbray. And as well as looking forward to seeing lots of our pie friends at the Awards, we're looking forward to sharing our ex-pie-tese with fellow judges and a close friend of the blog Ben (who is kindly taking us to the awards and being a fellow judge alongside our very own Pierateer Sam).

As you may know the British Pie Awards use a significantly different set of criteria to us (rather than the 7 Cs of pie rating that we have used to rate over 600 pies on Pierate) but there are very few pie experts with more ex-pie-rience than us when it comes to the pie-fect pie!

So check back here during the day for live blog posts below and on Twitter and we hope you enjoy hearing about the British Pie Awards 2018!



8.30 It's been another early start for Pierateers Sam and Rob but they are now on their way to Melton Mowbray for the British Pie Awards 2018! This is the first time they've done the journey by car (thanks fellow judge Ben!) and we look forward to chatting pie and building up to the greatest show in pie on the car journey there!

09:15 So we're going along a number of lovely country side roads to avoid some traffic on the way to Melton Mowbray. Conversation in the car has included how much is too much for a pie? and how good are MyPie? (who Chris Evans keeps discussing on BBC Radio 2!)

09:51 Three hours from Gloucester and two hours from Birmingham but we have finally arrived in Melton Mowbray!!! Show us the pies!!!

10:15 So we've had a light breakfast as pie judging commences in about an hour but we're already getting in the zone and taking in the ambiance.

Calm before the storm...

11:00 The head judges have had their briefing and now it's the regular judges getting their briefing! Colin Woodhead the new chairman is telling all the judges what to look for in a good pie!

11:15 Consistency is the key advice for the judges as they get ready to go to their tables! Soon to have the official opening remarks!

11:20 Chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association Matthew is welcoming people and sharing a few top tips about judging today.

11:25 The Vicar of St Mary's church in Melton Mowbray - where the pie awards are being held again this year - has just blessed the pies with a brief prayer thanking the pie makers for all their hard work in baking! Amen to that!!

St Mary's Church in Melton Mowbray

11:30 It's time for the control pie - which allows judges to get used to the marking criteria the British Pie Awards use. (Just remember not to fill yourself up before the proper pie judging commences!!)

11:40 With the control pie done it's time to get cracking on the actual category pies! Who's going to win a gold? Who will be supreme champion? We'd better get pie rating!!

12:15 The church is abuzz right now. Having spoken to a number of judges already, there are lots of great pies being judged!


12:35 Controversy in the Savoury Pie (cold) class as a pie with a stilton lid - rather than pastry - got disqualified!!

12:45 In the beef and any flavour category, pie blogger Katie Peel (@awaydaypiegirl) has enjoyed a number of great flavours but the beef and haggis pie stood out!

13:05 The pies are still flowing out of the ovens as we enter the third hour - with some interesting flavours in the Speciality Meat and Game Pie class. Rabbit, venison, wild boar and duck among the entries!

Speciality Meat and Game Pies

13:10 "Is it a pie? Or isn't it?" Conversations are going on between judges and there are seemingly some products that don't appear to really be pastry encased...

13:45 Some of the pie classes are starting to decide on their top 3 (which are the pie makers that get invited back on Friday for the unveiling of the class winners) but others are still in full flow!

14:15 More pie classes are starting to draw to a close and the top 3 pies in each class are being chosen. The top pie in each will be considered by the head judge to choose our supreme champion!



14:40 And with that the pie awards are done! The top pie in each class is being moved to the champions table and tables are now being packed away!

14:45 Thanks to all those who have stopped by for chats and we'll write up a full article soon, after the results are out on Friday!

Stephen Hallam and Pierateer Rob!

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The winners at the 10th annual British Pie Awards will be announced on Friday 9th March on the @BritishPies twitter feed and updated on the British Pie Awards website.


If you want to find out more about the British Pie Awards 2018, check out our Countdown to the British Pie Awards article.


Did you know? This is the third time that the British Pie Awards are happening in British Pie Week, following a successful but controversial first time out in 2016 when a pasty was crowned supreme champion and a more regular win for Dickinson and Morris Pork Pie in 2017!

