And I thought 2012 was a vintage year for Pierate!

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


January

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

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

February

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

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

March

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

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

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

April

Pierateers RAS and SJL volunteering at the British Pie Awards 2013

May

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

June

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

July

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

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

August

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

September

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

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

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

October

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

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

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

November

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

December

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

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

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

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

And who can forget to mention:

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


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

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

Hap-pie New Year!!!

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Bergamo (Italy) Ham and Cheese Pie Review

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

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Programme Sponsor

In a first for Pierate, we recently sponsored our first event – as www.pierate.co.uk was the official programme sponsor of The Woodfield Entertainers 2013 pantomime “Captain Hook’s Revenge”, performed from Thursday 12th to Saturday 14th December 2013.

Representing the programme sponsors, I (Pierateer RAS) went to see pie rating pirates in panto in person! With a ticket to the Saturday matinee, I was treated to a lovely local production of the pantomime and had a good time afterwards meeting some of the cast in the local pub.

Tonkerbell, Peter Pan, Dotty the Dame, Captain Hook and Sharkey

You’ll probably have guessed there aarrrrrghhh plenty of pirates in Captain Hook’s Revenge, and the opening scene aboard the pirate ship was awash with singing and dancing pirates and the introduction of Captain Hook himself! (Booooo!!!!) There was also a cheeky reference to pies by the Indian tribe in Neverland, who suggested having a buffalo pie for dinner and then rating it on Pierate! And you could tell that the naughty pirates would rather have baked a pie – not a cake – when trying to poison the Crocodile and Indian tribe part way through the performance!



I’d personally like to thank Sara and all the wonderful group at The Woodfield Entertainers in Ashtead (Surrey) for making me feel so welcome and for a wonderful afternoon and evening. It was a real shame the pie I had in the pub with them afterwards didn’t live up to the high standards the performers reached but I wish them all every success in their future productions! And who knows, maybe I’ll pop down again for one of their future performances too!

For further info and future performances, do check out The Woodfield Entertainers website and @Woodies12 twitter feed.

RAS

Visit the website or call them for more details.

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The Top Pies Reviewed by the Pierateers plus fans top pies in 2013!

The Pierateers have eaten plenty of pies in 2013 but only five get into our "Big Fat Pie of the Year Top 5!"

So here they are:

Rank	Pie Producer	Pie Flavour	Score	By
1	Paul's Pies	Steak and Guinness	6.73	TJP
2	Paul's Pies	Chicken and Mushroom	6.55	SJL
3	Piebury Corner [N7 8DL]	Venison and Red Wine [Thierry Henry]	6.5	RAS
3	Piebury Corner [N7 8DL]	Lamb and Veg with a hint of mint [Ian Wright]	6.5	RAS
5	Jekyll and Hyde Pub [B4 6BJ]	Steak	6.45	RAS

But we also want to hear what our pie fans thought was there "Big Fat Pie of the Year 2013!" which is where you come in!

So please either leave a comment below or tweet us @Pierateers and we will include your favourite pies of the year in this article!

Over to you!



@NikSpeller: "Best pie of the year? I haven't actually eaten that many this year, but of what I've eaten @CanteenLondon were the best!" - The Venison pie @CanteenLondon

@FarmersgirlCook: "Without a doubt Mince and Cheese Pies - delicious http://farmersgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/mince-and-cheese-pies-and-pie-review.html #bigfatpieoftheyear"

@KirstyTV's "love pie"

@KirstyTV: "Yup! My love pie!"
(The video of Kirsty making this pie with Beth Howard @worldneedspie can be seen here!)

@CD_Angel: "For me, it has to be home made steak and ale #classic #pubgrubstyle"

@dreampopbakery: "My fav pie of the year @pierateers is def chilli beef from @NZGourmetPies full to the brim of tasty yummy chilli beef - the best ever :-) "

@OfficialPeters: "It has to be a Peter's Pie!!! - We love a good steak & kidney, but there's just so many good-uns... steak, steak & ale, roast chicken... YUM!!"

@mr_spoon: "My best pie of 2013, my own Christmas leftover pie. HAPPY NEW YEAR! - chicken, ham, peas, carrots, brussels, 2 cheeses and gravy."



@mr_spoon's Christmas Leftover Pie

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Mr Kipling Deep Filled Mince Pie Review

Even with the abundance of mince pies that are made and sold in the UK each and every year, there is one brand of mince pie synonymous with Christmas. That brand of pie is the Mr Kipling Mince Pie. So popular, they even have a twitter fan club!

Having been sent a free box from Mr Kipling for our 4th Birthday and about to go on holiday to Italy at that time, it only seemed right that I take the box of pies with me to share with my Italian friend and his family (who had never eaten a British pie before!)



