Friday, 1 May 2015

Pies for Sail at The Windmill

The Windmill, Mayfair - Steak and Kidney Pie Review


There are some places with great reputations for pies but for whatever reason it takes us a long time to get there to review them. The Windmill is one such place. It is in Mayfair, London and with all the other London pies we have reviewed, why is it not one of them?! However, it has eluded us for some time, in part because their restaurant is closed for much of the weekend, so I was excited to finally pay them a visit on Day Four of British Pie Week 2015.
 
The Windmill Mayfair

What a time to visit. The Windmill seemed quite busy but when it is a pub with a specific 'Pie Room' of course it would be busy in British Pie Week! The Windmill had really got into the spirit of British Pie Week with a competition. If you could eat 5 different pies in the week you would get a 6th pie free, along with a t-shirt! I have eaten a lot of pies during British Pie Week in the past, but even I was surprised at this high requirement. But apparently there are some people who manage it!

The Windmill Mayfair
Rosa is a long time Pierate supporter
The Windmill is one of those places that will get any pie fan excited. The Lower Pie Room (yes, there are actually two pie rooms, eat your heart out Newman Arms!) where I was eating was a bit of shrine to pies and they seem to be particularly proud of their Steak & Kidney pie. There were pictures and placemats all proclaiming it as a 'Champion Steak & Kidney Pie' and 'Three times national winner'. I was unsure what award it had actually won, but they certainty seemed confident in the Steak & Kidney's quality. There was a whole menu devoted to pies and some interesting flavours. Haggis was tempting but in the end I thought I had to see what all the fuss was about and ordered the Steak & Kidney. Could it challenge near the top of our best pies in London ranking?

Firstly, I was delighted when this pie came out and it was fully encased in pastry. This was the pie experience I had been hoping for. Pierateer RAS and myself had visited The Windmill's sister pub (The Guinea Grill) in 2012 and found the pies were top-crusts. Not a hint of that here though.
The pie came served on a long rectangular plate, with nicely presented mash and veg. The pie did not look particularly large or spectacular, but I think the wonderful, crispy, golden pastry hinted at something quite special. It is amazing what a good glaze can do to a pie.

Slicing into the pie revealed there were two different aspects to the pastry, the crispy outside cracked to reveal predominately soft gooey pastry inside. The pie was packed with a thick, rich meaty filling which, happily for me, did not taste too strongly of kidney. What delighted me most was the fact that they had used suet crust pastry. I think this gives a wonderful taste to the pastry as well as a rich meaty flavour to the whole product, as with Paul's pies which we so highly regard. In fact this was very similar to Paul's Pies but with softer pastry.
Windmill Mayfair Steak & Kidney Pie
How did it rate? I would straight away put this as the best Steak & Kidney pie I have ever had. The meal was small for the £12.50 price but I found it filling. Whilst it might be more expensive than some, for the quality, the location and the overall experience I considered the price was decent value. I am very keen to go back and try some more of The Windmill pies. See the score breakdown below. Overall the score of 6.25 puts this second on our list of best London restaurant pies, quite an achievement given how many places we have reviewed. It also means this pie gains 'Pierate Highly Recommended' status and slots in inside our Top 30 pies as the top Steak & Kidney pie.

Condition – 5.50 out of 7 – The presentation of the meal looks gourmet but the pie itself is unassuming in appearance.
Colour – 6.95 out of 7 – Am I allowed to give a perfect 7? I just can't imagine a better colour, this is what made me realise the pie would be great.
Cheapness – 5.40 out of 7 – It is better to have a small, really good pie than loads of a really bad pie (cf the pie which made me sick)
Capacity - 6.50 out of 7 - The domed lid indicated a strong amount of filling. No real air gap to speak of.
Chewiness - 6.50 out of 7 - Soft and moist beef, the texture was super. If anything the texture of the pastry was a little too soft and it lacked the structure I would expect from the ultimate pie.
Content - 6.30 out of 7 - Rich and meaty but I can't get away from the fact that Kidney isn't my favourite...
Consistency - 6.60 out of 7 - It worked extremely well with the suet pastry complementing the beefy filling. Whilst there wasn't much to criticise this pie for, could another flavour challenge the top of our pie charts?

