Pierate and UK Piefest flyers

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

The "Pie Theatre" Rob is speaking in!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frances Quinn making a pie

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

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

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

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


RAS

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Mr Kipling Apple, Apple and Blackcurrant and Cherry Pies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RAS

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

Brockleby's Pie Reviews

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

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

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

Brockleby's Wild Deer Pie

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

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

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

Brockleby's Steak with Stilton and Ale Pie

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

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

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

RAS

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Pierate and UK Piefest flyers

What is UK Piefest?

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

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

When is UK Piefest?

Melton Mowbray will host UK Piefest

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

Where is UK Piefest being held?

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

Frances' Rainbow Picnic Pie - Screenshot from BBC

Who will be there?

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

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

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

What else can I do at UK Piefest?

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

When did it all start?

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

How can I find out more about UK Piefest?

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

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

RAS

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Radford’s Pie Company Steak and Stilton and Chicken Pie Reviews

Having previously tried and highly rated their pies over 18 months ago, a trip up to Morecambe recently seemed like the pie-fect opportunity to rate some more of the pies from Radford’s Pie Company, based just outside Morecambe on the Heysham Road. We were up in the area for the Morecambe v Wycombe football match and contemplating a wander over to the stadium from the train station once we’d picked up some of their pies, but were very kindly offered a lift across by Noel Radford, potentially the busiest dad in the country!

Radford's Pie Reviews

For those who don’t know, the Radford family featured on Channel 4’s 15, 16, 17, 18 and “19 kids and counting” and are – as you might have guessed – the largest family in the UK! Oh, and further congratulations are in order - they recently announced on Facebook they are expecting child number 20! With so many mouths to feed, it’s a good job the family run a pie company out of the local bakery they own!

With over 15 years of pie baking in the bank and plenty of demand for their home delivery service of those pies, it’s great to see a family run business doing well and expanding their delivery options and we wish them continued success in this! However we were glad to get our hands on the pies in person and to have a chat with owner Noel about the life of pie! He’d kindly brought an (already reviewed) hot meat and potato pie with him – which Sam and I shared – and a few cold pies to take home and rate. Here goes:

All the pies were once again made with shortcrust pastry, with a crisp lid and pastry sides that held the content in well. This was particularly evident when seeing how well filled the pies were, as the pies are crammed to capacity with meat! They are £3.05 for a 280g, which is pretty reasonable (though if you get the right deal online, you can get them a bit cheaper if you buy a box load or even get a 3 month pie subscription!) They come in the classic foil case with crimped top edges, familiar to a lot of (particularly Northern) pies.

As you can see from the photos below, they cut well and didn’t collapse like a lot of pies can do. The cross-section really highlights the packed content and the golden lids to the pies. And as mentioned in our previous review, the local ingredients, from butchers and vegetable sellers near to the bakery, also adds to the appeal of these pies.


Here are the individual flavours:

Steak and Stilton (L) and Chicken and Gammon (R)

Steak and Stilton Pie

Large chunky pieces of steak and a nice cheesy flavour meant this pie delivered! The meat was very nice and packed out the pie content, with a very meaty 45% beef steak. The gravy was quite a nice thickness, making it quite moist to contrast with the quite crisp outer pastry and the stilton cheese was flavoursome without being over powering. Overall, my favourite of the Radford’s range that I’ve tried so far! Pierate Recommended.

Score: 5.89/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6.5]

Free Range Chicken and Gammon Pie

With this pie consisting of 38% chicken breast and 10% ham, this pie certainly wasn’t lacking in meat and eclipses the meat content in the chicken pie we rated last time! It was a very enjoyable pie, with my only suggestion that the pieces of ham and chicken were quite chunky and thus (specifically the ham) not quite as succulent as it could have been if perhaps in slightly more small pieces. However that said you could really taste the ham – unlike in some chicken and ham/gammon pies where just a token bit of ham is included – plus the sauce was good, adding a nice blend to the flavour. As can be seen from the photo above, the capacity is top notch and good content means this pie scores very well. Pierate Recommended!

