Morecambe Football Club - Pie Reviews

In this review we rate the 'Steak & Ale', 'Chicken, Ham & Leak', 'Lamb & Mint' and 'Meat & Potato' pies. We have also reviewed the Apple pie which was the Supreme Champion at the British Pie Awards 2014. A second visit in October 2014 gave us the chance to review the Pork, Irn-Bru & Chilli pie which was quite a unusual flavour! Read on below for the original review

Way back in the mist of time we reviewed a Potts Pie because they were rated as the number one football pie (served at Morecambe Football Club) by the man who ate all the football pies, Tom Dickinson. This was in fact our first ever pie review on Pierate. Shortly after this review Morecambe got a new head chef, Graham Aimson, who took the brave decision to replace Potts Pies with his own homemade pies in the hospitably suite at Morecambe. These pies were so popular they soon rolled them out over the whole ground. Given that we have now reviewed over 300 pies we thought it was about time The Pierateers paid another visit to see how these new pies fared!

The decision to serve their own pies has paid off with Morecambe FC winning the Best Football Pie award at the British Pie Awards 2012 for their Steak and Ale and the Supreme Champion award at the British Pie Awards 2011 for their Chicken, Ham and Leek. They have continued to have plenty of success and publicity since then, winning further awards and appearing on a number of TV programmes such as The Hairy Bikers. The expectations were already high before even eating the pies!


Pierateers RAS and SJL were treated to a pie tasting session before the Morecambe vs. Wycombe game at The Globe Arena. This involved a selection of all four pies that they were selling that day. There were mushy peas and gravy on the side, which is the tradition at the ground, but the Pierateers went for the pure pie experience given that there were so many pies to eat! Everyone at Morecambe was really excellent in putting in the extra effort to make The Pierateers feel welcome. All the people involved were friendly and there was plenty of interest in our pie reviewing. The staff at Morecambe even carried out our first video interview, with the Pierateers in the Kit Room!

The pies arrived in fantastically perfect Condition considering that they were handmade. There was a little boil out with some of them but only enough to indicate that the inside promised to be packed with content. We were fortunate as we were so close to the kitchen these were some very fresh pies! They were all a lovely golden brown Colour. These pies were quite tall which gave them a good filling to pastry ratio and a large Capacity. Despite being tall they had a good structural rigidity which meant they held together well. The pie plus peas and gravy costs £2.80 which we thought was superb value for inside a football ground, especially given that the pies are made on the premises with quality ingredients.

The (pie) teamsheet for Morecambe FC...

For all these pies the pastry was a shortcrust. It looked like it might be hard but it in reality it was quite soft and thin. There was a bit of crunch around the rim which added to the texture of the pie. It wasn’t dry and didn’t need the optional gravy jug, it was nice enough to eat the pastry by itself. Pierateer SJL felt the pastry was nearly spot on although Pierateer RAS would have liked it just a tad lighter but still thoroughly enjoyed it.

The four different pies are now scored below in reverse order:

Meat and Potato 

This pie might be the lowest scoring but it was still a pie that The Pierateers would recommend. The filling was as you would expect with a traditional meat and potato pie, minced beef with soft pieces of potato. The softness of the filling meant chewing was not really necessary and it slipped down well. However, this by no means meant the filling was mushy, there was still some firmness to the potato. There was a nice meatiness to it, a bit of pepperiness. We would, for our ideal pie, want something a bit more to bite into which is where it lost some score. However, this still makes it the highest scoring meat and potato pie we have reviewed.

Morecambe FC Meat and Potato Pie
Score: 5.86/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.75, Consistency 5.25, Chewiness 5.5, Content 5.13, Total 5.86/7]



Morecambe FC Meat and Potato Pie

Lamb and Mint

There was plenty of lamb in the pie and it tasted of good quality, in nice big meaty chunks. The addition of some root vegetables was welcome. This really added to the texture of the pie. This lamb pie did do something unusual compared to many others we have reviewed as it contained mint sauce gravy. It tasted a bit sharp because of the vinegar and hence may not be to everyone’s liking. The sauce was also a little thinner than the others.