After the meal it was very nice of the manager, Karl, to come over from The Guinea Grill to talk to us. He seemed pretty passionate about pies and creating new flavours. I suspected that the pie flavours written on the chalk board could be subject to change based on his latest creations. I also learnt that The Windmill use the same pie filling recipes as The Guinea Grill, however, they just choose not to fully encase them at The Guinea (madness!). I did also get to the bottom of the issue about the awards their Steak & Kidney pie had won. Apparently, it was a now defunct Steak & Kidney pie award in London and the three wins were over a decade ago, before the British Pie Awards had even started! It may seem that this is somewhat living on past glories but they have certainly not rested on their laurels. This is still a great pie and with a changing pie menu, I would certainly recommend a visit to The Windmill.

Note: We have suggested to Karl to enter the British Pie Awards but he says that because the pies have to be pre-cooked, it wouldn't work with his suet pastry very well. Perhaps it's about time there was a restaurant pie award as part of the BPA or elsewhere?

Steak & Kidney (The Windmill [W1S 2AZ])
6.25/7

SJL
continue reading "Pies for Sail at The Windmill"

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

We visited the British Pie Awards, and it was glorious! PHOTOS

In case you've been living under a rock for the past week (or simply not following the @pierateers Twitter feed), you'll know last Wednesday was the momentous British Pie Awards. Attracting entries of over 800 pies across 20 different classes, this truly was pie-lovers heaven. We've already written quite extensively about the British Pie Awards in the past, but to truly give you a taste of what it's like to be there, here are some photos of the glorious event.

SPOILER ALERT: There were a lot of pies.

Melton Mowbray is considered by many to be the "home of the pie"
The judging gets underway in St Mary's Church, Melton Mowbray.

The specialty class this year was "Bridal Pies"

Would you have this spectacular bridal pie at your wedding?

Judges at the pork pie class


The pork pie class basks in the sunshine
Delicious cold meat pies

Judging the dessert pies. This category provided last year's Supreme Champion.

Unfortunately there was a pasty category. And someone had to judge it

Back to the pies. Glorious, glorious pies.

Pie judging is taken very seriously

No part of the pie is left unexamined

The judges take a good look at a pork pie
The most prestigious category, the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie table, with judge an d TV chef Andy Bates
Melton Mowbray is, of course, famous for its pork pies
Pies lose marks for "boil out"
The judges examine a pie closely
The judges slice open a pie at the savoury pie table

Food writer Xanthe Clay slices open a bridal pie

Yummy, yummy pies

Everywhere you look, more pies. So many pies!
Inside a bridal pie

I would eat all of these pies

Bye bye Melton Mowbray, see you again next year!

Note: you can use the photos on this page under a creative commons use (even commercially). However, please credit as pierate.co.uk. If you would like higher resolution stills, please email us pierateship@yahoo.co.uk.

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "We visited the British Pie Awards, and it was glorious! PHOTOS"

Pierate Goes Dutch

The Pie Shop pie review


Ik hou van taarten!

Yes, that's right, I love pies!

Pierate has gone Dutch and is trying out two pies all the way from the continent. 

These Dutch pies have winged their way from the ovens of The Pie Shop in Lutjewinkel, a town in North Holland.



The Pie Shop promises 'een pie voor elke gelegenheid' - or 'a pie for every occasion'. And that's the motto of my life really - to have a pie at every occasion!

Now, here are the two pies in question:

"Dutch you wish your meat pies were just like these"

On the left, with the sesame seed topping, we have a creambraised chicken and vegetable pie, and on the right with the freshly ground black pepper topping we have goosestew pie.

You'll be impressed to know that the chicken is organic, and the goose is Dutch wild goose. These are obviously quality, premium ingredients. How often do you have a chicken pie, knowing that the chicken is organic? And at €2,65 - or £1.90 - that's a fairly reasonable price for quality meat, so the pie will score pretty well on cheapness I think.