Score: 5.82/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.5, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.25, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6.25]

Radford's Chicken and Mushroom Pie Review

Free Range Chicken and Mushroom Pie

The chicken and mushroom pie contained 38% chicken breast, which packed out the pie quite well but wasn’t quite as meaty as the chicken and gammon pie I’d eaten the previous day. However it was a nice flavour in a creamy sauce, and the mushroom added a bit more texture to the straight chicken pie I had last time. While not quite as high scoring as the chicken and gammon, still a very good pie.

Score: 5.68/7
[Colour 5.75, Capacity 6, Consistency 5.25, Condition 5.75, Chewiness 5.25, Cheapness 5.75, Content 6]



All in all, some very good pies from Radford’s and it’s a luxury to find a fully family run business like this that uses ingredients from local producers in the area. It’s great that they do online delivery of such top pies and I’d certainly suggest you order a batch as they are worthy of Pierate Recommended status!

RAS

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Nice Pie (Melton Mowbray) Pie Reviews and new shop!

The incredible "Pierate Logo" pie made by Nice Pie!

Whether you want to take a walk on the wild side or stick to something more typical in your pie, it seems with Nice Pie you're in for a nice pie treat!

We've been delighted to sample and rate so many of their pies in the last few years - the reviews of which can all be seen here - that we thought they deserved a Nice Pie page on Pierate Pie Reviews! Amazingly nearly every pie is Pierate Recommended (rated above 5/7) with a growing number of Pierate Highly Recommended pies (rated above 6/7) - an amazing feat considering the weird and wonderful content of some of the pie fillings such as kangaroo, wild squirrel and crocodile (the latter being the highest rated pie from Nice Pie so far!)

Below is the Nice Pie top 5, but they sell so many great pies that the top 5 doesn't even include all the Pierate Highly Recommended pies they sell, let alone mention the Pierate Recommended ones!!!

Rank	Pie Producer	Pie Flavour	Score	By
1	Nice Pie	Crocodile, Leek and Potato (Pierate Highly Recommended)	6.39	SJL
2	Nice Pie	Ring of Fire [Spicy Beef] (Pierate Highly Recommended)	6.21	SJL
3	Nice Pie	Wild Boar Pork (Pierate Highly Recommended)	6.20	TJP
4	Nice Pie	Slow Cooked Lamb and Mint (Pierate Highly Recommended)	6.18	RAS
5	Nice Pie	Red Stag (Pierate Highly Recommended)	6.16	RAS

Nice Pie Shop in Melton Mowbray

We're also delighted to hear that the pies have been selling so well that they have just opened up a new shop in the centre of Melton Mowbray itself (in addition to their current shop, which is part of the farm outside Old Dalby, north of Melton Mowbray). It's found at 55 Kings Street, Melton Mowbray. We look forward to visiting it when we're next in town!

RAS

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Nice Pie Lamb, Beef and Chicken Pie Reviews

As we said last year when we last sampled some of the "Nice Pie" range, one of the challenges for a Pierateer in British Pie Week is how to fit in all the pies you want to eat and rate - and then having time to write up all the reviews after! That's my poor excuse for why it has taken a while to write up our reviews of the three brilliant Nice Pie flavours we enjoyed in Leeds on Day Six of British Pie Week 2017, but here they are!


Nice Pie Beef Pie

Long term fans of Pierate will know Nice Pie have produced countless Pierate Highly Recommended and Pierate Recommended pies - including, but not limited to, their kangaroo, zebra, wild squirrel and crocodile exotic pies - in fact, see the table of past Nice Pies here! The pies we had this time were some more from the traditional menu - the Slow Cooked Lamb and Mint pie, Chicken, Gammon and Mushroom pie and Beef in Red Wine and Roasted Marrow Bone pie.

All three were new to us, but had all had a strong showing at the recent British Pie Awards. The Beef in Red Wine and Roasted Marrow Bone pie won the "Beef and any flavour" Class and the Chicken, Gammon and Mushroom pie won the "Chicken and other meat" class, while the lamb pie had got a gold award (90%+). These are award winning pies!!!