RAS

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Radford’s Pie Company Venison and Beef in Red Wine Pie Reviews

While snow may have ground most of the UK to a halt last week as the “Beast from the East” and Storm Emma hit British shores, we were delighted to still receive through the post a box with two great looking pies from Radford’s Pie Company on Friday morning! And while I somehow managed to wait until British Pie Week before eating them, on Monday I enjoyed both for my dinner.

Radford's Venison (l) and Beef in Red Wine Pie Reviews

In the post were a venison pie and a beef in red wine pie. Both were in perfect condition through the post and it just so happened that on Monday the owner of the pie company Noel also had a venison pie himself! For those who don’t know, Noel and his family the Radford’s featured on Channel 4’s 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and “20 kids and counting” and are – as you might have guessed – the largest family in the UK! With so many mouths to feed, it’s a good job the family run a pie company out of the local bakery they own! And not just any bakery, but a top rated pie company at that!

With over 15 years of pie baking in the bank and plenty of demand for their home delivery service of those pies, it’s great to see a family run business doing well and expanding their delivery options and we wish them continued success in this. Their previous pies had rated very highly, almost all obtaining a Pierate Recommended score of 5.5/7 or above, so what about the venison and beef in red wine pies I rated this time?


Well, as before, the pies were again made with shortcrust pastry, with a crisp lid and pastry sides that held the content in well. This was particularly evident when seeing how well filled the pies were, as the pies are crammed to capacity with meat! They come in the classic foil case with crimped top edges, familiar to a lot of (particularly Northern) pies and at £3.45 for the venison pie and just £3.35 for the beef in red wine pie, I think these are both very good value for the price you pay.

As you can see from the photos, they cut well and didn’t collapse like a lot of pies can do. The cross-section really highlights the packed content and the golden lids to the pies. The venison pie in particular had an impressive pastry motif on top too! And as mentioned in our previous review, the local ingredients, from butchers and vegetable sellers near to the bakery, also adds to the appeal of these pies. Here are the individual flavours:

Radfords Beef in Red Wine Pie Review

Beef in Red Wine Pie

There was a good amount of tender beef in this pie, which was complimented by a bit of vegetable. The meat was lovely and flavoursome and the gravy was a decent thickness, flavoured well by the red wine. This didn’t overpower the pie by any means and the tender content complimented the crisp pastry well. This was easily another Pierate Recommended pie, and just fell slightly short to the venison pie I also had!

Score: 5.75/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.25, Content 6]

Radfords Venison Pie Review

Venison Pie

While I very much enjoyed the beef in red wine pie, it paled slightly in comparison to the venison pie I also had on Monday evening. In fact, this venison pie was easily the nicest pie from the Radford’s range I’ve had to date. The pie was simple but effective – tender venison meat and a lovely gravy, which was a tad runny but tasted delicious. My only real criticism of this pie was that a couple of bits of the meat were a little fatty still, but this is one of the challenges of working with venison! Overall, the meat was a great foil to the crisp pastry and it is certainly deserving of Pierate Highly Recommended status!

Score: 6.11/7
[Colour 6.25, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.5, Condition 6.75, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 6, Content 6.75]


With almost all their prior pies knocking on the door of being Pierate Highly Recommended (which is 6/7 or above), the family at Radford’s have finally achieved it! Their venison pie was one of the best I’ve had and I hope to get my hands on some more sometime soon! And with home delivery as an option, I certainly recommend you get your hands on some Radford’s pies during this British Pie Week and beyond!

RAS

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With British Pie Week 2018 now in full swing, what more motivation do you need?! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge. You may have already read our article "Everything you need to know about British Pie Week" but either way, here’s some things you can do this British Pie Week:

You can follow the Pierateers on Twitter and find out how our #PiePledges are going!
You can read about pies.
You can choose a pie (we have well over 600 pies reviewed in our rankings table!)
You can 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! We've made Pie Pledges for this week in our Friday Pieday Pie Week Special, showing our commitment to pie, plus this year the British Pie Awards 2018 are once again taking place in British Pie Week! We'll be there as media to cover the event and Pierateer Sam will be judging again.

