Pie fans ahoy! With over 600 pie reviews, Pierate is surely the web's premier pie resource. We've been eating and rating pies according to the 'Seven Cs' since 2009. Follow us on @pierateers. pierateship@yahoo.co.uk
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Have the German’s pre-invented the pie?!
As soon as
my knife cut into the pastry shell of the so called “Königinpastete”, I knew that I
had what will go down as one of the most controversial pie reviews in Pierate
history on my hands! And I make no apologies for such a bold claim at the
outset of this pie review. For what we potentially have on our hands here is –
when the incorrect English translation of the German menu is put to one side –
a potential pre-cursor to the pie. Rather than re-inventing the pie, the
Germans could here have pre-invented the pie, giving us a potential insight
into what life was like pre-pie! (a shocking thought in itself, that there
could have even been a time pre-pie!)
“So what
could be so controversial”, I hear you cry! Well, when I ordered “two pies
filled with chopped chicken breast and mushroomsauce” from the Hofgarten in
Aachen, West Germany, I certainly didn’t get exactly what it said on the menu.
The plate below was brought out to me, which in itself doesn’t look too
controversial, albeit a bit odd. Why was there so much chicken and mushroom on
the plate itself, rather than it all being inside the pastry? Perhaps there was
just so much filling that it simply couldn’t possibly all fit inside the pastry
itself?
continue reading "Have the German’s pre-invented the pie?!"
Then came
crunch time, as I cut my way into the soft, puff pastry casing of the first
pie, to find that it was in fact... a pie made completely of pastry! A pastry
lid, a pastry base and sides, but to the utter amazement of the Pierateer, also
puff pastry on the inside too! There was absolutely no other filling within
this pie! It was a shocker! The chicken and mushroomsauce “filling” was, as it
turns out, outside the pie! What was I supposed to make of this?! I was
naturally taken aback! (so much so, that unfortunately in the bewilderment of
this crazy pie revelation, I forgot to actually take a photo of the centre of
the pastry pie – my apologies.)
I started
eating. The puff pastry was a delight to eat, so soft and flaky and a brilliant
golden colour. The Germans are known for their efficiency, and it looked like
time well spent engineering the pastry to a perfect level to make this pie. The
filling meanwhile, while controversially outside of the pastry casing, was very
nice too, with the sauce complementing the pastry, chicken and mushroom. I
found myself being completely dumbfounded, but enjoying every mouthful! The
combination of the pastry pie alongside the chicken and mushroom on my plate
was brilliant. It just left me bamboozled as to why the filling of the pie was
not inside the pastry itself, as it was some of the best pastry and filling I
have ever tasted!
The mystery
continues...Is this what pies used to be like “back in the good old days!” Was
this the pre-cursor to the pie we all know and love today – where the filling
of the pie had not quite worked its way into the pastry yet? Or did the
restaurant even make a complete schoolboy and forget to put the filling inside
the pastry pie in the first place?! While it is difficult to sum up my
confusion at this pastry-only pie, it did in fact taste delicious and the real
sign of a good pie is that I would happily go back there and eat another one of
these pie dishes today, if I had the chance! It’s hard to specifically rate the
pastry pie on its own, without the filling taken into account, but the pastry
did taste very good and was in fact covered in the sauce and filling (as can be
seen from the photo). However even if this was not actually how it should have
been presented, what counts is that it was one of the nicest pastry and filling
combinations I have ever eaten. And it was still a pie! Sehr gut!
Score: 5.9/7
The Pierateers hit 10,000 page views!
Mark it down in your diary... 12th January 2012.
For this was the day that www.pierate.co.uk hit that landmark total of 10,000 page views! Thanks to all the people who have enjoyed the blog in this time, and here's to the next 10,000 page views! Do keep suggesting pies, eating pies, adding comments and following this blog! And to celebrate 10,000 page views, why not become a Pierateer for the day! Here's the 7 Cs to help you rate a pie yourself!
Sunday, 8 January 2012
McDeutsch Pies?!!
Ist das ein
Pie?
Nein.
Sadly, the
McDonald’s apple pie sold in the German city of Cologne (or Köln)
follows its British counterpart. Despite the label and high promise, it is not
in fact a pie, but simply masquerading as a pie. I certainly won’t be making
that mistake again! But the good news is that there are proper pies available
in Germany, if you look in the right bakeries.
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Is das ein “Pie” auf Köln, Deutschland?