Let's now look at the appearance - the condition and colour. The pies are quite attractive, I think, with some nice crimping round the edge, a nice even glaze, and the added attraction of the sesame seed and pepper topping. There's no boil-out or cracking in the pastry, and the colour is a nice golden pine. I would score that well for condition and colour.

Now onto the cross-section:


The goosestew pie score well on content and capacity, as there is only a small airgap at the top and plenty of meaty filling. Below, you can see the same is also true for the chicken pie.


Both pies eat well and the filling is very tasty. However, I found the filling in both pies to be rather dry. Despite the abundance of meat, there was almost a total lack of gravy. I really would have liked some gravy with both of the pies - the meat was very tasty and very well flavoured but it was a shame that the filling felt dry by itself, adding to the chewiness. I also found the chicken pie to be lacking a bit in vegetable (normally it's the other way round though, with manufacturers trying to pad out the meat with cheaper vegetables!!).

On the other hand, the pastry was excellent. The lid was crunchy and pretty much bang on perfect - you could crack and crunch it, but it wasn't too hard or too firm. It also tasted very nice and wasn't at all bland like some pie pastry can be. I always like to see that the manufacturer has thought about the pastry and made it an integral part of the pie, rather than simply seeing it as a means to encase the filling.

All in all, I did enjoy these pies - particularly the goosestew pie, as I don't think I've ever eat goose (and especially not Dutch wild goose). If you're ever in Lutjewinkel - or even North Holland - pop into The Pie Shop to pick up a few pies: they're Pierate recommended!

Creambraised chicken and vegetable pie
Score: 5.7/7
TJP

Goosestew pie
Score: 5.8/7
TJP


Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
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continue reading "Pierate Goes Dutch"

Monday, 27 April 2015

British Pie Awards 2015

All eyes were on Melton Mowbray for the British Pie Awards 2015, once again showcasing the top pies Britain has to offer! Celebrating its seventh edition, the British Pie Awards were held in St Mary’s Church in the heart of Melton Mowbray, a spectacular setting in the home of the pork pie. As well as live blogging the event for the first time, the Pierateers were once again one of 100 judges to rate their way through over 800 pies in 20 different classes, which ultimately saw the Great North Pie Co take the title of British Pie Awards Supreme Champion 2015! See our thoughts on the Goosnargh Chicken, Mushroom & Cream pie which won the competition for the Great North Pie Co.


This isn't the first time we've attended the British Pie Awards! Oh no! Find out more in our other articles here:
Judges in 2015  |  Judges in 2014  |  Helpers in 2013


Bridal Pies Review British Pie Awards 2015
The amazing Speciality Class "Bridal Pies" at British Pie Awards 2015

Indeed, it was an incredible achievement for the Great North Pie Co this year, who not only took the Supreme Champion 2015 title with their Chicken, Mushroom, English Mustard and Cream Pie but also won the Small Producer Award, in addition to the Beef and Any Flavour class, Chicken and Vegetable/Herb class and Fish Pie class! The win built on a successful British Pie Awards 2014 and their “Great North Meat Pie” being awarded Pierate Recommended status last year. We will certainly be back for more!

There were a whole host of familiar faces when it came to the top awards this year (see the full list of winners), with the highly sought after Melton Mowbray Pork Pie (Class 1) title going to Dickinson and Morris, another strong year for Boghall Butchers in a range of classes, Piebury Corner winning gold in the Chicken class and Nice Pie following up their Small Producers victory last year with a win in the Speciality Class: The Brides Pie (with a Chicken, Champagne and Truffle Pie!), while Pieminister were second in the class with a spectacular “Big Night Wedding Drum Pie”.

Following on from last year’s major success in being awarded Supreme Champion 2014, Morecambe FC and head chef Graham Aimson once again secured top football pie with their Chicken, Ham and Leek Pie and also won the Dessert Pie class once again with their Bramley Apple Pie.

