Pie fans ahoy! With over 600 pie reviews, Pierate is surely the web's premier pie resource. We've been eating and rating pies according to the 'Seven Cs' since 2009. Follow us on @pierateers. pierateship@yahoo.co.uk
Sunday, 26 April 2020
2.6 Pieathlon Charity Challenge!
Pierate has a great tradition of stupid challenges from seeing how many days we can last eating only pies to making ridiculous and disgusting pie flavours. So it is on that theme that I have decided to do the 2.6 Pieathlon Charity Challenge.
Sunday 26th April would have been the London Marathon, the largest one day charity fundraising event in the world. Charities are missing out on a lot of funding but still have work to do and costs, hence the 2.6 challenge was created, to do fundraising events themed around the number 26 or 2.6 such as to run 2.6 km. I have come up with the 2.6 Pieathlon. Basically I have to eat 2.6 pies and then run 2.6km within 26 minutes. I will do this at 20.26 on Sunday 26th. I can normally run 2.6km comfortably in around 13 minutes. I estimate around 4-5 minutes to eat 2.6 pies so it should be fairly doable if I am able to run after eating that much pie, even if it is fairly slow. I really have no idea, I am normally pretty bad at running after eating and it is likely to be fairly uncomfortable and I might feel a bit sick! I will also try and record it on my phone which will limit my ability to run. The pies are Pukka Steak pies which we look on fairly fondly despite their mass produced nature but they are fairly heavy as pies go which will add to the difficulty.
If you fancy donating follow the link below, I will add the link to the video after the challenge is completed!
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SamLacey3
Update:
The challenge was successfully completed, with the addition of 2.6 glasses of milk and a top hat! See the video on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/s.j.lacey/videos/10102271884956744/
continue reading "2.6 Pieathlon Charity Challenge!"
Sunday 26th April would have been the London Marathon, the largest one day charity fundraising event in the world. Charities are missing out on a lot of funding but still have work to do and costs, hence the 2.6 challenge was created, to do fundraising events themed around the number 26 or 2.6 such as to run 2.6 km. I have come up with the 2.6 Pieathlon. Basically I have to eat 2.6 pies and then run 2.6km within 26 minutes. I will do this at 20.26 on Sunday 26th. I can normally run 2.6km comfortably in around 13 minutes. I estimate around 4-5 minutes to eat 2.6 pies so it should be fairly doable if I am able to run after eating that much pie, even if it is fairly slow. I really have no idea, I am normally pretty bad at running after eating and it is likely to be fairly uncomfortable and I might feel a bit sick! I will also try and record it on my phone which will limit my ability to run. The pies are Pukka Steak pies which we look on fairly fondly despite their mass produced nature but they are fairly heavy as pies go which will add to the difficulty.
If you fancy donating follow the link below, I will add the link to the video after the challenge is completed!
https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SamLacey3
Update:
The challenge was successfully completed, with the addition of 2.6 glasses of milk and a top hat! See the video on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/s.j.lacey/videos/10102271884956744/
Saturday, 25 April 2020
African Pie Tour - Is Dessert in the Desert the Real McCoy?
Welcome to Solitaire. Population: 4.
This remote village sits just below the Tropic of Capricorn, in the Khomas region of Namibia on the continent of Africa.
100 miles to the west, the salty waves of the Atlantic ocean lap against the iconic red dunes of the Skeleton Coast. 100 miles north-east, the sprawling capital of Windhoek is the social, economic, political, and cultural centre of the country.
Between them, dusty, rutted roads carve through the arid landscape. Mountain zebra chase ephemeral rivers. Scorpions shelter in the rocky crevices. Quiver trees eke out an existence beneath the blazing desert sun.
Between them, dusty, rutted roads carve through the arid landscape. Mountain zebra chase ephemeral rivers. Scorpions shelter in the rocky crevices. Quiver trees eke out an existence beneath the blazing desert sun.
With no other settlements for miles around, Solitaire seems like an unlikely place to come for a pie. It's almost like we've taken a wrong turn. But we haven't. At Pierate we have always got our ear to the ground for next great pie, and we've heard that Solitaire is home to something very special.