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

Pierateer RAS

I've made four #PiePledge commitments this British Pie Week, which are the following:

1) One or more pies eaten every day
2) 2 days of annual leave taken to eat, rate and tweet about pies (one of which was Friday just gone, in pre-pie-ration and to get some pies delivered for pie week!)
3) Organise a pie night - which is what is happening on Tuesday evening in Birmingham!
4) Live blog the British Pie Awards

Radfords Pie Company Venison (l) and Beef in Red Wine

So far I have taken a day off work last Friday to get pies from Radfords Pie Company delivered, which I ate on Day One and reviewed late on Tuesday evening. However Tuesday's pie would come in the form of the legendary Pieminister pie shop, as we held our "Pierateer Takeover" of their Birmingham store!

You can find out more in our article about our Birmingham Pie Night, which we held after work from 5:30-7:30pm, and a full review will follow soon. But for now check out our @pierateers twitter feed for updates of our pie night or a few photos below. Thanks to everyone who came for making it a great night!!

Pierateer Rob at the Pieminister Pie Night

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The countdown timer has struck zero and British Pie Week 2018 has begun – so what more motivation do you need?! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge. You may have already read our article "Everything you need to know about British Pie Week" but either way, here’s some things you can do this British Pie Week:

You can follow the Pierateers on Twitter and find out how our #PiePledges are going!
You can read about pies.
You can choose a pie (we have well over 600 pies reviewed in our rankings table!)
You can 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! We've made Pie Pledges for this week in our Friday Pieday Pie Week Special, showing our commitment to pie, plus this year the British Pie Awards 2018 are once again taking place in British Pie Week! We'll be there as media to cover the event and Pierateer Sam will be judging again.

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... but weirdly the pastry company who invented British Pie Week (to sell more pastry) have decided to once again ditch it! The end result of which is this... Pierate Pie Reviews is the home of British Pie Week!!!

And while we may not have the amazing Pierate Logo pie to enjoy this year (made especially for us by Nice Pie in 2014), we do have an exciting new logo to share with you all! As unveiled in mid-January, here is the British Pie Week 2018 logo:

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

Pierateer RAS

I've made four #PiePledge commitments this British Pie Week, which are the following:

1) One or more pies eaten every day
2) 2 days of annual leave taken to eat, rate and tweet about pies (one of which was Friday just gone, in pre-pie-ration and to get some pies delivered for pie week!)
3) Organise a pie night - which is what is happening on Tuesday evening in Birmingham!
4) Live blog the British Pie Awards

I look forward to keeping you updated with how I get on with all these pie pledges this week!

UK Twitter trends on Monday lunchtime

As for today... well day one of British Pie Week started with me listening to BBC Radio 2 and pie fanatic Chris Evans on the Breakfast Show from 6:30-9:30am! And having got up at stupid o'clock in the morning to listen, Chris managed to spend the first hour or so referencing the Pasty Championships that happened at the weekend, and not a word about British Pie Week!! I was beginning to wonder whether I'd missed a change in Chris Evans' pastry pallet since last pie week, but fortunately all was not lost, as the final hour and a half the word pie or British Pie Week must have been referenced about a dozen times - most humorously when discussing how fellow DJ Zoe Ball should pick up pies on her e-pie-c bike ride raising money for charity Sport Relief! We will wait to see through the week whether Zoe rises to the challenge, but I am certainly glad I rose to the challenge of getting up early in the end!

At one point during lunchtime #BritishPieWeek was trending at an incredible 3rd place in the UK trends! Not bad for a week about pies - especially when the Oscars had dominated the trends overnight and in the morning!

After a number of pie related conversations at work I got home to dig into two pies delivered to me by Radfords Pie Company on Friday.