Ist das ein “Pie” mit Köln Dom? Wünderbar!
Ich habe Köln (Deutschland) besucht. Es war sehr gut! Für mein Mittagessen aß ich „Apfeltorte“ aus Merzenich. Es war Super!
Okay, so enough of the really poor level of German I vaguely remember from School lessons (and thanks to Google Translate for helping me!) What is important is that, despite calling it in the German an “Apfeltorte”, you can buy a pie in Germany! The research was conducted upon a recent trip to Cologne/Köln, in Western Germany. The Pierateer was helpfully assisted by his spy comrade to search out if in fact the pastry loving Germans were fans of the pie. Upon stumbling across a delightful lunchtime eatery in the centre of Cologne, just a stone’s throw from Cologne Cathedral (however I wouldn’t recommend throwing a stone at such a marvellous piece of architecture and world heritage site), the lads found to their delight that Merzenich did indeed sell pies! The pie in question, as seen above, was a sweet apple pie, served per slice but clearly being a sweet apple centre encased in pastry with a clear lid. As such, it passed the “is it a pie?” benchmark which can leave so much foreign produce outside the pie parameters.
The pie itself was a lovely, sweet apple pie which crumbled beautifully in the mouth when eaten. While not served with anything such as ice cream or custard, the simplicity of the pie was one of its strengths. Nothing needed to be added to the slice of pie, as it tasted delicious just as it was! The pie was certainly on the sweeter end of the spectrum, but this made it a very nice pie to end your lunch with. The beautifully buttery pastry was lovely and golden, crumbling in the mouth. The only downside to it was that it was quite hard to hold, as the slice of pie was almost too crumbly for its own good! This made taking a photo of the pie – and more importantly, eating the pie – in front of the Cathedral rather a challenge! The pie was delicious to eat and well packed with apple goodness – a sure fire way to get one of your five-a-day. The only other thing to warn you about is that the top of the pie is covered in white icing sugar, which on a blustery day like the one it was purchased on was always going to leave the eater covered in icing sugar themselves. A recommendation would be to wear white clothes, so that it doesn’t show up when you get covered in sugar! The pie will set you back at least 2.75 Euros, but for the taste sensation it is certainly worth the investment. Wünderbar!
Merzenich "Apfeltorte"
Score: 5.7/7
RAS
See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.
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and let us know your thoughts!
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Monday, 2 January 2012
Here's to a pros-pie-rous 2012
2011 was an eventful year. Revolution (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya), crises (Eurozone, phone hacking), disaster (East African famine, Japanese earthquake), unrest (England, Syria) and deaths (Kim Jong-il, Osama Bin Laden.... and Amy Winehouse) made it seem less like a normal year and more like an end or season finale for all of mankind. It will certainly go down in the history books as one heck of a year. One of the biggest stories to try and grab a slice of the headlines was the continuing financial crisis in Europe. Credit rating have been downgraded, governments have fallen (poor old Silvio) and bailouts have been chucked around like hot pies burning Hessian hands. Despite the bailouts the performances of some European economies are still more disappointing than biting into a pie only to find it has no filling (see the air pies review). If things weren't gloomy enough, European leaders are already warning that 2012 is going to be a tough year for the economy.
It is interesting to note that while the UK economy has
been struggling, sales of pies have actually increased over these islands. It
is well known that pies have a good calorie to pound ratio which is so often
cited as a bad thing. However as recession bites maybe the reverse is true as
people try to save the pennies. Another possible reason is that pies are one of
nature's ultimate comfort foods. There is nothing quite like a pie pick-me-up
and the warm glowing feeling it brings. This leaves us in the position where
the pie industry is one of the few growth manufacturing industries in the
country. Could pies spearhead our return to economic prosperity?
Pierate is however not just confined to the UK so we want
to spread the word about the economic benefits of pies to other countries who
find themselves in difficulties. The country at the centre of the financial storm seems to be Greece. The strikes of 2012 have already started and despite the crippling austerity measures there remains the real possibility of a default on their debts.
Hence, this Pierateer decided to stand in solidarity by making a Greek themed pie. Fortunately Greek culinary tastes can be easily transposed to the pie arena if Filo Pastry is used. Hence a Greek Solidarity Feta Pie (as seen previously in Filo-ing Good) was created. This followed a similar recipe as before (with a bit of Dill being added). However there was a twist, with the addition of 2 Euro coins in a similar way to putting sixpence in a Christmas pudding (believed to bring wealth for the coming year). The idea was that whoever got a coin in their slice of pie had to sing (or at least vaguely hum!) along to the Greek national anthem. Fortunately this pierateer was not the one doing the singing and instead a German friend had the honour which seemed appropriate.