Pierate Rip Off Britain
Pierate on Rip Off Britain
Have you seen last year's British Pie Awards winner Graham and our very own Pierateer Rob talk football pies on BBC One's hit show Rip Off Britain? If not, click here to find out more!


The first ever “Free From” class, making its long awaited debut, was won by The Biddestone Arms for their ‘Free From Steak and Ale’ pie. We caught up with Class Judge and Chef Rachel Green after the event, who was “really impressed” with the quality of some of the free from entries. She continued that some of the pies “were the sort of pies you could have had on the family table and you wouldn’t have known if they were gluten free or not.”

Rachel felt it was a very “on trend” category, with more people wanting gluten free products these days, including of course gluten free pies! Fillings included Balti vegetable, goat’s cheese and pepper, beef and pork pies. Rachel was very pleased to be called on to judge the category and, while a few of the pies appeared to be slightly over baked in order to hold together, was generally impressed with the quality of the gluten free pastry on show.


In addition to this, we were delighted to chat to Andy Bates, who you will recognise from the Food Network TV Channel and was compere of the British Pie Awards Lunch, which involved announcing the class winners and handing out the trophies on the Thursday. He had the huge responsibility of judging the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie class on Wednesday!

We also asked food critic Charles Campion why he returns to judge at the BPA year after year, getting a classic reply! "What a foolish question! What could be better than sitting in a lovely church full of delicious pork pies? It's like I've died and gone to heaven!" - We quite agree!

British Pie Awards 2015 Judges
Judges at the British Pie Awards, including Pierateer Sam
This year Pierateer Sam took on the duty of rating Britain’s best pies, being placed in the Speciality Meat Pie Class. This covered a whole range of alternative meats to the traditional beef, chicken and pork, with entries ranging from venison to squirrel and kangaroo to duck.

Naturally we caught up with Pierateer Sam after the judging to get his thoughts:

“I was very happy to have been put on the Speciality Meat pie category as this involved a large number of types of meats and flavours. It kept things a bit varied and interesting. That said, it was a bit hit and miss. None of the top three were pies we had judged so perhaps we were a little unlucky and didn't get the best ones. Highlights that we judged included a duck and blueberry pie (which worked much better than I expected), pork and apricot and a pork, cider and mustard. We had quite a few venison pies to score, some duck and some game pies.

It was tiring day! Winning a British Pie Award can make quite a difference to someone's business, so you want to do them justice. I was really in the pie reviewing 'zone' and was pretty oblivious to anything going on around me. If Elvis had walked in the room I don't think I would have noticed unless he was carrying the next pie for me to review. It was useful to be judging alongside Nick as he is a professional chef and knew what he was talking about regarding how the pie had been made (whereas I’m just a guy who has eaten a lot of pies!)

The main thing I would say about my experience judging is that it was really enjoyable. If only pie reviewing could be a full time job! Thanks to the team organising the BPA for letting me take part.”

Stephen Hallam
Stephen Hallam


Of course the last word at such an event as this should go to one of the chief event organisers – Stephen Hallam. An integral part in proceedings on the day, Stephen has also been on the Chris Evans Show on BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch promoting pies and the British Pie Awards. He felt the status of the British Pie Awards was growing year on year, with for example this year being the first that all the classes had been sponsored. However in order to add further gravitas to the awards next year, it was announced that the awards would be moving forward to 9th March 2016, to tie in with British Pie Week and create a mega week of pie action!

We for one can’t wait! Until then, we'll be adding to over 500 pies that we've rated and reviewed on the web's leading pie review website. And we'll be sure to try out plenty more of the British Pie Awards 2015 winners in the months to come!


RAS

Read fellow pie judge Jennifer John's experience of judging at the British Pie Awards 2015 here.