Over 20 years ago, a Scottish adventurer named Percy Cross "Moose" McGregor moved to Solitaire. He opened a bakery and started selling a German apple pie from an old family recipe. Word of his apple pie spread far and wide, and it wasn't long before McGregor's sweet treat reached mythical status across Namibia.
Today, surrounded by decrepit American vintage cars, McGregor's Bakery stands like an oasis in the parched desert plateau. Some say that if you listen closely to the breeze as it crosses the plains, it whispers to you: "McGregors, McGregors, McGregors."
Sadly, Moose died in January 2014, but his legend lives on in the form of his famous apple pie. And this is what Pierateer TJP is here to sample today!
Over 20 years ago, a Scottish adventurer named Percy Cross "Moose" McGregor moved to Solitaire. He opened a bakery and started selling a German apple pie from an old family recipe. Word of his apple pie spread far and wide, and it wasn't long before McGregor's sweet treat reached mythical status across Namibia.
Today, surrounded by decrepit American vintage cars, McGregor's Bakery stands like an oasis in the parched desert plateau. Some say that if you listen closely to the breeze as it crosses the plains, it whispers to you: "McGregors, McGregors, McGregors."
Sadly, Moose died in January 2014, but his legend lives on in the form of his famous apple pie. And this is what Pierateer TJP is here to sample today!
Inside McGregor's bakery, one can purchase a surprising array of items - coffee, sandwiches, pastries, and cool refreshing beverages. But the welcome sign at the entrance leaves no doubt about what this place is all about. Top of the list is its "famous apple pie"!
I order an apple pie. As I wait, my parched mouth salivates as my mind races through the seven Cs. What colour will it be? How filled to capacity will it be? I hope it arrives in great condition. I also wonder what kind of pastry will be used. Will it be the standard short crust, or will they have gone for a leftfield puff-pastry? Will it be a lattice?
As the lady emerges from the back room with a cardboard box in her hand, I'm desperate to find out the answers to all these questions.
I take the box outside and open it...and shock horror. (Warning - the following photograph might be distressing to some of you)
Yes, McGregor's "famous apple pie" is in fact a crumble. There is no pastry. Pie aficionados and followers of Pierate will know that a pie is "a filling totally and wholly encased in pastry". Don't get me wrong - the McGregor's apple crumble was delicious, but it was just that - a crumble. I have come all this way for a crumble. Had I been blogging for Crumblerate (trademark TBC) I'd have been delighted, but this is Pierate.
Fortunately for me, McGregor's also does a roaring trade in actual pies.
Back home, a "game" pie would probably be some kind of bird such as pheasant or partridge, but out here it could be anything from kudu to oryx. With some long drives ahead of me and a slightly upset stomach, I opt for the vegetarian pie.
I'm not entirely sure what's in it but I think I can see spinach and potato. It's a decent pie, well filled, with tasty pastry, and certainly commendable that they are able to offer a pie of such reasonable quality in a remote location like this.
I leave Solitaire slightly disappointed that the famous apple pie wasn't actually a pie, but pleased that I've at least had a pie in probably one of the most remote settlements I'll ever visit. It really is a testament to the late Moose McGregor that I can purchase a better pie in the middle of the Namibian outback than I can in many places back in the UK. If you're ever in the area, I'd recommend stopping off for a pie for your main course, a crumble for dessert, and a salute to the legend that is Moose McGregor.
I journey onwards through Namibia and come across something rather interesting in the town of Otjiwarongo. It turns out that Spar is actually a pretty big thing in Namibia (and in many other countries in Africa). Back in the UK, Spar is more commonly seen as a small convenience store, but over here you get giant supermarket Spars. And what does that sign say on the front of the store? King Pie?! This sounds like an absolute must-try!
The branding is a little confusing as the "King Pie" stall inside the Spar sells "McCoy" pies, but never the less this is extremely exciting.
I don't know how to break this to the other Pierateers..."You haven't had a pie until you've had a McCoy". Wow! Despite eating and reviewing over 700 pies for Pierate, turns out the other Pierateers have never actually eaten a pie!
In the interest of a fair comparison to McGregors, I ordered another vegetarian pie - spinach and feta. It cost 22.20 Namibian dollars, which is about £1.20.