Radfords Pie Company Venison (l) and Beef in Red Wine

The name may ring a bell as it is the same Radford family who star in hit Channel 4 series "15 kids and counting" all the way up to the recent "20 kids and counting". They own and run Radford's Pie Company up near Morecambe and the reviews of their previously rated pies are some of the most viewed articles on Pierate Pie Reviews - especially when considering just the pie reviews themselves.

I'll be rating them fully soon but safe to say both the Venison and Beef in Red Wine pies were very good and both are at least Pierate Recommended. Find out the full score later in the week!

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Unless you've been living on another planet for the last few weeks, you'll notice we've kinda been promoting British Pie Week! In fact with just a few days left til it begins (and you can see to the second how long we have left in our Countdown to British Pie Week article!) you could say it's been on the forefront of our minds! So with so much to fill you in on and some exiting updates to our British Pie Week plans, do enjoy our preview of the greatest week in pie!

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Make your British Pie Week #PiePledge

For the last few years prior to British Pie Week we've encouraged individuals, pie companies and anyone else who will listen to make a #PiePledge for British Pie Week! The idea is pretty simple - make a pledge to commit to doing something pie-related during British Pie Week! This might be trying a new pie flavour, making your own pie, hosting a pie party or doing some crazy pie stunt (like only eating pies for a day!)

This year Pierateer Rob has organised another Birmingham Pie Night (see below for more details) and is taking Wednesday off work in order to be a media reporter at the 10th annual British Pie Awards! He'll be joined at the British Pie Awards by Pierateer Sam, who has also taken the day off to be a Pie Awards judge! On top of that the Pierateers will be eating a pie (minimum) every day of pie week, doing a daily blog post of the things we and the nation are getting up to in British Pie Week and generally promoting the biggest week in pie!!

Whatever you get up to we hope you'll enjoy British Pie Week as much as we do, and for some ins-pie-ration why not watch our short #PiePledge video:

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Birmingham Pie Night Plans confirmed

Part of our #PiePledge is to host a pie night in British Pie Week, so our friends can enjoy some Pierate Highly Recommended pie with us! This year we're doing a "Pierateer Takeover" in Pieminister's Birmingham shop - where we've eaten some top pies in the past few months since it opened (and plenty more Pieminister pies elsewhere before then!)

It'll be on Tuesday 6th March from 5:30-7:30pm. And the good news is there is still time to join us! While the full details are in our Birmingham Pie Night post, all you need to do is phone the store and reserve a table from 5:30-7:30pm, which is when me and a group of friends will be there! If you do come along, I'll be wearing the Pierate t-shirt you can see below, so do pop over and say hi!!!

British Pie Week Pieminister Pie Night

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British Pie Week 2018 is 5th to 11th March!

Everything there is to know about British Pie Week - including pie-motions!

It turns out loads of people want to know all there is to know about British Pie Week! With well over 1,000 views of our "British Pie Week - Everything you should know" article already, and thousands more looking at our Countdown to British Pie Week and British Pie Week Logo Launch articles, this has proved to be our busiest pre-Pie Week period to date!

However it's true that as soon as you post a British Pie Week article you hear of yet more great pie-motions you'd love to shout about, so here are just a few of the British Pie Week offers and specials we want to let you know about (and there will be plenty more we're yet to hear about!)

MyPie Pie Truck (London) - Our number 1 pie seller MyPie London have shared on twitter that they're doing their legendary "Pie meal for a fiver" promotion during British Pie Week! Check out the MyPie website for where Chris and the gang will be this week!

Next week we'll be getting up to our old nonsense @BroadgateLondon, £5 pie, mash, peas and gravy. No salads, no 50/50 just to keep the queues moving. can we reach 400 pies?? @StreetDots @TimeOutEatDrink @LDNCheapEats @Londonist @Streetzine

— MYPIE (@MYPIE_LDN) February 26, 2018

Pubs serving MyPie (London) - If standing outside waiting for a pie from a pie truck doesn't sound your thing, the great news is that throughout British Pie Week much-loved Clapham Common craft beer pub The King & Co and newly refurbished sibling freehouse the Elm Park Tavern in Brixton Hill will be serving up the Pierate Highly Recommended MyPie in their pubs! Visitors to the two popular independent South London boozers will be able to take their pick from the latest selection of proper pies by the cult favourite British Pie Awards winner, such as chipotle pork shoulder with black beans, or mushroom, spinach and truffle, all accompanied by homemade mash, greens and gravy (£10.50).