Morecambe FC Lamb and Mint Pie
Score: 5.91/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.75, Consistency 5, Chewiness 5.5, Content 5.75, Total 5.91/7]

Morecambe FC Lamb and Mint Pie

Chicken, Ham and Leek 

This was one The Pierateers were especially excited about because many people had said it was their favourite. The pie filling seemed really meaty with a rich chicken taste. The Pierateers noted that the ham flavour wasn’t particularly strong in this pie although this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The leek added plenty of flavour and the pie certainly tasted homemade. The chicken was fibrous and clearly of good quality. There was a good balance of flavour with the leek leaving it anything but bland but not being overpowering. One thing that stopped it being The Pierateers' favourite was the fact that the sauce was fairly thin-ish. It seems that this may have been because a lot of pies had to be cooked quickly because the game was in doubt due to the weather.

Morecambe FC Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie
Score: 6.16/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.88, Consistency 6, Chewiness 5.38, Content 6.5, Total 6.16/7]



Morecambe FC Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie

Steak and Ale

Here it is, the Supreme Champion of the Morecambe Pierate Awards 2014, the Morecambe FC Steak and Ale! Both SJL and RAS were in agreement that this was their favourite pie. This was not just a Steak and Ale with a deep meaty taste. It had more flavours to it than that. The Pierateers suspected that it had tomato in it and chef Graham confirmed this to be true. There seemed to be other additions too which meant it really did stand out as different to other Steak and Ale pies. There were nice big chunks of Steak with plenty of sauce which was thicker than that with the Chicken, Ham and Leek. A pie which left you wanting more but not through lack of size.

Morecambe FC Steak and Ale Pie
Score: 6.34/7
[Colour 6, Condition 6.63, Cheapness 6.75, Capacity 5.88, Consistency 6.5, Chewiness 6, Content 6.63, Total 6.34/7]



Morecambe FC Steak and Ale Pie

Overall, a real set of winners for Morecambe even if they couldn't get the win on the pitch, coming from behind to draw with Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 in a game which suffered from the muddy pitch. These scores see the Lamb and Mint and the Meat and Potato gain Pierate 'Recommended' status, while the Chicken, Ham and Leek and Steak and Ale gain the highly sort after Pierate 'Highly Recommended' status.

At half time the Pierateers were delighted to find there was even a separate Apple pie waiting for them!

It stands out that Graham is a high class restaurant chef. He is not just making pies by numbers, they are well thought out pies which are anything but average. There is no question that these are the best pies we have ever eaten at a football ground, just have a look at our football pie league. It isn't much of a suprise in some ways, we have been to very few grounds where they make the pies within the stadium kitchen itself. As usual, quality ingredients, an eye for detail and a labour intensive process mean that these pies are head and shoulders above the reheated, mass produced pies normally sold at football matches. We all know pies and football are a match made in heaven, but with pies that taste this homemade The Globe Arena should be the football ground where even the away fans feel at home.

Thanks again to Mike, Head Chef Graham and everyone at Morecambe Football Club for such a great day.

SJL and RAS

Add Your Opinion 4 Opinions

We have recently celebrated reviewing our 300th pie on The Pierate Ship. It has been an incredible experience with some truly perfect pastry packages. There have been so many great pies that we have recommended to the pie buying public. But with such a plethora of pies around it can be hard to know which ones will be good unless you want to trawl through our pie rankings. We want to make it easier for those pie companies we love to let their customers know that we recommend their pies. That is why we are introducting 'Pierate Recommended'.

Any pie manufacturer whose pie scores 5 out of 7 or above can claim that pie to be 'Pierate Recommended' and use our logo in the form below.

But for the real cream of the crop, any pie manufacturer whose pie scores 6 out of 7 or above can use 'Pierate Highly Recommend' and the logo shown below.