There's no better place to enjoy a real McCoy pie than on the open road. I have to say, this pie was fine, but I didn't rate it as highly as McGregors. The pastry was a bit soggier, and the pie was not as well filled. It was what I expect from a supermarket pre-heated pie. Despite what the packaging proclaims, I wouldn't say that you need to have had a McCoy's in order to have had a pie. The other Pierateers can sleep easy tonight.
Here at Pierate, we really like to go the extra mile for our readers - so my next stop on this African pie tour took me to Mzuzu, the third largest city in Malawi. About 20 miles west from the shores of Lake Malawi, Mzuzu isn't exactly a tourist hotspot. But if you do find yourself here, is it possible to get a pie? And the answer is...yes!
Head in to your local Shoprite supermarket and you should be able to find a "Pieman" stall (seriously, who comes up with these names, they are great). This particular Pieman was selling vegetable curry pies, steak and kidney, peppered steak and mutton curry (I think) pie. All pies were 1,299.99 Malawian kwacha, which is about £1.44. I order a Pieman peppered steak.
The colour of the pie leaves much to be desired. The brown colouration is uneven, with two dark patches flanking a pale centre. I suspect this is more due to uneven glazing rather than uneven bake.
Here's a cross-sectional view, and oh goodness it's not a good one. The contents of the pie are mostly air. The peppered steak filling is relegated to a shallow smear at the base of the pie. This brings memories of the Delissia "apple" pies from Poundland, but at least they only cost a pound. I'm pleased to have found a pie, but Pieman really needs to give himself a good talking to if he's hoping to progress in this market.
And with that, I end the African pie tour. My eyes have been opened to a new continent of pies. I consider my journey to be a preliminary visit for a more thorough investigation into the African pie scene in future years. I hope you've enjoyed reading. If you have any comments about the pies I tried, or have any recommendation for pies to try in Africa, please let us know in the comments.
Ratings:
McGregors Famous Apple Pie (Solitaire, Namibia) - NAP (Not A Pie)
McGregors Vegetable Pie (Solitaire, Namibia) - 5.3/7
McCoy / King Pie / Spar spinach and feta pie (Otjiwarongo, Namibia) - 4.5/7
Pieman / Shoprite Pie (Mzuzu, Malawi) - 3.1/7
TJP
Monday, 9 March 2020
7 ways to survive post British Pie Week!
Yes, British Pie Week is over. We hear ya! Pie specials will disappear from pub menus. Pie Week discounts will no longer apply. But we’ve got one important message for pie fans: “A pie is for life, not just British Pie Week!” We all know that pies are far too good to celebrate just one week of the year! So here's 7 ways to survive post British Pie Week:
2) Reminisce about your favourite pie or pies from British Pie Week and plan to eat them again soon!
3) Save up your money to buy some top pies even once the promos and discounts have disappeared.
4) Petition your local pub or pie shop to bring back some of their specials if they were only on sale for British Pie Week.
5) Search our pie rankings list of over 600 pies to find a new pie to try in the coming weeks!
6) Use your extra time to catch up on all the crazy antics the Pierateers have got up to over the years!
7) Remember - it's now less than 365 days until we do it all again, for British Pie Week 2021! It'll be from 1st-7th March 2021.
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
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Sunday, 8 March 2020
British Pie Week 2020 - Sunday Update
With British Pie Week almost over for another year, here's an update on what's been going on in the world of pies in the best week of the year!
Much like the last couple of years, it seemed rude not to celebrate British Pie Week without going to a local pie shop with friends of the blog! Therefore Pierateer Rob organised a trip to the local Pieminister shop in central Birmingham. He once again enjoyed a very nice Moolin Rouge Steak, Bacon and Red Wine pie, so look out for the review of that this coming week! That will be the 20th Pieminister pie we review, and in the meantime you can find the other 19 Pieminister pie reviews!
British Pie Awards
WE DID IT💥— Turner’s Pies (@TurnersPies) March 7, 2020
🏆Supreme Champions 2020 🏆
Delighted to announce that Yesterday in Melton Mowbray we were crowned British Pie Awards Supreme champion 2020!
Our Steak & Stilton pie overcome competition from nearly 900 pies form across the UK to earn the title “Pie of Pies” (1/2) pic.twitter.com/bMpSSjnaYW
A few years ago the British Pie Awards moved their awards to this week, to coincide with British Pie Week, and this year celebrated their 12th year! The results were released this past Friday 6th March and we are delighted to see that Turner's Pies have once again regained their top spot at the British Pie Awards, following their win at the British Pie Awards 2018!