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "British Pie Awards 2015"

Sunday, 26 April 2015

It Burns, Burns, Burns, the Ring of Fire

Nice Pie - Ring of Fire Pie Review


Eyes watering, nose running, reaching for a drink to take the pain away. That is what I expected from a pie called ‘Ring of Fire’. I expected it to perhaps be a bit of a novelty, hot but not much flavour. What I didn’t expect was for it to be one of the most downright tasty and meatilicious pies that I have had in some time. I don’t need to wax lyrical about the high quality and often quirky offerings from Nice Pie near Melton Mowbray. My colleague RAS has reviewed a large number of nice pies. He has often written about how fabulous they are which is a view certainly supported on the Pierate Ship. I took on this particular review as a spicy pie goes down very well for me. It was quite unlike any other pie I have had before. It was not like a curry, not like a chili, just meaty chunks in a spicy sauce.

Despite the intro to this review, it wasn’t all that spicy, I would have expected a bit hotter but I think they got the balance of flavour just right. It had apparently been toned down because they know RAS isn’t such a fan of the hot stuff (which is one of the problems sometimes when people know we are reviewing their pies, we should review the retail version). There was no question in my mind that this should be a ‘Pierate Highly Recommended’ pie, top quality and one I would love to have again. See below for the score breakdown.
 

Condition – 5.8 out of 7 – A nice, solid appearance with an edge crimp.
Colour – 5.9 out of 7 – A gradated, glossy, golden glaze made it look handmade and attractive.
Cheapness – 5.5 out of 7 – At £3.50 for an individual pie this is quite standard for a ‘gourmet’ pie, but it was well filled with good quality meat so I considered it better value than most.
Capacity - 6.5 out of 7 - Top dollar, decent capacity which was absolutely jam packed.
Chewiness - 6.8 out of 7 - Soft and moist beef, the texture was super. There was a good texture to the pastry, soft and gooey in places whilst crumbly in other places.
Content - 6.3 out of 7 - The spicy tomato sauce complimented the beef very well. In general the pastry tasted nice but wasn't quite in the same league as the filling; it was a little flour-y in places (but not enough to affect the score much).
Consistency - 6.7 out of 7 - Not really much to criticise. Yet again Nice Pie have done something original and pulled it off.

Ring of Fire (Nice Pie)
6.21/7

SJL


continue reading "It Burns, Burns, Burns, the Ring of Fire"

Thursday, 23 April 2015

Pierate advises BBC's Rip Off Britain on Football Pies

The BBC have once again called upon the Pierateers to find out what makes a great pie! The team from BBC's Rip Off Britain called upon our ex-pie-tise to advise on football pies, following our TV debut on Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice and appearing on the BBC Sport website in their video on pies related to the Price of Football Survey.


Rip Off Britain Pie Review
Pierateer Rob on BBC's Rip Off Britain
Pierateer Rob - who was the chosen pie expert for the show - is seen talking about the quality of British football pies and whether they really are a rip off or not. 


In the clip (which is sadly no longer on BBC iplayer but can be seen on youtube), Bradford City fan Kevin was questioning the quality and price of the pies at his local football club. Like us, Kevin thinks a half time pie is part and parcel of football culture in Britain. When you think football, you think half time pie. What better during those cold, winter evenings to warm the heart, as well as the hands, during the half time interval as you watch your local team? But is that actually what people do? Or has the quality and price of football pies put off the regular football fan? Do the caterers even have enough pies to go round? And if fans do buy a pie, is it piefection or are football fans being held to ransom? Find out in the episode!

We at www.pierate.co.uk will readily admit we are first and foremost a pie rating website, rather than specifically a football pie rating website, but we’re looking to delve further into the provision of football pies as we develop our Pieremiership of football’s best half time pies.

We've rated over 500 pies, including a number of football pies

But while we realise we haven’t eaten anywhere near enough pies in different football grounds yet – despite having over 500 pies rated in our Pie Rankings from many of the regular football pie manufacturers like Pukka Pies, Holland’s Pies and Peter’s Pies – we have always been a fan of eating a golden pastry product in the football stadiums we’ve visited. And in our minds what’s more important than simply the price of the pie is how the pie rates. Is it a soggy disappointment, overly dry or lacking in content or does it meet the 7 criteria we Pierateers look for in a pie?