We hope that the use of our endorsement helps pie consumers know which pies they really should be buying and help us share our love of pies with more people. Happy pie eating everyone!

The Pierate Ship

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Porters English Restaurant - Pie Reviews

One of the signs in Porters English Restaurant proclaims, 'Life Is Better With Pies'. As we reach the milestone of 300 pie reviews it seems that here at Pierate we have lived out this statement with the little beige delights bringing us more joy than they do for most people. However, as we keep pushing the limits of how much pastry encased filling we can consume perhaps the statement might need an extention, 'Life Is Better With MORE Pies', the more pies we consume the more things seem to be getting better with page views and interest in our blog ever increasing. It almost seems like it is an exponential relationship. We have drawn a graph below to illustrate this.


So as we continued to push the limits to reach some sort of pastry Nivarda we had to make the important decision of where to carry out our 300th pie review? Porter English Restaurant in Covent Garden, London seemed like the obvious choice. Somewhere a bit classy, a bit different but unashamedly proud of their 'World Famous Pies'. They do serve other food but with 10 different pies there is considerable menu space devoted to the object of our obsession. Porters seem to share this obsession with numerous references to pie as soon as you get in the door. Infact there are signs advertising their 'Pi-Fi', British Pie Award and 'Licence to sell pies' even before going in the door. The randomness continues inside with an overtly British theme with Union Flag umbrellas and other British paraphernalia which added to the experience.

The menu even advertises a 'pie consultant' to help you decided what pie to get. This really was a step above and beyond the normal pie eating experience and was much appreciated by people such as us who take pies very seriously. Our waiter doubled as our pie consultant, fortunately he let us know that some of the pies were of the 'top-crust' variety with only a pastry lid. On The Pierate Ship we prefer fully encased 'Proper Pies' so we all chose these versions for this special occasion. All the fully encased pies were 'shortcrust hot raised pies' which typically gives a harder, more solid pastry, although this wasn't necessarily the case for these pies. Pierateers TJP and SJL decided to go half and half with their pies and hence these were joint reviews.



Minced Beef, Onion, Pea and Red Wine Pie

Like all these pies the Colour was a wonderful dark golden brown, much darker than many pies. This one arrived in perfect Condition and really looked like a quintessentially English pie. Being quite tall it had a good height to width ratio and consequently a strong Capacity. The Content tasted akin to a casserole with quite a sweet taste from the wine and vegetables. It would probably count as one of your five-a-day because there were plenty of peas to be seen. However, this did mean that it wasn't as meaty as some pies. There were no complaints about Chewiness with a filling that slipped down well and pastry with a nice crunch on top and a bit of gooiness on the bottom (but not soggy). The pie was Consistently good with a nice variation to the flavour throughout due to the mix of flavours. This was a pie which left you wanting more, despite being quite large, which is surely a sign of a good pie! At £12.85 this is quite an expensive pie but comparable to other London pie restaurants. It came with a hearty meal so overall not bad value.

Porters Minced Beef, Onion, Pea and Red Wine Pie
Score: 5.71
[Condition 7, Capacity 6, Colour 7, Cheapness 4, Consistency 5, Content 6, Chewiness 5]
SJL and TJP

If there wasn't enough veg in the pie there is more on the side

Cross section of minced beef, pea and red wine pie

Gamekeepers Pie

This was the pie which had won Silver at the British Pie Awards, but would it win any awards from the Pierateers? In terms of Condition and Colour this pie was very similar to the Minced Beef pie, however it was slightly more expensive at £13.50 but given that game tends to be expensive it didn't gain less points for Cheapness. The Capacity was again strong for a pie of this size. The Content was a great mix, containing Pheasant, Venison, and Rabbit which left it tasting really meaty, there was not a hint of veg in this pie. The venison in particular added a strong flavour which was delicious to begin with. However, this pie was not as Consistently good because the strong flavour began to get too much after a while and it was not a pie you could eat forever. This didn't mean it wasn't a good pie, the meat was tender and not at all Chewy. The texture and taste of the pastry was again top notch. Overall this was one of the best game pies eaten on The Pierate Ship.