As we've mentioned in a number of Nice Pie reviews before, it was the filling that really stood out in these pies, absolutely bursting with meaty chunks that were so tender and flavoursome. It really amazes me how they can pack so much meat into these pies, as the capacity is always so full to the brim! The only slight downside is that with so much meat in there it can mean the pastry struggles to hold all the filling in, especially if you try to eat it by hand as I did. This is however a very small criticism as the main thing is to have a packed, flavoursome pie filling and this pie certainly provides that, especially complimenting the crisp butter shortcrust pastry that Nice Pie are renowned for!

Nice Pie Lamb Pie

Out of the three pies, I personally preferred the Lamb and Mint Pie and thought that stood out amongst other lamb pies I've had. Unlike many lamb and mint pies which are absolutely smothered in mint and lacking in meat, this was a perfectly balanced flavour and full of tender meat. The lamb easily shredded when the knife cut through it due to it being slow cooked, so while the pieces of meat were quite large it did not feel too big. I could have happily kept eating this pie all night!

Nice Pie Beef Pie Review

The Beef pie was also very nice, with thick rich gravy complementing the tender chunks of meat and bit of veg. I personally think the gravy wasn't quite my cup of tea compared to some of the red wine or ale gravy's I have had in other Nice Pie's or other pies lately - perhaps a result of the bone marrow - but at the same time I still enjoyed the pie and it does add a slightly different taste to the content. It balanced well with the crisp, golden pastry and I'd still happily eat another (there are just so many good Steak/Beef Nice Pies to choose from!!!)

Nice Pie Chicken Pie Review

The chicken pie was again packed with meat and although the pastry was a little flaky it still managed to hold in all the content well! The sauce was very nice and complimented the meat flavour well, and once again we struggled to fault much as it was a very good filling! A traditional flavour done well!


Once again Nice Pie have done us proud, producing two more Pierate Recommended pies AND a Pierate Highly Recommended pie! It's an absolute credit to Katharine and all who work at this small pie company that they are able to churn out top rated pie after top rated pie, and it's been great to hear about the success of their on-site Pie Shop and Cafe too! We hope to visit it one day soon!


Nice Pie Slow Cooked Lamb and Mint Pie
Score: 6.18/7
[Colour 5.75/7; Consistency 6.25/7; Cheapness 5.75/7; Chewiness 6/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6.75/7; Capacity 6.75/7]

Nice Pie Beef in Red Wine and Roasted Marrow Bone Pie
Score: 5.75/7
[Colour 5.75/7; Consistency 5.75/7; Cheapness 5.5/7; Chewiness 5/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6/7; Capacity 6.25/7]

Nice Pie Chicken, Gammon and Mushroom Pie
Score: 5.75/7
[Colour 5.75/7; Consistency 5.75/7; Cheapness 5.5/7; Chewiness 5/7; Condition 6/7; Content 6/7; Capacity 6.25/7]

RAS

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Pierate comes highly rated by Google for Vegetarian Pie Reviews!

You may not realise but this week (15th-21st May) is National Vegetarian Week, so to celebrate we’ve collated our top savoury vegetarian pies so that you know where to go if you don’t want to eat meat! Below are our top 5 vegetarian pies as of today and links to the reviews, or you can view all our vegetarian pies here!

Our #1 - Piglet's Pantry Spinach, Mushroom and Ricotta Pie

We've rated a number of top vegetarian pies over the past couple of years and are glad to see vegetarian pies being taken more seriously recently, with a great standard of vegetarian pies at the British Pie Awards in March this year. As you can read about in our review of the Awards, our current number 3 veggie pie from MyPie London won the Vegetarian pie class, which was sponsored by the Vegetarian Society.

Chris (in the MyPie van) creates our current #3, while Piebury Corner owners Paul and Nicky (outside the van) create our current #4!

Here's our current top 5 savoury pies - though you can see plenty more vegetarian fruit pies by looking out for the "V" in our main pie rankings list of almost 600 pies!!!