Here is to a new era of pros-pie-rity. Have a great 2012 everyone!
Hence, this Pierateer decided to stand in solidarity by making a Greek themed pie. Fortunately Greek culinary tastes can be easily transposed to the pie arena if Filo Pastry is used. Hence a Greek Solidarity Feta Pie (as seen previously in Filo-ing Good) was created. This followed a similar recipe as before (with a bit of Dill being added). However there was a twist, with the addition of 2 Euro coins in a similar way to putting sixpence in a Christmas pudding (believed to bring wealth for the coming year). The idea was that whoever got a coin in their slice of pie had to sing (or at least vaguely hum!) along to the Greek national anthem. Fortunately this pierateer was not the one doing the singing and instead a German friend had the honour which seemed appropriate.
Here is to a new era of pros-pie-rity. Have a great 2012 everyone!
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Who needs a birthday cake anyway?!
While there may be a stewards enquiry if a Pierateer were to review a fellow Pierateer's homemade birthday pie, it is safe to say that SJL's homemade mini "Turkey and trimmings" pies were lovely and a great addition to the birthday winter picnic experience. Happy Birthday!
(For the record, I did also have some birthday cake, but only after at least 3 pies!)
continue reading "Who needs a birthday cake anyway?!"
(For the record, I did also have some birthday cake, but only after at least 3 pies!)
Sunday, 25 December 2011
I’m dreaming of an Urban Pie this Christmas...
Christmas (Chicken) Pie Review from Urban Pie
Well you certainly know when it’s heading towards Christmas in Birmingham when the German Market rolls into town (one of the largest in Europe, I’m told) and, more importantly, the Legends at Urban Pie roll out their Christmas Pie selection! Good times!
The principle is simple. I’d like to enjoy all the Christmas trimmings of meat, potato, stuffing veg and more – but encased in pastry so that I can potentially eat my Christmas dinner on the go! Is that too much to ask for? After all, the sweet mince pie dominates the Christmas pudding market (bar Christmas puddings themselves), so why can’t a Christmas dinner pie cater for the main meal?! Great point - well made. Well done me!
So...what does the Christmas pie taste like?! Well, as you can see from the picture the stuffing lid adds a crisp layer to the top of the pie, jam-packed with meat and veg inside. While we would ideally have liked the lid of the pie to be made of pastry too, the problem with a Christmas roast dinner is that it is way too much to fit in one pie! This is the only real downside, along with the surprise inclusion of chicken – rather than the more normal Christmas favouring of Turkey – that makes up the meat content of the pie. However this aside, the pie tastes fantastic! It’s what you’d expect from the pie experts. How they pack in such meaty goodness is beyond me! The flavours work well with the pastry and the price is very reasonable. And you can now even go upmarket and have your pie on a plate – how fancy is that?!
So while others may be delving into their standard Roast Turkey Christmas dinner, why not consider a Christmas Dinner pie next year! Guaranteed to please! (And for the vegetarians out there, there is also a seasonal veggie pie alternative. And I've not even mentioned the Mince Pies! These Urban Pie-ers have got Christmas covered!)
Urban Pie Christmas Chicken Pie
Score: 6/7
RAS
Score: 6/7
RAS
See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
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Saturday, 24 December 2011
Reindeer Pie: Rudolf with your nose so bright, won’t you be in my pie tonight?!
Reindeer Pie from Ye Olde Traditional Pye 'n' Puddin Stall
I realise the timing of this post – on Christmas Eve of all days – is slightly on the controversial side. Here’s just hoping that there are clear skies tonight, so that Rudolph’s red nose isn’t required for directing Santa’s sleigh... and that Father Christmas forgives me enough to still provide me with at least a few presents...
For a few days ago, I found to my surprise (and couldn’t resist purchasing) a Reindeer Pie from a farmers market in Birmingham! Now, as you can see from the photo this is definitely a pie of the “pork pie” variety i.e. it has been made using cured meat rather than tender meaty chunks and gravy. While this was not ideally what the Pierateer would have preferred, the lure of the Reindeer pie was too strong and he was right to give it a go, as while the meat was not as tender and moist as he would have liked, the pastry was very nice and crisp and the meat certainly had a twist to it. Definately tasted more deer like but quite rich. Not your average steak and ale!