The Porters game pie looks fantastic

Pie rating isn't a game! Game pie

Porters Gamekeepers Pie
Score: 5.57
[Condition 7, Capacity 6, Colour 7, Cheapness 4, Consistency 4, Content 6, Chewiness 5]
SJL and TJP

Lamb and Apricot Pie

The Lamb and Apricot pie was eaten by Pierateer RAS and selected because it was one of the fully encased pies on the menu, with a full encasement of short crust hot raised pie pastry. The pie came with chips and a jug of gravy, which I didn’t actually use because the pie itself was moist enough and the beef gravy I had been given in the gravy jug would not have worked at all with the lamb and sweet apricot flavoured gravy inside.



Porters Lamb and Apricot Pie - Shame about the condition

In general, the condition of the pie was quite good, apart from a bit of an indent in one side, which was disappointing when you are paying over £10 for a pie meal. The condition is of course the first of the seven Cs to be scored, so to have your immediate first impression being a big indent is not ideal. The outer pastry suffered from this, and this in fact led to it being a bit dry in places. The lid pastry was very nice, and the sides and base were not too bad in general, however there were patches of dryness and the short crust hot raised pie pastry didn’t quite do it for me as a result.

The capacity of this pie was quite strong, with plenty of pieces of lamb in there. The lamb was moist and quite tender, though there were a few more chewy bits too. On the flip side though, there was rather a lot of apricot too, which was soft and flavoursome but did rather bulk the content out. It was a lamb and apricot pie – I accept that – but I really wasn’t up for such a sweet fruity hit in so much of the pie, and some mouthfuls were 100% apricot. For a dinner pie, that just didn’t sit well with me. The ratio was definitely too strong in favour of the apricot. I wanted a meatilicious pie and while the apricot gave it something a bit different, I wouldn’t ever choose to have this combination again. I’d stick to lamb and mint (perhaps the lamb shank pie on the Porter’s menu) and leave the apricots for the pudding menu.



Porters Lamb and Apricot Pie

We were eating a whole meal – not just a pie - in a restaurant near Covent Garden in Central London, so I guess you have to expect a £12.85 price tag comes with the territory. However we are always considering with “Cheapness” whether the pie is worth the amount we pay, and I have to say I’ve had better pies for quite a few pounds less in London. It’s therefore not going to be a high scorer on cheapness.

All in all, there were plenty of things going for it in this pie - the lamb was succulent and the pastry pretty good, but the content mix just didn’t really work for me. I’d stick to just the lamb pie next time and then this really would be a top ranked pie.

Porters Lamb and Apricot Pie
Score: 4.71/7
[Colour 7, Capacity 5, Consistency 3, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 4, Content 3]
RAS



So in summary two very good pies we would recommend, one a bit less so but still not bad! Worthy pies to be our 298th, 299th and 300th pie reviews. It is commendable that with all of these pies they have tried to do something a bit different, they certainly aren't the standard fare. Overall the experience at Porters was fantastic and it is somewhere we would go back to, especially given that there are so many more pies to try! We leave you with this picture, one of many words of advice hanging on the walls at Porters. It is important to get your pie-orities right, we know where ours lie; life is better with pies!

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Maxi Brand Beef and Onion pie review.

I was out in Bethnal Green, London, the other day, and was feeling a little peckish. So I thought, you know what, I really fancy finding myself a nice Cornish pasty to eat…

Or did I?

Of course I didn’t! This is Pierate, and I’m a Pierateer, so the only thing on my mind was getting some pies to eat. And pronto.