This year's winning entry out of almost 900 pies entered was a Top Rump Steak and Stilton pie by Turner's Pies, but there were also good showings for a number of our Pierate Highly Recommended pie makers, such as our number 1 pie maker MyPie London who got a gold, silver or bronze for all of their eight entries!
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| British Pie Week 2020 is from 2nd-8th March! |
PIE-LIGHTS OF PAST BRITISH PIE WEEKSDuring British Pie Week 2014 we Pierateers consumed a quite incredible 55 pies and you can see the breakdown right here! There were so many highlights that we had to do a whole day-by-day account of it, including a Python pie, a day of just eating apple pie and Pierateer SJL eating 21 pies - one for every meal of British Pie Week.In fact, Pierateer SJL didn't just eat a pie for every meal but he proved that you can eat pie and lose weight!!! Yes, we can hardly believe it either! In 2015 we raised the bar even higher by consuming a whopping 71 pies between 2 Pierateers! This included a Pieathon (seeing how long we could just eat pies for) and Rob eating pie for 67% of his diet that week! |
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Thursday, 5 March 2020
Football Pie Review: The Don of Football Pies?
Rating the steak football pie at Doncaster Rovers by Pukka Pies
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| Pukka Pie at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster |
Situated on the edge of town, the Keepmoat Stadium is your standard, new out-of-town football stadium that certainly impresses on the eye. But in these new, slightly monotonous out-of-town stadiums it therefore makes the little things, like the warm welcome given by the match day stewards and the posters they put up to welcome the away fans, that bit more personalised. Seeing a photo of Wycombe's new joint-top league goalscorer "The Beast" Akinfenwa on the wall as I walked into the away end of the Keepmoat Stadium was therefore a welcome addition, and it was good to see a decent selection of pies on offer too. The other familiar sign on the wall was for Pukka Pies, reassuring me that the pies should be of a decent quality.
After a reasonably long journey up to Doncaster I wasn't going to hang about, so after grabbing a steak Pukka Pie from the kiosk and taking a quick photo in my seat, I set about tucking into the crisp, golden flaky pastry. As is often the case with a hand-eaten Pukka, the meat and gravy has slightly tipped to the bottom of the pie, meaning the first bite or two were rather filling-lite. But it didn't take too long to get into the meaty steak chunks and the pie was well filled, not too soggy on the base and crisp on the lid. The capacity was decent, though not filled to the brim, so some points had to be deducted there. But overall, as with many a football Pukka Pie, it filled the hole well and didn't disappoint.
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| Cut through of the Steak Pukka Pie |
The price of the pie was £3.30, which is on the more expensive end of the football pie price range (especially as it was a Pukka) but I would have happily had another. Certainly not the Don of all football pies, as can be seen in it's placement in the PIEremiership Table, but a decent effort none-the-less!
Pukka Pies Steak Pie
Score: 4.36/7
[Colour 4, Capacity 4.5, Consistency 4, Condition 5, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 3, Content 5]
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| We've rated over 600 pies, including a number of football pies |
More about us and our football pie pedigree:
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| Sam and Rob being interviewed by BBC Sport's Azi Farni Watch the video on the BBC Sport website |
Check out our PIEremiership article and you'll find that Morecambe FC's Globe Arena is certainly the place to be for top football pies! Top of our football pie league and winners of the British Pie Awards twice, Morecambe FC make their pies in the kitchen on site by hand, rather than just buying them in! Back of the net!!
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Wednesday, 4 March 2020
British Pie Week 2020 - Wednesday Update
With British Pie Week already three days in, here's an update on what's going on in the world of pies in the best week of the year!
Much like the last couple of years, it seemed rude not to celebrate British Pie Week without going to a local pie shop with friends of the blog! Therefore Pierateer Rob organised a trip to the local Pieminister shop in central Birmingham. He once again enjoyed a very nice Moolin Rouge Steak, Bacon and Red Wine pie, so look out for the review of that later this week! That will be the 20th Pieminister pie we review, and in the meantime you can find the other 19 Pieminister pie reviews!