In our view, it’s all about a great tasting pie – filling and pastry - which is value for money. You can find out more about what makes a great rated pie by reading about the 7 Cs of pie rating. However what makes a great football pie?

Here are a few specific pointers for making the perfect football pie:


Firstly, it’s got to be cooked properly. Sadly, in the rush to serve so many customers in such a short space of time, food at football grounds can be undercooked or left sat in a hot locker for far too long, making the pie taste bad or even be pretty much inedible. We have unfortunately fallen foul to a few pies being served to us either undercooked or over baked. Naturally, the rating of such pies is badly affected.

Secondly, the football pie has got to be something you can pick up in your hands and bite into, without it crumbling all over the place. Quite a few football pies can be too soft to pick up or crumble all over the place when bitten into, so a firm but crisp pastry casing is key.

Finally, the consistency of the pie filling has got to be just right. Naturally we want a meat pie to be filled to capacity with nice, tender meaty chunks, but we also expect the viscosity of the gravy or sauce to be well thought through so that it is flavoursome but not too runny, as the last thing you want is gravy down your football shirt!

Morecambe FC British Pie Awards 2014
Morecambe FC won the British Pie Awards in 2012 and 2014!
All this has got to be provided at a reasonable price that leaves the fan going away happy and without a huge dent in the wallet, otherwise it's certainly a rip-off!

Featuring in the Rip Off Britain episode, one football ground has seemingly found the perfect reci-pie for the half time pastry snack, producing some of the highest rated pies on Pierate, let alone best football pies! Head chef Graham Aimson at Morecambe FC has won several titles at the British Pie Awards for the quality of his pies, including being British Pie Awards Supreme Champion 2014, where unsurprisingly we were there as one of the judges.

In summary, we think there’s nothing better than a warm, hearty pie to get you through half time. But the key thing is that they have got to be top rated pies! Too often the pies are not only overly expensive but are just not up to scratch, either too dry or undercooked. So as well as checking out the price of pies, we’ll be making sure we rate as many as possible on our 7 Cs of pie rating so that you know what pies to purchase and don't get ripped off!

RAS

Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Pierate advises BBC's Rip Off Britain on Football Pies"

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

British Pie Awards 2015 - Live!

British Pie Awards 2014 - Church
The home of the British Pie Awards

The day of the British Pie Awards has arrived! Held in St Mary’s Church in the heart of Melton Mowbray, it is a spectacular setting in the home of the pork pie. The sun is shining and around 100 judges are making their way to the venue to rate over 800 pies from across Britain and beyond. Of course you won't be surprised to know we've been called up to judge again this year, having been a judge at the British Pie Awards last year and volunteer helpers at the awards in 2013.


Yes, following Pierateer Tim's judging debut last year, we have been called in again to lend our pie rating skills to the com-pie-tition, alongside TV chef Andy Bates, food critic Charles Campion and food writer Rachel Green. And while 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 500 pies on Pierate, there are very few pie experts they could call on with more ex-pie-rience than us when it comes to the pie-fect pie judge!

This year Rob, Sam and Tim all headed over to Melton Mowbray and recorded what was happening in their live blog posts below and on Twitter. While the event is now over you can still catch up below with what happened at the British Pie Awards 2015 - Live


You can now read our review of the British Pie Awards 2015, including the thoughts of judge and Pierateer Sam!


8.00 - The lads were up and ready to go for the British Pie Awards 2015!

9.22 - The train is setting off from Birmingham to Melton Mowbray with Pierateers Rob, Sam and Tim on board. You can imagine the excitement as this yearly festival of pie is only hours away from kicking off!

9.37 - You'll have seen on twitter last night that we Pierateers prepared in the only way we know how... by eating pies together!

10.33 - Lack of phone signal on the train to Melton Mowbray but we've arrived and the town is looking glorious in the spring sunshine!

10.40 - The short wander up the road to the Church is complete! We're ready to enter and pick up our judging apron!

10.55 - Our media passes and judges apron have been picked up! Raring to go!