I happened upon the Regal Fish Bar on Bethnal Green Road. They sold pies, so I was sold. From a choice of what one might call the ‘classic trio’ of pies (Chicken and Mushroom, Vegetable, and Beef and Onion), I opted for the Beef and Onion. Here it is in all its glory:

Note that this pie looks rather unfamiliar. Have you seen this kind before? Is it a Pukka Pie? No. Is it a Holland’s Pie? No. After asking the staff, I was informed that it was a ‘Maxi Brand’ pie. After a lot of searching, I think I’ve managed to track down this mysterious brand here. Down the bottom you’ll see a ‘Maxi Halal Beef and Onions pie’ – although the adjacent picture has the pie in a silver casing rather than red. The same colour red in my casing is used in the casing for the picture for the chicken and mushroom pie, so I have to assume that they have got the pictures mixed up. Apart from that link, however, I can’t seem to find anything else about Maxi Brand.

How does the pie rate? It was quite cheap – I can’t remember how much exactly, but in the region of £2. The pastry was a nice golden brown colour, but I found it to be a bit chewy and difficult to cut with my plastic knife and fork. I found myself having to tear into it with my teeth, looking like a vicious wolf tearing apart its food. The filling was averagely pleasant for a beef and onion pie. It was filled to a good capacity with only a minor air gap. Where this pie really loses points for me though is how chewy I found the pastry lid to be.

Maxi Brand Beef and Onion pie
Score: 3.0/7
TJP

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

You’ll be glad to hear that I put my Christmas holiday to use by testing out mince pie recipes. Or, more specifically, mince pie fillings. I have a tried and tested shortcrust pastry that I use every year with a jar of shop-bought mincemeat, but that would have been a very short and rather boring review.

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection Review



Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection

When it comes to the big names in shopping, few can beat Harrods. One of London’s premier stores – if not the world’s – means that any food which comes from the store’s huge food hall will get savoured across the globe and put on a pedestal of divine deliciousness. Or at least that’s the theory.

But what if that food was pie. And what if that pie got pie rated?! Would Harrods Luxurious Mince Pie selection withstand the Pierateer’s 7 Cs? Let’s find out...

The Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection contains nine mini pies of three different flavours, which were all eaten by Pierateers RAS, SJL and TJP for feedback but then the final scores were awarded by Pierateer RAS as follows:

Top - Fruity Almond; Left - Cranberry, Right - Pecan

Pecan Topped Mince Pie

The first item eaten from the box was topped with pecans, but unfortunately only had pastry around the sides and base. This means it doesn’t meet the Pierateer’s definition of a true pie. However while the mince meat is quite tasty and the pecans add a nice crunch, we're not able to give this pie a top score because it's not got a lid. While the mince meat and crunchy pecans do complement each other well, I probably wouldn't go for it again unless they added a pastry lid to properly complement the pie.

The pecan flavour and texture of the pecan nut was very nice and something different for a mince pie – in fact I’d go as far as to say I was quite nuts about it – but considering how small it is and at almost 100ppp, it is rather expensive and for a non-pie, it’s not really worth it in our minds.

Score: 3.64/7
[Colour 4.5, Capacity 3,5, Consistency 4, Condition 4, Chewiness 3.5, Cheapness 2, Content 4, Total: 3.64/7]


Star-topped Cranberry Mince Meat Mince Pie

You could certainly taste a difference between the mince meat in most mince pies and this Cranberry Mince Meat Mince Pie, although in terms of flavour I wouldn't have immediately put it down to the addition of cranberries. Still, it was surprisingly nice and I certainly would eat one of these pies again. The slight sourness of the cranberry added an interesting kick but was a nice addition to the flavour. The flavour was not the best of the three but a (near) fully encased pie it was and it certainly was a unique and enjoyable flavour at that.

It was however certainly too small to get a decent filling:pastry ratio. There was far too much pastry and it did drown out the filling a fair bit. That said, the pastry was very nice. At just under a pound each for a very small pie, they were certainly not going to be able to be shared round easily but they were a nice treat.