British Pie Awards
A few years ago the British Pie Awards moved their awards to this week, to coincide with British Pie Week, and this year celebrate their 12th year! While we won't be there in person this year, judging happens in Melton Mowbray today and we look forward to hearing the results this Friday!
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| British Pie Week 2020 is from 2nd-8th March! |
As it's British Pie Week, a number of pie shops and pie companies are doing special pie-motions to give you even more reason to eat pie this week (as if you really needed it!) Here are some of our favourites:
- Pieminister are offering free scratchcards when you order pie in their shops or order their pies online this pie week, which include pie-rizes such as free pies or money off your next Pieminister meal!
- Turner's Pies - who won the British Pie Awards just a few years ago in 2018 with their Steak and Ale pies - are donating money to Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice from the sale of their British Pie Week Steak and Mature Cheddar pie and Champion Pie Packs. Place your orders at www.turnerspies.co.uk
- Brockleby's are offering 10% off their online pies if you quote "BRITISHPIEWEEK" at the checkout on www.brocklebys.co.uk
- MyPie London - our number 1 pie maker out of over 600 - is out and about across London this week, with this being one of owner Chris' busiest weeks of the year!! If you are London way, check out the diary on the MyPie Website!
If you’re a pie maker or pie seller and have any special promotions for British Pie Week, get in touch with us and we can celebrate your British Pie Week offers right here! Either send us an email to pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or tweet us @pierateers to let us promote your pie week plans!
PIE-LIGHTS OF PAST BRITISH PIE WEEKSDuring British Pie Week 2014 we Pierateers consumed a quite incredible 55 pies and you can see the breakdown right here! There were so many highlights that we had to do a whole day-by-day account of it, including a Python pie, a day of just eating apple pie and Pierateer SJL eating 21 pies - one for every meal of British Pie Week.In fact, Pierateer SJL didn't just eat a pie for every meal but he proved that you can eat pie and lose weight!!! Yes, we can hardly believe it either! In 2015 we raised the bar even higher by consuming a whopping 71 pies between 2 Pierateers! This included a Pieathon (seeing how long we could just eat pies for) and Rob eating pie for 67% of his diet that week! |
Tweet of the Day
Today sees the start of British Pie week 2nd - 8th March.#signalong #signlanguage #communicationskills #education #autism #learningdifficulties #britishpieweek pic.twitter.com/kfnqswKc77— SignalongCharity (@Signalong) March 2, 2020
So whatever you’re up to this British Pie Week, we hope you have pie and enjoy it! For more ideas, why not check out our #PiePledge video below?
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Monday, 2 March 2020
British Pie Week 2020 - Everything you need to know!
With British Pie Week kicking off today, we thought you might want to find out everything you should know about the greatest week in pie!
British Pie Week is held the first full week of March, which this year is 2nd-8th March 2020.
What is British Pie Week?
Originally set up by a pastry maker as a way to sell more of their pastry, it is now Britain’s main celebration of pie! Pubs, restaurants, pie shops and more have used British Pie Week to run com-pie-titions, pie specials and the like (so why not ask what your local pie-selling pub is doing to celebrate pie week?), while supermarkets sometimes use the week to discount their pie ranges. The British Pie Awards have even moved their awards to this week, to coincide with British Pie Week, and this year celebrate their 12th year!
However it’s also an excuse for pie lovers like the Pierateers to do various pie stunts and for the average pie fan to excuse their pie eating for a week! (“Well it’s Pie Week, so I have to have a pie!!!”)
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| British Pie Week 2020 is from 2nd-8th March! |
Well, the pies the limit! Of course the more traditional ways include eating a pie from a pie shop or pub, or making your own pie at home. The more adventurous might host friends for a “pie night” – much like we are doing with our Pierate Birmingham Pie Night – or do some crazy pie stunt like only eating pies for a day (which we’ve done numerous times) or create an unusual filling for a pie – like we did with our Pie-thon (python meat pie).