11.14 - Julie Duff, who normally writes on cakes, knows a thing or two about pies too! "If you look into pies back a few hundred years, pies would be stacked on top of one another with different contents - like snake and literally four and twenty blackbirds!"

11.20 - The judges briefing is well underway! We're getting ready for the pie judging to commence!

11.30 - Stephen Hallam has just welcomed Matthew to introduce the British Pie Awards and made a big announcement! The British Pie Awards 2016 will be on 9th March 2016!!!

11.35 - The Rev Kevin, whose church we are in today, has just blessed the pies with a very fitting pie prayer to thank God for the pastry beauties before us!

11.37 - The control pie is out and our Head Judge Ian Nelson is just going through his views on how the control pie should be rated - to help with consistency of judging!

11.45 - Pie judging is well underway and the church is a hive of pie activity!

12.00 - Friend of Pierate and fellow food blogger Nik Speller is judging the 'Pub Pie Class'. "We're expecting an eclectic mix of pub pies - and really they should be served with whatever the pub recommends to drink with them!"

12.12 - The hive of activity at the BPA right now is glorious to hear and see! So much pie loving going on right now!

12.20 - We just asked food critic Charles Campion why he returns to judge at the BPA year after year? "What a foolish question! What could be better than sitting in a lovely church full of delicious pork pies? It's like I've died and gone to heaven!" - We quite agree!

12.33 - Great to see Head Judge Ian Nelson mingling with the judges, offering his pie advice and pearls of wisdom!

12.39 - Nick Galer, chef and pie judge today with Pierateer Sam, calls the British Pie Awards "quintasentially British". He continues "You're in a church, sampling pies... what could be better?"

13.00 - Over an hour and a half in and they are still heating up plenty more pies!

13.15 - Rachel Linstead has judged at the British Pie Awards before. Asked why she loves coming back, she replied "It's the 5th time I've helped and I love supporting a British institution like the pie awards! It's the highlight of my year! You can see what's going on in the pie sector at the British Pie Awards and see what new flavours are coming along."

13.22 - Maureen and Janet in the fish pie class have already sampled haddock, eel and oyster pies! Just highlights the variety of pie fillings out there!

13.35 - Chef Rachel Green and team have the important job of rating the first ever 'Free From' class at the British Pie Awards.

13.45 - There are so many beef pies they are needing extra pie judges to help, once they've finished their own pie class of course!

14.00 - With things wrapping up in the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie class, we've managed to get an interview with Andy Bates, who will be hosting the awards lunch tomorrow!


14.15 - Stephen Hallam, who owns Dickinson and Morris shop "Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe" in Melton Mowbray and is heavily involved in the Awards, has given us a great interview about why pies are so great and the plans to move the BPA to March 9th (British Pie Week) next year!

14.25 - Alan Stuart, who is on the committee of the Scotch Pie Club Awards, is a class leader at the BPA. Great to have such pie expertise here!

14.35 - While some classes have started winding down now, others are still going strong!

14.45 - Just been chatting to chef Rachel Green about the new Free From class. "A bit overdue but an honour to judge the class for the first time! Some great efforts and a range of flavours, from vegetarian to meat to sweet."

15.00 - The clock strikes three and we're done at the British Pie Awards! What a great day! They're now busy setting down ready for the Awards lunch tomorrow! Can't wait to see who has won!


The winners at the British Pie Awards were announced from 2pm on Thursday 23rd April on the @BritishPies twitter feed and updated on the British Pie Awards website on Friday.

You can now read our British Pie Awards 2015 review!


If you want to find out more about the British Pie Awards 2015, check out our Countdown to the British Pie Awards article.

Did you know? This is the first year there is a 'Free From' Gluten Free Pies Class!


The Pierateers are on a mission to find the best pie they can and you can see a list of their pies rated so far in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find pies of a similar flavour on the Pies: Categorised page.

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Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken Pie Review

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken and Ham Puff Pastry Pie Review


Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken Pie Review
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken Pie Review
For my birthday recently I was presented with a Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken and Ham Puff Pastry Pie (thanks Jonathan - you clearly know me too well!) - and couldn't resist giving it a pie review. Of course regardless of it being a gift, we always give a fair rating to all pies on the Pierate Ship, so how will the pie rate on the 7 Cs of pie rating?