Score: 3.79/7
[Colour 4.5, Capacity 4, Consistency 4, Condition 4, Chewiness 4, Cheapness 2, Content 4, Total: 3.79/7]


Rich Fruity Almond Mince Meat With A Hint Of Brandy Mince Pie

The mix of the fruity filling and almond made this our favourite filling. You also definitely get a bit of a taste sensation with the brandy, providing a bit of a late kick. While this pie was the only fully encased pie of the three types, the ratio of pastry to mince meat was again too much on the pastry side. The capacity was not perfect but pretty good; there were some air gaps in there, which for such a small pie is disappointing, but the content was very good. It tastes nice, the crunch from the almond was good, and the flavour lingered nicely after eating. That said, it was again still rather expensive for the privilege at just under one pound each for very mini pies.

Score: 4.14/7
[Colour 4.5, Capacity 4, Consistency 4, Condition 5, Chewiness 4.5, Cheapness 2, Content 5, Total: 4.14/7]


Harrods Luxurious Mini Mince Pie Selection
RAS

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

ASDA Beef and Mushy Pea pie review

Beef and mushy peas in a pie? Pies and peas traditionally go together in the UK, and more traditionally in the North of England.

But rather than at a football match, I found this pie in my local ASDA in London – and it was sporting a blue badge of just £1 (trial price). But is £1 even too much to pay for this hearty treat? Let’s find out.

That is quite an impressive cross-section there. The two layers of the pie are perfectly delineated, although the thinness of the pastry sides has meant this pie has collapsed somewhat when I cut through it. The puff pastry lid, however, has a decent flakiness to it, and is a lovely golden brown colour. The pie is filled near enough to full capacity, although there is a slight air gap if you look closely enough.

However, it is rather pea-heavy, with there seemingly being more pea in this pie than actual beef. The beef and onion mince also looks pretty standard and what I’d expect of a cheaper supermarket pie. I can’t help but think that the excess of peas simply bulks out the pie, at the expense of putting mince beef in there. That’s more than the “good dollop of mushy peas” which the description promotes – it’s a very good dollop!

So this review really goes down the same lines as other supermarket beef and onion pies, except with the addition of mushy peas. Cheap, but nothing special in my mind.

Plus I know that beef pies and mushy peas are a traditional mix, but it’s certainly not one that I am a personal fan of. I found both the mushy peas and the mince to be rather tasteless. On top of this, the mushiness of the beef mince combined with the mushiness of the peas meant that this pie was altogether very mushy indeed. It left me clamouring for something to bite onto – thankfully the edges of the pastry lid had a bit of crunch amongst the general mush. I’m not elderly quite yet, so while I still have my teeth I don’t want my food to come ready-mushed.

ASDA Beef and Mushy Pea pie
Score: 3.26/7
TJP

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Marks and Spencer Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies Review

It doesn't take much to attract my attention to a box of pies - after all, we do very much keep our eyes on the pies at Pierate HQ! However when a box of pies is described as "Ultimate" in their title, these have got to be VERY good pies if they are to live up to their billing! So when I came across the Marks and Spencer Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies during a trip to London's Oxford Street recently, I certainly had to give them a pie rating! After all, these aren't just mince pies... these are M&S Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies...



Hand crafted Mince Pies from M&S

However the first impression I got when opening up the box of pies was that M&S seemed to be trying a bit too hard to make out these are hand crafted pies. For not only was this mentioned on the label in shiny, golden lettering, but every single pie out of the 8 I bought had the lid on wonkily. Now, I'm not going to argue that someone making pies by hand might put a lid or two on wonkily - just due to human nature and trying to get all these pies made before Christmas - but I find it hard to believe that the staff at M&S are so bad at making pies that they couldn't even get 1 of the 8 pies to have a lid that actually attached correctly! It's as if... dare I say it... the lids of these pies were intentionally put on wonkily to highlight the fact they are "hand crafted" rather than put on immaculately by a machine! Hmmm... I guess we will never know!


The Ultimate Mince Pie?!

