Pieminister Pie Review: The Perfect Comfort Food

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Pieminister Pie Review: The Perfect Comfort Food

Pieminister Pie Review - Moo and Blue

Those who say that you should never go food shopping on an empty stomach do not appreciate pies. Convenient and filling, they fill a hole like no other food can. It was this reason why I picked up a pieminister from Sainsbury’s, after I realised that it was half four and I’d not eaten. While at £2.99 it was a fair bit more expensive that the average pie, my eye was caught by the appealing packaging and I figured that after having just finished my dissertation, I deserved the best pie I could buy. I paused for a minute when I considered the only flavour there was: moo & blue. While this was a fun name, I was a little apprehensive of the blue part which was actually stilton. I do like cheese, but I wasn’t entirely sure I like it with steak and red wine gravy. I pushed this thought aside and figured: it’s a pie, how bad could it be? I was also a little put off by the look of the pies, two out of the three left had seemed to have leaked gravy through the pasty. I chose the best looking one. However, I picked up a regular Sainsbury’s own beef and onion pie too, just in case.

Fortunately, Sainsbury’s is only a stone throw away so I had my new pie home soon. Turning on the oven to heat up, this pie got an instant negative point. It would take a whole 25 minutes for it to cook! At least this would give me time to study the box:
“When the perils of life get you down and make your ‘happy moo’ blue, what you need is to chill with a steadying, comforting pie on some steamy mashed spuds all smothered in pieminister groovy. Stick in there buddy… all’s well that end’s well!”
This seems like it was my kind of pie. While I may not be having it with mash, I was confident that this pie was going to be amazing.

Now if it would only hurry up and cook!

*10 minutes later*

I took my pie out of the oven and transferred it to a plate. It smelt gooood. I stuck a knife in it just to make sure it was hot through. It wasn’t so I put it back on the baking tray and into the oven. Hurmp.

*10 minutes later*

That’s better. It was now hot all the way through. The pastry was that lovely golden colour which you only get with good quality. I have to say though, even though I picked up the best quality one I could, it still looked a little battered with holes in the top where the pastry had fallen in. I cut it open and while it took a minute to get through the crust, the gravy came pouring out. The moment of truth. I brought a forkful to my mouth with anticipation. Wow. This was a proper pie. The rich flavours only complimented each other, and while I could taste the stilton is wasn’t as overpowering as I thought it might be. There were also small chunks of carrot and onion. While the taste was good, I felt they skimped a bit on the filling. From the look of the pastry, you’d think it would be bursting with filling, but it only came to about halfway up. The meat was good quality though, and wasn’t at all chewy. While the pastry was a little tough, I put this down to me cooking it for an extra 10 minutes.

Though I felt a little cheated by the cost and the amount of filling, the size was actually fine for me, I’ve only got a little stomach! Also, the fullness of the flavours justified the cost. It is safe to say this is not your average pie.

1. Colour 5/5
2. Consistency 3/5
3. Capacity 2/5
4. Chewiness 3/5
5. Cheapness 2/5
6. Content 4/5
7. Condition 3/5

Pieminister Moo and Blue Pie - British Beef Steak and Stilton
Score: 4.4/7
ARL