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| The infamous Python meat pie! |
PIE-LIGHTS OF PAST BRITISH PIE WEEKSDuring British Pie Week 2014 we Pierateers consumed a quite incredible 55 pies and you can see the breakdown right here! There were so many highlights that we had to do a whole day-by-day account of it, including a Python pie, a day of just eating apple pie and Pierateer SJL eating 21 pies - one for every meal of British Pie Week.In fact, Pierateer SJL didn't just eat a pie for every meal but he proved that you can eat pie and lose weight!!! Yes, we can hardly believe it either! In 2015 we raised the bar even higher by consuming a whopping 71 pies between 2 Pierateers! This included a Pieathon (seeing how long we could just eat pies for) and Rob eating pie for 67% of his diet that week! |
When did it all start?
British Pie Week was created by a pastry company in 2007 to sell more pastry, but it seems that company have now ditched the idea, with the lucrative www.britishpieweek.co.uk webpage now just re-directing to their main pastry website and their @BritPieWeek twitter account not having been updated since March 2016!
This means the new home of British Pie Week is really www.pierate.co.uk, who don’t care about making money or selling more pastry, but want to celebrate the pie – with well over 600 pies already rated and numerous pie-related stunts highlighting their love of pie! For more information on what Pierate have got up to over the years since first celebrating British Pie Week in 2011, check out our dedicated British Pie Week page!
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| The Pierate Logo Pie made for us in British Pie Week 2014! Find out more about this Nice Pie here. |
Well, there's no denying we are the web's pie-remier pie resource with over 1 million pie fans visiting our pie blog! You can browse our Pie Rankings of over 600 pies rated and ranked so that you can avoid the bad ones and grab the best ones, plus we have a pie pun dictionary (so you can pun-ctuate your conversation in pie week) and more pie trivia than you can shake a stick at! We truly are the home of the pie review at www.pierate.co.uk and you can find out more about the piefessionals (pie experts) in our About Us section!
Finally, if you’re a pie maker or pie seller and have any special promotions for British Pie Week, get in touch with us and we can celebrate your British Pie Week offers right here! Either send us an email to pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or tweet us @pierateers to let us promote your pie week plans!
So whatever you’re up to this British Pie Week, we hope you have pie and enjoy it! For more ideas, why not check out our #PiePledge video below?
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Tuesday, 18 February 2020
British Pie Week 2020 - Birmingham Pie Night Announced!
The countdown to British Pie Week continues with our most exciting announcement yet! Pierate are going to rummage and pillage the pies at Pieminister Birmingham once again as we host a Pierateer Takeover in British Pie Week 2020 - just like we did last year and in 2018!
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| Pierateer Rob visiting Pieminister Birmingham |
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| Pieminister Birmingham at 16 Waterloo Street |
Since then we've tried some of their "Pie Election" winners (when pie fans got to choose which old favourites to bring back to the menu for British Pie Week 2015) and we were even crazy enough to try their Cricket pie in 2017! Yes, that's right - it had actual whole insects in it!!
So here's the details of the pie night and how you can get involved:
Kick off 5:30pm
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| Delicious pies on offer at Pieminister - we've rated 19! |
While there are a whole host of pies to choose from on their menu, as it will be British Pie Week we're sure there will be some special sur-pie-ses! While we await the big reveal from Pieminister soon, they are promising some cracking pie-rizes for pie fans in store!!
Who rate all the Pies?!
During the two hours Pierateer Rob will be around to chat pies, give you a bit of info about how to rate a pie on the 7 Cs of pie rating, as well as a brief update on what we've been up to recently! And if he can, he'll try to answer your pie-related questions (like when is a pie not a pie?!) Just look out for him in his black Pierate t-shirt and don't be afraid to come up and say hi!
And while we'd be delighted to see a few of you there on the Tuesday, if that date or time doesn't suit you then don't forget that British Pie Week lasts all week and the Pieminister restaurants up and down the country will have a fab pie-motions on!
This pie night is open to friends plus readers of our pie blog and entry is free - you just pay the pie shop for your food and drinks as normal - but to attend we advise you ring and book into the Pieminister Birmingham Store on 0121 285 3743 (as places in the restaurant are limited).We hope to see some of you there! |
In the meantime, you can find out more about The Pierateers or about what we've been up to in previous British Pie Weeks on the world's leading pie review blog! But for now why not watch our short video clip to find out how you can get involved in British Pie Week too?
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
|
Monday, 17 February 2020
Countdown to British Pie Week 2020
The countdown to British Pie Week has begun!