The content gave a top, fruity flavouring, probably the best tasting mince pie filling I'd had. The full filling was mincemeat "packed with vine fruits, kirch soaked glace cherries, roasted almonds and armagnac." It was so moist and flavoursome and provided a striking, yet complimentary, contrast to the crisp pastry. You could really taste that you were getting one of your five a day here, rather than just some mincey, fruit goo leftovers. The capacity however was a bit disappointing, with several air gaps in the pie.


So ultimately, are these the best mince pies I've ever rated? I'm afraid not. In summary, I'd happily eat again, but would think twice about forking out £1 a pie for these, when there are other nice mince pies for a fraction of the price.

Marks and Spencer Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies
Score: 5.36/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 5.5, Consistency 6.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 3, Content 6, Total: 5.36/7]
RAS

Additional note: It must also be noted that unfortunately these pies are ridiculously hard to get hold of. Considering they are supposed to be the "Ultimate" mince pies that Marks and Spencer sell, I was thoroughly disappointed that not only was I unable to get hold of any in the huge Birmingham High Street city centre store but also that they had no idea if they would be getting a new delivery in before Christmas. In the end I had to travel down from Birmingham to London to obtain a second box of these pies for my '12 Pies of Christmas' video, which I think is pretty unacceptable but I hope at least highlights the lengths the Pierateers are willing to go to provide the pie fans with the pie reviews they crave. Here's hoping that in the future Marks and Spencer do a better job of getting their pies to the people!

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Pukka Pies Steak and Cheese pie review
There’s no punnage and japery to be found here with this solid performance from Pukka Pies.

Contrary to some other steak and cheese pies we’ve tried (often steak and stilton), the cheese in this pie is actually cheddar. At £1.80, it’s a price you can’t really complain about – and you’ll even find them cheaper than that when they’re on a deal in the supermarkets. So how does it rate? Let’s open up this puff pastry marvel and have a look inside.

My first impression is that there is a bit too much of an air gap to my liking. I like my pies filled to capacity, but this is filled to barely over 50%. It will lose marks there. There a good amount of gravy though, but not too much that it isn’t oozing out over my plate. The puff pastry is very light and flaky; in fact, it’s rather too flaky, I think! It is rather crumbly and creates a bit of a mess over the plate when you try and cut it.
The steak isn’t chewy, and the gravy is of a pleasant consistency albeit a little bit gloopy. Previous steak and cheese pies I’ve tried in the past have been quite overwhelming in their saltiness, but this pie wasn’t. The flavour of the cheddar came through nicely without being too overbearing. It was certainly a pleasant and cheap affair, but the lack of capacity in this pie and the very flaky pastry let it down somewhat.
Pukka Pies Steak and Cheese
5.06/7
TJP

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Are you sitting comfortably? Well don't get too comfy - get up and grab yourself a top pie! We've introduced the Pierate Treasure Map to record all the pies we've eaten in the UK and beyond, with the aim of helping you find the best pie in your vicinity.

Click here for the Pierate Treasure Map!

Image from hmomoy

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

And I thought 2012 was a vintage year for Pierate!

But along has come 2013 with even more spectacular highlights – so many that I couldn’t possibly mention them all here, but here are just a few from 2013 in our year end review:


January

Our first pieku review (a Haiku about pie) is written by Pierateer ARL

TOP 6 HIGHLIGHT - We review Paul’s Pies Steak and Guinness Pie, which at 6.73/7 becomes our top rated pie and earns the title of #BigFatPieOfTheYear 2013!

February

Our first pie review for a French pie by ARL (even though Pierateer SJL had regularly travelled to France and not found any!!!)

Top of the league rated football pies, making the overall top 5, from Pie Deli Piebury Corner

March

TOP 6 HIGHLIGHT - British Pie Week and all 50 pies consumed by the Pierateers in it – but in particular Day Two, where Pierateer SJL ate only pies for the whole day (11 pies and 3362 kcal of only pie!)