The capacity was good, however you couldn’t help feel it was slightly padded out with fat, rather than 100% meaty goodness. This meant that while the meat wasn’t chewy, it wasn’t as flavoursome as the reviewer had hoped. However, the pie was in good condition, especially as one would presume the reindeer had flown in to the UK especially to be in this pie! While the price was a bit off putting for its size, the intrigue more than made up for that! While I would have preferred a moister pie centre and proper chunks of meat, it was certainly worth a go. Probably won’t head over to Lapland for another one anytime soon though!
Ye Olde Traditional Pye 'n' Puddin Stall Reindeer Pie
Score: 4.2/7
RAS
continue reading "Reindeer Pie: Rudolf with your nose so bright, won’t you be in my pie tonight?!"
I realise the timing of this post – on Christmas Eve of all days – is slightly on the controversial side. Here’s just hoping that there are clear skies tonight, so that Rudolph’s red nose isn’t required for directing Santa’s sleigh... and that Father Christmas forgives me enough to still provide me with at least a few presents...
For a few days ago, I found to my surprise (and couldn’t resist purchasing) a Reindeer Pie from a farmers market in Birmingham! Now, as you can see from the photo this is definitely a pie of the “pork pie” variety i.e. it has been made using cured meat rather than tender meaty chunks and gravy. While this was not ideally what the Pierateer would have preferred, the lure of the Reindeer pie was too strong and he was right to give it a go, as while the meat was not as tender and moist as he would have liked, the pastry was very nice and crisp and the meat certainly had a twist to it. Definately tasted more deer like but quite rich. Not your average steak and ale!
 |
| Reindeer Pie |
The capacity was good, however you couldn’t help feel it was slightly padded out with fat, rather than 100% meaty goodness. This meant that while the meat wasn’t chewy, it wasn’t as flavoursome as the reviewer had hoped. However, the pie was in good condition, especially as one would presume the reindeer had flown in to the UK especially to be in this pie! While the price was a bit off putting for its size, the intrigue more than made up for that! While I would have preferred a moister pie centre and proper chunks of meat, it was certainly worth a go. Probably won’t head over to Lapland for another one anytime soon though!
Ye Olde Traditional Pye 'n' Puddin Stall Reindeer Pie
Score: 4.2/7
RAS
See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.
Make sure you Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Saturday, 12 November 2011
3.14 pie
For all the pie loving geeks out there. (Apologies for the anatomically incorrect pie.)
Sunday, 30 October 2011
How much pie could a pie chucker chuck....
....if a pie chucker could chuck pies?
Check out this game on the Porters Restaurant website. It is quite simply an amazing opportunity to throw pies at France. Not to be missed! I managed 1328 miles.
http://www.porters.uk.com/tossthepie/
continue reading "How much pie could a pie chucker chuck...."
Check out this game on the Porters Restaurant website. It is quite simply an amazing opportunity to throw pies at France. Not to be missed! I managed 1328 miles.
http://www.porters.uk.com/tossthepie/
Friday, 28 October 2011
You call that a pie? This is a pie. Jumbucks Pie review
Jumbucks - The Kiwi Pie Review
Yet again the Pierateers have gone 'down under', but by no means have lowered their standards, by visiting the Aussie pie makers, Jumbuck's, in Shepherds Bush. Jumbuck's are always worth another visit because they have so many unusual pie flavours to try and with new ones arriving regularly even the Pierateers struggle to keep up. This time I went for a pie called, somewhat controversially for an Aussie pie shop, 'The Kiwi' which was mince and cheese. To me this is emblematic of how the power of pies can really influence people. Here we have two countries, more often caught in rivalry, uniting in spirit to bring a bit of joy encased in pastry to West London. Jumbuck's make their pies in what they call 'Jaffle Irons', which means the pie is encased in a metal mould while being cooked and hence the pastry can't expand so much and is more gooey. This is rather like the pie maker previously reviewed. An upshot of this seems to be that they can get more filling into the pie without risk of it exploding, hence a great capacity. This seems like a good thing although my main bone with it is that the filling taking up this capacity is mostly liquid. Admittedly the gravy was delicious and thick but I felt like I was pretty much drinking this pie rather than eating it. Seriously I bet you could suck it up through a straw and just leave a hollow pastry case. In fact that sounds like a challenge for the Pierateers! Given that the pastry is also gooey, mastication is barely necessary for this pie giving my teeth a well needed break and making it high scoring on the Chewiness-o-meter.