Rank	Pie Producer	Pie Flavour	Score	By	Info
1	Piglet's Pantry	Spinach, Mushroom and Ricotta	6.04	RAS	V
2	Sainsbury's Taste the Difference	Roasted Butternut Squash and Feta Cheese with Filo Pastry	6.03	TJP	V
3	MyPie London	Sweet Potato and Goats Cheese	5.93	ARL	V
4	Piebury Corner [N7 8DL]	Goats Cheese, Spinach, Sweet Potato and Mushroom [Reg Lewis]	5.90	RAS	V
4	Pieminister	Pea, Paneer, Spinach, Potato, Chilli and Mango	5.90	ARL	V

You'll also find that when you google "Vegetarian Pie Review" we're not just the first and second but also the third results! Clearly Google think we really are the home of the Vegetarian Pie Review!

The results when you Google "Vegetarian Pie Review"

RAS

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Our trip to the Ricoh Arena for the Checkatrade Trophy semi final between Coventry City and Wycombe Wanderers was mired in controversy. Firstly, there was a news article saying that due to the ongoing disputes between Coventry City and the owners of the Ricoh Arena, some areas of the ground were not able to sell pies! The problems Coventry were having has seen the team have to get the lawn mowers out before matches because the grass had not been cut, so I was worried that there might be catering problems.... but just in case you were worried that this might be a burger review I will cut to the chase and say that there were lots of pies available in the away end of the ground! Phew!!!

Pierateer RAS ordering a pie from "Eat Street Pies"

Pie in a box - with trophy in the background!

Our thoughts next turned to finding out what kind of pies they had on offer. During the London 2012 Olympics Pierateer RAS reviewed a Peter’s Steak pie at the Ricoh, a common pie on offer at matches across the country. Given that it is now 2017, we thought there was a good chance the pies had changed and were eager to find out. Upon questioning, the catering staff said that the thought they made the pies on site, a claim we seriously doubted. Hardly any clubs make their own pies and we thought we would have heard about it if they did. However, the pies were nicely presented in cardboard boxes with labels denoting the flavour, it all looked quite promising. That was, until we opened the boxes.

My Chicken Balti certainly looked like a bog standard mass produced pie. The ‘Peter’s’ logo being embossed into the foil gave the game away, Peter’s were still the pie of choice at the Ricoh even if the staff have no idea! The Chicken Balti did actually look fairly appealing, with a golden colour and some nice flakey pastry on top. Pierateer RAS’s Steak pie did not look so good having arrived in terrible condition. The top layer of pastry had disintegrated more than the dreams of the average Coventry City supporter, leaving a hopeless mess (reminiscent of the current state of Coventry City Football Club). Being a Pie-fessional and very committed, Pierateer RAS manned up and tucked in anyway.

See our PIEremiership table for our football pie league!

Falling apart... not im-pie-ressed!

I was pleased that I was able to get a Chicken Balti pie because it was not a Peter’s flavour that I had tried before. However, as we said recently when we had Peter’s pies at Newport County, they just don’t seem to be as good as they used to be. The pastry in particular was terrible. It was so soft and soggy, my pie fell apart very badly. The very top layer of flaky pastry tasted nice but the rest was a bit like soggy bread. However, there was a silver lining in that I did really enjoy the filling. As we expect from Peter’s, the pie was quite tall which meant there was a good capacity. Sometimes this is mainly full of gravy but the Chicken Balti was well filled with meat. The flavour was good, with a bit of a spicy hit whereas the previous Peter’s curry pie I had tried, was a bit bland. Overall, the filling didn’t quite make up for how bad the pastry was but it meant a fairly respectable score.

Chicken Balti (Coventry City/Peter’s) 
3.95/7



So the pies weren’t great and we were also pretty gutted that Wycombe lost 2-1 so we didn’t have another Wembley pie to look forward to. The Checkatrade Trophy becomes worthwhile once you get to the final, but only to make it to the semi-final, it felt a bit pointless. But given how bad things have been at Coventry under SISU, I felt that the Coventry fans deserved something to cheer about. Their fans really did make some noise and 11,000 was a brilliant attendance for this competition. It only goes to show what a big club Coventry once were.