British Pie Week 2020 - which runs from Monday 2nd March to Sunday 8th March - is now just two weeks away and we're busy at Pierate HQ making our final pre-pie-rations for the big event! We're planning another Birmingham Pie Night (like the Pie Night we had in 2018) and we will be keeping our eyes on the pies as the British Pie Awards are once again happening in British Pie Week too!
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| British Pie Week 2020 is from 2nd to 8th March! |
Some of you may well have come across British Pie Week before, which has in fact been around since 2007 as the ingenious marketing spin off of pastry company "Jus-Rol" - and they managed to bag the lucrative web domain www.britishpieweek.co.uk to encourage pie makers up and down the land to get involved. However in an obscure turn of events, it appears they have ditched this lucrative web domain again this year to re-direct straight to the generic Jus-Rol website and no real mention of pies or pie week! With the @BritPieWeek twitter account having not tweeted since March 2016 it appears Jus-Rol may have had their pie and eaten it, meaning we may be defaulted to be the premier resource for pie advice this British Pie Week!!!
And while others may have used British Pie Week to just promote some pastry, as good as it is, we at Pierate are dedicated to promoting THE PIE!
That's why on Pierate you won't just find an encouragement for you to make a pie this British Pie Week - though we certainly do encourage you do! We don't just suggest a reci-pie or two - though we plan to do that as well! We don't even just encourage you to go out and eat a pie (or two) during British Pie Week. We go above and beyond!
 It's official! The British Pie Week 2020 logo has been launched! For pie makers and pie sellers, feel free to use it to celebrate all things pie this British Pie Week!! |
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| The Pierate Logo Pie made for us in British Pie Week 2014! Find out more about this Nice Pie here. |
PIE-LIGHTS OF PAST BRITISH PIE WEEKSDuring British Pie Week 2014 we Pierateers consumed a quite incredible 55 pies and you can see the breakdown right here! There were so many highlights that we had to do a whole day-by-day account of it, including a Python pie, a day of just eating apple pie and Pierateer SJL eating 21 pies - one for every meal of British Pie Week.In fact, Pierateer SJL didn't just eat a pie for every meal but he proved that you can eat pie and lose weight!!! Yes, we can hardly believe it either! In 2015 we raised the bar even higher by consuming a whopping 71 pies between 2 Pierateers! This included a Pieathon (seeing how long we could just eat pies for) and Rob eating pie for 67% of his diet that week! |
So whatever pie (or pies!) you enjoy in British Pie Week, we hope it's a good one that rates well on the 7 Cs of pie rating! If you need any ins-pie-ration, you can of course see the hundreds of pies we've rated on our pie blog via our Pie Rankings or our Pies Categorised!
Why not watch our short video clip to find out how you can get involved in British Pie Week too and make a #PiePledge!
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
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Tuesday, 12 November 2019
International Pierate Day 2019
We Pierateers of pie review website www.pierate.co.uk are today celebrating our 10th Birthday, and we'd love you to join us by simply eating a pie and rating it!
That’s why we’ve designated
12th November as International Pierate Day!
12th November as International Pierate Day!
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| The Pierate Pie made especially for us by Nice Pie! |
This weekend we will be celebrating our tenth birthday in style, eating our number one rated pie with around 50 guests! Yes, where else could we go for a top birthday-celebrating pie than the Steak and Ale pie from the one and only MyPie London, who have been our number 1 ranked pie for most of their five years in business! We'll be using the illustrated guide below on how to rate a pie, based on our 7 Cs of pie rating, which we commissioned fellow food blogger and amazing illustrator Emily from www.recipesandreviews.co.uk to create for us for our 6th birthday!
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| An illustrated guide on how to rate a pie by @emily_etc |
It doesn’t matter whether it’s savoury or sweet, or whether you prefer your pies without the wheat or meat! We really do rate anything and everything that is a true pie and sometimes a number of interesting things that try to be pies too! But the important thing is we love to eat pie and rate it – for we are, after all, the Pierateers!
So once you’ve found a pie to eat – whether in the local bakery, butchers, supermarket or your favourite pie shop or one you have made in the luxury of your own home – why not rate your pie using the Seven Cs of pie rating in our lovely illustrated guide above?