At £2.50 this was slightly pricey for what is essentially a quite small pie. However, for me if I had more of this pie I think the cheesy flavour would have become too much although I enjoyed it in the quantities I had. This pie seemed to have some benefits over the 'Bushranger Deluxe' previously reviewed in that the content wasn't taken up by excessive quantities of mash potato. Jumbuck's have a knack of producing their consistently fab pastry and the condition seems to be great at any time of day. They are open until 1am on Friday and Saturday which gives them a massive plus in my book. As they are open at 7:30am during the week the deliciously unique 'Bacon and Egg' breakfast pie is also well worth a look.
The Kiwi - Meat & Cheese (Jumbucks)
5.06/7
SJL
continue reading "You call that a pie? This is a pie. Jumbucks Pie review"
Yet again the Pierateers have gone 'down under', but by no means have lowered their standards, by visiting the Aussie pie makers, Jumbuck's, in Shepherds Bush. Jumbuck's are always worth another visit because they have so many unusual pie flavours to try and with new ones arriving regularly even the Pierateers struggle to keep up. This time I went for a pie called, somewhat controversially for an Aussie pie shop, 'The Kiwi' which was mince and cheese. To me this is emblematic of how the power of pies can really influence people. Here we have two countries, more often caught in rivalry, uniting in spirit to bring a bit of joy encased in pastry to West London. Jumbuck's make their pies in what they call 'Jaffle Irons', which means the pie is encased in a metal mould while being cooked and hence the pastry can't expand so much and is more gooey. This is rather like the pie maker previously reviewed. An upshot of this seems to be that they can get more filling into the pie without risk of it exploding, hence a great capacity. This seems like a good thing although my main bone with it is that the filling taking up this capacity is mostly liquid. Admittedly the gravy was delicious and thick but I felt like I was pretty much drinking this pie rather than eating it. Seriously I bet you could suck it up through a straw and just leave a hollow pastry case. In fact that sounds like a challenge for the Pierateers! Given that the pastry is also gooey, mastication is barely necessary for this pie giving my teeth a well needed break and making it high scoring on the Chewiness-o-meter.
At £2.50 this was slightly pricey for what is essentially a quite small pie. However, for me if I had more of this pie I think the cheesy flavour would have become too much although I enjoyed it in the quantities I had. This pie seemed to have some benefits over the 'Bushranger Deluxe' previously reviewed in that the content wasn't taken up by excessive quantities of mash potato. Jumbuck's have a knack of producing their consistently fab pastry and the condition seems to be great at any time of day. They are open until 1am on Friday and Saturday which gives them a massive plus in my book. As they are open at 7:30am during the week the deliciously unique 'Bacon and Egg' breakfast pie is also well worth a look.
The Kiwi - Meat & Cheese (Jumbucks)
5.06/7
SJL
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Killing two birds(eye pies) with one stone
Birdseye Pie Review
continue reading "Killing two birds(eye pies) with one stone"
So when it came
to the crunch and there were two Birdseye pies to choose from in the freezer
compartment of the local convenience store, there was only one choice for this
pierateer – I was going to have to choose them both and give them a thorough
taste test! So with a chicken pie in one hand and a steak and kidney pie in the
other, I set back to my friend’s house to heat them up and give them a go. They
weren’t the largest pies in Britain, so it was well worth eating them both, although
this did ramp up the price a bit and place question marks over the cheapness of
the pie.
So onto the
eating... As you can see from the picture, they aren’t easy to tell apart from
the outside! However the Chicken pie had a lighter, chicken gravy with nice big
chunks of chicken and the Steak and kidney pie – rather surprisingly – had a
darker, beef gravy with chunks of steak and kidney. (Yes, you do have to have a
degree in Rocket Science to do these pie reviews.) The short crust pastry on the
pies became a lovely golden colour but was a little dry, so it was good to have
a nice gravy filling in both. There was a little bit of carrot filler in the
chicken pie but the steak and kidney pie was just meat and gravy. Still, the fillings
in both were very nice and the major selling point of the pies. While they are
obviously mass produced pies, this does mean they are readily available in many
local convenience stores and most bigger stores as well, and the main criticism
was the smallness of the pie itself, which is why I’d recommend it is always
best to kill two birds(eye pies) with one stone (or at least eat two pies
rather than just the one!)
Score: 4.95/7
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