We are glad to review a pie for a football match at the Ricoh while we still could, due to legal battles over ownership of the ground it looks like Coventry will have to find somewhere else to play and question marks remain about whether they will continue to exist in the long term. For the fans it must be so frustrating not to have any control and for the owners not to listen to them, I really hope they can sort things out. It makes me so grateful that Wycombe came out the other side of their problems as a fan owned club! Whilst we may never make the big time we can look forward to many more seasons of pies as we follow the Chairboys around the country.

SJL

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I think it's one of the worst kept secrets on Pierate that we are fans of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club. After all, most of the football pie reviews we've done have been at games involving the club - and we've done 4 different pie reviews at Adam's Park in the past 4 and a half years (they seem to change their pie suppliers as often as their kit suppliers!) It's also no secret that we've not been too impressed at the pie provision at our home town club recently either - seeing the Blues slip down our Pierate Football Pie League as a result of poor scores off the pitch.

Pie at the Oxford v Wycombe match - May 2016

While all football clubs still look up to Morecambe FC's as the pie-nicle of football pie-fection - and we will soon be reviewing our latest Morecambe FC pie eaten at Saturday's game against who else but Wycombe Wanderers! - there is still a wide range of pie quality throughout the four divisions of league football. And that seems to be the case lower down in non-league football too, if the reviews by friend of the blog and non-league football pie blogger Kate are anything to go by, as she tackles the pies at Telford United matches.


Being the world's leading pie review blog - featuring almost 600 pie reviews with multiple football pie media appearances - we can't deny we're disappointed at the quality of pie served at our hometown club. Yet it appears we are not suffering alone, with a current Premier League football pie survey looking to unearth the golden treasure from the pre-heated rubbish of Premier League pie provision. Looking at our football pie league only 7 out of 23 pies have scored 5/7 or above (our indicator of "Pierate Recommended" status), which works out at just 30.4%, compared to a whopping 338 out of 586 pies scoring 5/7 in our overall pie rankings (57.7%)!

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

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

And it really begs the question that if Morecambe FC - who have one of the smallest budgets in League Football - can produce such great quality pies, then why can't Wycombe, or anyone else for that matter?! Even looking at the three pies Wycombe have sold in the past 4 seasons, it seems crazy from a pie eating point of view to change supplier to such a worse scoring pie! Maybe it was a commercial deal too good to refuse or a particularly well cooked pie sample when the pitch was made, that far outstrips the quality of pie served in the terraces on a matchday? And that's not to mention the game earlier in the season that caused a bit of outrage on social media when our beloved Wycombe announced that they didn't have any pies to sell at the match! Serious own goal!!!

In any case, whatever happens in the final games of the season, let's hope that there are more pies than lows come next season - at Wycombe and beyond!

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

Steak... but where is the pastry?!

Wycombe Wanderers Player Awards Dinner 2017

As a little aside - and not particularly pie related (as they decided to serve a delicious steak but not fully encase it in pastry - go figure?!) - I had a great time supporting the Wycombe players at the annual Wycombe Wanderers Player Awards Dinner at Adam's Park on 30th April. I can confirm the food - while sadly not pie - was of a great standard and the awards was a great evening. I was fortunate to be sat with Wycombe left back Joe Jacobson (who is also in the photo near the top of this article, holding a pie) and had a great chat with him about topics such as GPS tracking, Boxing Day matches and - of course - pies!

Pierateer Rob and Joe Jacobson (minus the pies!)

Awards host Rachel (minus the pies!)

I also had a good chat about pies with the awards host Rachel Stringer, who is no stranger to a pie despite her slim appearance, having once downed 4 pies in a TV publicity stunt and also as host of Nick Kicks had the honour of pie-ing some of the Wycombe players (though we all know a cream "pie" isn't really a pie!!!)

Check out the video of the Wycombe Players having got pied from Rachel's twitter feed below:

This is happening right NOW - @wwfcofficial getting PIED 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/7tHH0juKUy

— Rachel Stringer (@RachStringer) February 3, 2017

All in all, it was a great evening and while it's only a slim chance, it's still all to play for in the final game of the season this coming Saturday! Come on you Blues!!!

Adebayo Akinfenwa (Beeeeeast!!!) winning player's player of the season and celebrating with the lads!

RAS

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