Here are the details for how you can reserve your spot:
Table reservations: hello@thekingandco.uk / hello@elmparktavern.co.uk
Addresses: The King & Co, 100 Clapham Park Road, London, SW4 7BZ / The Elm Park Tavern, 76 Elm Park, London, SW2 2UB
Social media: @thekingandco / @elmparktavern

Pieminister restaurants (Various locations) - Our Birmingham Pie Night is not the only reason you should visit a Pieminister restaurant this coming British Pie Week! Check out these daily offers - one for each day of the week - at Pieminister restaurants up and down the country (click to make it bigger):


More info on the Pieminister website and to get you in the mood, why not check out all 19 of our Pieminister pie reviews so far?

Bowen Pies (Chorley and nationwide delivery) - We're delighted to hear that Pierate Highly Recommended pie maker Bowen Pies - who we rated while visiting Wigan a few years ago - have just launched a pie delivery service just before the start of British Pie Week. Great timing guys!

🐷 New OINK BOX 🐷.. Who Loves A Good Pork Pie?!
🇬🇧 UK Delivery! This Box Contains 15 Pork Filled Pies & Free @brownsthebutchers Black Pudding.. The same Pudding We Use In Our Award Winning Pork & Black Pudding. Limited Availability , Shop Online:https://t.co/jGRGkD65ig pic.twitter.com/4n6U4gnJSL

— Bowen Pies (@BowenPies) February 23, 2018

Joanna’s (London) - This is somewhere we are yet to rate but comes highly recommended by a friend of the blog! Critically-acclaimed Crystal Palace institution Joanna's (who will be celebrating their 40th anniversary next month!) will be offering an exclusive dish on their daily a la carte menu for British Pie Week, showcasing the very best of the new Spring produce. Guests at the beloved neighbourhood restaurant can tuck into the comforting seasonal special of slow-cooked lamb, rosemary and pea pie with wild garlic mash, ideal paired with a fine French wine by local wine merchant Les Vins de Sylvain and followed by one of their irresistible new desserts like cinnamon doughnuts with hot chocolate sauce.

Table reservations: http://www.joannas.uk.com/ or via Opentable
Address: Joannas, 56 Westow Hill, Crystal Palace, London, SE19 1RX
Social media: @Joannas_1978

The Redhouse (Newcastle) - Another place on our Pierate to-do list when we finally sail the Pierate Ship up to the North East, this popular pie shop in Newcastle is releasing a special guest pie for British Pie Week - and it sounds fab!!

Our guest pie for #BritishPieWeek will be a twist on a British classic. Pie lovers, let me introduce you to your soon to be new favourite pie - Steak and Stilton. #pieloving pic.twitter.com/k1c76otf2n

— The Redhouse (@TheRedhouseNCL) March 1, 2018

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Almost time for the 10th annual British Pie Awards!

British Pie Awards 2017 Judges

It's become a pie institution just fractionally older than Pierate Pie Reviews itself, as the British Pie Awards in Melton Mowbray celebrate this year their 10th annual awards event! Read our Countdown to the British Pie Awards article for more info!

With this year over 900 pies from a record breaking number of entrants, we can't wait to judge (Pierateer Sam) and provide media coverage (Pierateer Rob) from the greatest show in pies!!

We were glad to see last year that the British Pie Awards 2017 champion was in fact a pie, after the controversy of the winner of the British Pie Awards 2016 not being a pie at all - but a pasty!!! We wait and see what sur-pie-ses they have in store to mark this special 10th anniversary year!

More than 900 pies entered from a record 179 piemakers. Around 120 judges will spend about 4 hours chomping their way through the best pies in the land. What's not to like!

— British Pie Awards (@BritishPies) February 27, 2018

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