Our attempt at making horse pie and zebra pie in the wake of the Horse Meat Scandal

Our second honorary Pierateer (Rosa) to celebrate the 25,000 pageview landmark on 30th March 2013

April

Pierateers RAS and SJL volunteering at the British Pie Awards 2013

May

Our “Best Pie in London” article is posted, quickly becoming our second most viewed article on Pierate and the most viewed article in 2013!

June

Our first ever guest review, from John Lowe, at the Smugglers Tavern, Osmington

July

Our #200th pie review from Higgidy Pies on 7th July 2013

TOP 6 HIGHLIGHT - The first ever Pierate Pie Contest, held in Birmingham and won by “Chrissy the Terrible!”

August

Seemingly the whole of Suffolk being pie-rated to produce our Suffolk Pie Leaderboard.

September

A review of the pie which won the title of Supreme Champion at the British Pie Awards 2013 produced by The Pie Kitchen.

The launch of our #CelebrityPieQuest on twitter – to find celebrities who love pie!

TOP 6 HIGHLIGHT - Our world exclusive pie review thanks to Mr Kipling!

October

The addition to the original Pierateer line up of our Gluten Free Pie Reviewer – ALE – and her first ever gluten free pie review on 4th October 2013

Reaching 50,000 pageviews on Saturday 19th October 2013, which was celebrated by awarding Paul of Paul’s Pies fame as our third Honourary Pierateer

Our tweet by tweet analysis of the pies in the final of the Great British Bake Off, which was seen by winner Frances Quinn alongside many of the other GBBO contestants including the wonderful #bakechat crew!

November

Eating a fabulous fish pie and champagne pie in Bob Bob Ricard to celebrate our 250th pie review on 2nd November 2013!

Celebrating our 4th Birthday on 12th November – a day now known as “International Pierate Day” – and talking about this in our first ever interview, with Ashleigh Auld Consulting!

TOP 6 HIGHLIGHT - Pierateer SJL judging at the Scotch Pie Club Awards 2014 (held on 13th November 2013)

A tour around the pie production facility of the 2013 World Scotch Pie Champion in the search for the best Scotch Pie.

Our first reci-pie review from our new Ship’s Cook – a spinach sun pie

Pies found and rated in Italy, a particular highlight being the “When in Rome” article

And November 2013 being our first month of posting an average of one post a day (30 posts in 30 days!)

December

Our first meet up with fans of Pierate to do some joint pie rating – with Ashleigh and Olivia from Ashleigh Auld Consulting

TOP 5 HIGHLIGHT - The release of the '12 Pies of Christmas’ video – featuring 78 turkey pies and mince pies

Our first pie rating demo - a demonstration of how to rate pies (inspired by Ali Imdad from GBBO's Baking Demo) by blind-rating three supermarket mince pies

Attending the first event we have sponsored – the @Woodies12 pantomime “Captain Hook’s Revenge”

And who can forget to mention:

We can’t take for granted getting 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and now 600+ followers on twitter! Thanks so much for following and tweeting @pierateers


We certainly won’t forget the record-breaking 185 posts made this year in a hurry, making it the most productive year yet! (Can you believe we celebrated doing 63 posts last year – when this year we have almost tripled that amount?!)

Here’s to many more pies and reviews in 2014!

Hap-pie New Year!!!

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions

Bergamo (Italy) Ham and Cheese Pie Review

The penultimate day of my pie hunt in Italy saw me scouting out the shops of Pavia, to the south of Milan, followed by Bergamo to the north. We quickly passed up from Bergamo bassa (the sprawling modern city) to Bergamo alta (the old town, up on the hillside) on the funicular in order to take in the nicer scenery and quaint narrow streets and shops on the hillside. It was there we spotted our first meat pie of the whole trip - having spotted a number of sweet pies in Rome (called Crostatine) and an apple pie in Milan.

Add Your Opinion 0 Opinions