Quite tall and golden upon removing the pie from the oven, I was looking forward to delving in and therefore left a bit disappointed to find that my attempt to cut open the pie left the sides collapsing and only a half filled capacity. The collapsed sides of this pie are particularly evident in the photos, much more so than in many pies I've eaten in recent memory. Sure, it was quite tall to begin with and therefore more at risk of collapse, however it mainly made me think why was the pie so tall in the first place if it was only going to be half filled?!

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken Pie Review
Collapse! The sides of this Sainsbury's Chicken Pie collapsed upon cutting
The pie was 25% chicken and 6% shredded ham hock, a far cry from the 70% meat content of some non-supermarket pies I've had recently. But it did still have a nice flavour to the content, with a flavoursome creamy sauce. The leek was quite prominent for reasonably small pie (at 250g). £3 for this pie seemed a bit on the expensive side considering it was quite small and hardly packed with meat.

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken Pie Review
I wasn't expecting gristle in my Taste the Difference pie!
The flaky all-butter puff-pastry lid was particularly enjoyable, and while the side pastry collapsed far too easily (see the photos) it did still taste good. However my main complaint with it was the piece of gristle I found in the pie, which I would be disappointed with in any chicken pie, but even more so in a luxury 'taste the difference' range pie. This combination of small flaws unfortunately meant it missed out on a Pierate Recommendation.

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Chicken and Ham Puff Pastry Pie
Score: 4.82/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 4, Consistency 5.25, Condition 4, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 4, Content 5.5, Total: 4.82/7]
RAS


Pierate is a pie review website charting a course to find the ultimate pie. For all the pies we have reviewed have a look at our Pie Rankings or find pies of a particular flavour under Pies: Categorised.

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Saturday, 18 April 2015

G Kelly Beat Local Rivals

G Kelly - Traditional Pie & Mash Shop Review

 G Kelly Pie Review vat 

G Kelly Pie Review outsideYou may have seen our recent review of S & R Kelly to celebrate their 100th birthday. In that review I said I had saved space in order to eat another pie at their competitor G Kelly, located just down Bethnal Green Road in London. They literally are a couple of moments away from each other. If only such a situation existed on every street.... that's the Pierate dream world!

Originally I had planned one review of both places as a head to head. The only problem was there was a clear winner in my eyes, and it was G Kelly. It didn’t feel quite right to tell S & R Kelly that they are losers on their birthday. But now…. well I am going to have to say sorry guys but G Kelly pipped you to the post on this occasion!

G Kelly Pie Review insideAs seems common in the London Pie and Mash world, these two shops were founded by members of the same family but now are in separate hands. The pie in question at G Kelly was very much in the same vein as the S & R Kelly version, as is the tradition (see our article on traditional pie and mash shops for more info). Whilst pie and mash cost the same in both places, G Kelly slightly undercut S & R Kelly with the pie option being only £2. G Kelly was a little run down, but to me this seemed charming. There were more old fashioned features than the relatively modern looking S & R Kelly. The liquor was perhaps a bit too floury at G Kelly but most importantly the G Kelly pie was a bit more moist, and better filled so it takes the prestigious title of Pierate Bethnal Green Road Pie & Mash shop of choice.

G Kelly Pie Review cross-sectionCondition – 4.3 out of 7
Colour – 4.0 out of 7
Cost - 6.1 out of 7
Capacity – 4.3 out of 7 – Again, quite small but it was well filled on this occasion.
Chewiness - 4.2 out of 7 – Some nice crunch to the pastry in places but it was mainly soft and slipped down well (and wasn’t chewy like S & R Kelly).
Content – 4.0 out of 7 – Simple and meaty. The pastry tasted a bit flour-y but still nice.
Consistency – 4.0 out of 7 – I would have another

Traditional Minced Beef (G Kelly [E2 0DJ]) 
4.41/7 

SJL
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