 We very much enjoyed eating and rating the British Pie Awards 2018 winning Steak and Ale Pie from Turner's Pies at our annual birthday pie-rty last year!This time round on Saturday we are looking forward to once again enjoying our number 1 pie out of over 650 when we enjoy the Steak and Ale pie from MyPie London! |
So what do you need to do now?
Well, first things first - you need a pie (or two!) For insPIEration you might find our Pie Rankings helpful, with over 650 pies we've rated and reviewed over the past 10 years! Or perhaps you want to make one of the pies our Ship's Cook has made, following her reci-pies here.
You can even watch us on the BBC website advising what to look for in a pie!
Most of all, we hope you enjoy eating and rating pies this week! We sure will and can't wait for our birthday Pie Night this weekend!!!
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
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Thursday, 31 October 2019
Pierate's Birmingham Pie Night for Charity 2019
We're now just a couple of weeks away from our blog's tenth birthday (which we've named International Pierate Day), and with that in mind we have some very exciting news to share:
Some tickets are still available for our Birmingham Pie Party with a "star baker" and top rated pies on 16th Nov!
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| The motley crew from our Pie Contest 2013 |
Sandy, for those who don't follow GBBO (or whose memory is a little hazy!), was the contestant who referred to her home baking in episode one with words to the effect of "everything I bake at home seems to turn into a pie!" And for some reason, that seemed to really strike a cord with us on the Pierate Ship!!!
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| Sandy and the Pierateers! |
Back to Sandy and she said back in her pre-show bio that "she bakes to show her family, friends and colleagues that she cares about them" - which is a great outlook on baking and we look forward to her bringing some of her baking magic with her when she brings some pies to our pie party for our charity raffle and chats a bit about life in the tent and what she's up to these days. We were gutted that Sandy was eliminated before the week when the bakers all had to make a game pie, but can't wait to try her pies for real - not just drool over our TV screens!
Just take a look at some of the pie pictures Sandy has tweeted in the past:
The journey of @Theakston1827 ale and @FodderHarrogate steak pies @pierateers pic.twitter.com/hu8LWeWJyE— SANDY DOCHERTY (@SANDYDbakes) 12 March 2017
Short crust lamb shoulder and veg pies, just need gravy. Happy Sunday everyone. X pic.twitter.com/LPpJepzNOD— SANDY DOCHERTY (@SANDYDbakes) 26 February 2017
Of course us Pierateers are no stranger to the Great British Bake Off either, as our first TV appearance came on The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice when we made a Crocodile Pie rated by none other than celebrity chef Michel Roux Jnr!
So while we had a break last year, we're delighted to once again be following the tradition of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 in having a Pierate Birthday Pie-rty with friends and colleagues in just a few weeks time! For those wondering what it will be like, here's our review from our 8th Birthday Pie-rty two years ago, which Sandy also attended.
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| Pie maker Chris with Pierateers Sam, Tim and Rob |
And as if it couldn't get any more exciting, we're delighted that the pies will be provided by none other than Pierate Highly Recommended pie maker - and current number 1 in our Pie Rankings - Chris Brumby of MyPie.
Yes, like in 2017, we've once again gone straight to the top of the Pie Rankings to find a Pierate Highly Recommended pie maker to supply the pies at our tenth Birthday Pie Party, with Chris' Steak and Ale Pie our current number 1 at 6.61/7! And we'll have a top vegetarian pie option too from Chris, who has recently celebrated 5 years of his MyPie business and has spent most of those 5 years at the top of our pie rankings!
Plus our charity for the night will once again be Action Against Hunger, who we supported with over £300 raised at our Charity pie night in 2017!
We've still got a few tickets available, so to enquire about ticket availability to book your place at our Birmingham Pie Night in South Birmingham, please email pierateship@yahoo.co.uk with your order (Steak and Ale or Vegetarian pie). Your £6 ticket, paid on the door, will cover your MyPie, mash and veg, plus a selection of homemade fruit pies people bring along. And if you bring a homemade pie with you - which will be judged by our star baker and the Pierateers - you will get a £2.00 discount on your ticket! Let us know if you're planning to bring a homemade pudding pie when you enquire about your ticket!
As you can imagine, we can't wait for our next Pie Party on Saturday 16th November and we hope to see some of you there!!
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 Follow @pierateers
and let us know your thoughts!
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