Mr Kipling Mince Pies taken to the Colosseum, Italy

However this didn’t leave me with a fully representative sample and so, having bought some more in Poundland recently, it was time to give Mr Kipling a proper pie rating! (Ok, so maybe this was just an excuse to eat more pies...)



Box of Mr Kipling Mince Pies

The colour of the pie was a nice shade and immediately appetising. The condition of the pie was quite good, considering the box got slightly worse for wear due to all the travelling I was doing with the pies. There is supposed to be a pastry Christmas tree shape on top of the pies, though unfortunately these were not clearly visible on all the pies in my box. However upon biting into the pie, the lack of a little extra pastry tree was all forgotten about, as I enjoyed the mouthful of pie I was presented with.

Mr Kipling Mince Pie

The short crust pastry is nice and buttery – could be a little more moist in places but certainly not as dry as a lot of mince pies I’ve tasted at this time of the year. The pies were filled well with mincemeat content, although there was a bit of an air gap between the filling and pastry lid. This slight fault in capacity however was not an obvious detraction from the pie itself, as the ratio of filling:pastry was pretty much spot on. The filling was quite moist still, which was nice. A few little crisp bits of zest gave it a little tang but the moist, fruity filling was the real draw for me. Not too chewy and consistently good throughout the pie.

The pies were only £1 in Poundland, so 16.7ppp in a box of six. However some other retailers were charging anything up to £1.80 for six pies, so I’d certainly recommend shopping around!

You can see why these are called exceedingly merry mince pies, which if you shop around you can get for a bargain 16.7ppp each. A great addition to any Christmas or New Year celebration!



Mr Kipling Deep Filled Mince Pie
Score: 6.07/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 6.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 6.5, Content 6, Total: 6.07/7]
RAS

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Wishing you a very merry Christmas, from us all at Pierate!

I would like to give a little Christmas message, if I may. The theme I have chosen this year is unity. Whether you celebrate Christmas or whether you celebrate a separate religious festival, I'm sure you'll agree that we all feel a great sense of unity during the festive season. I feel more inclined to help a stranger, call my grandmother, and donate to charity.

This wonderful sense of unity can also be found in a pie. When you think about it, pies are the epitome of unity. The ingredients in the pastry unite together to form the dough. The egg wash unites the pastry edges, and the pastry holds the filling together with robust composure. The pie is a gorgeous symphony of pastry, meat and gravy - a rare orchestration of sublime smell, texture and taste that is so uncommon in this often cacophonous world. The flavours unite, the smells unite. The crunch of the pastry harmonizes with the blissful silkiness of the gravy. One feels a strong sense of connectedness with, and within, the pie.

This Christmas, my friends, we are all united in pie.

Merry Christmas.
Pierateer TJP + all at Pierate HQ

Of course, don't forget to watch Pierateer RAS' 12 Pies of Christmas! Yes, there really 78 pies!

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Higgidy “Special Guest” Lincolnshire Turkey, Bacon and Stuffing Pie Review

Christmas is a time for sharing gifts with your loved ones, welcoming in special guests to your home and enjoying good food and good banter! And what better food gift to share with your special guests than a pie (of course, at Christmas time it has to be a turkey pie!) The question is... What do you put with it? Obviously it needs to be packed full of meatilicious turkey – that’s a given! But what other parts of the Christmas meal should be included in the pie if you want to really give your guests some festive cheer?!

Well I guess everyone’s going to write a slightly different list (and check it twice) to Santa when requesting what type of turkey pie they want for Christmas. But for me, it would have to be turkey, bacon/sausage and stuffing, with a nice bit of gravy! Love a good amount of dinner with my gravy! So when I saw that the Higgidy Christmas Turkey pie contained all of my requirements, it was immediately added to my ’12 Pies of Christmas’ list!



4 Higgidy Pies

Coming out of the oven, the lid of the pie was a nice lightly golden colour and the sides and base were quite good colour, though a bit paler as can be seen in the photo. Cutting through the pie, there was a strong capacity, though a bit of an air gap between filling and pastry lid. There was not much of a mix of colour inside the pie, particularly because there weren’t many pieces of bacon in the filling to add to the colour.

However tucking into the pie, there was certainly no lack of turkey inside! The pieces were quite large and spread throughout the pie, though in both my pie and those of the three friends I shared my “Four Higgidy Pies” with, the consistency of turkey, bacon and stuffing throughout the pie wasn’t quite perfect, with some mouthfuls exclusively of stuffing.



Inside the Higgidy Turkey Pie

On the topic of stuffing, the sweet apricots in the stuffing (alongside the sausagemeat and festive herbs) did add a slight twist to this pie, adding hints of sweetness to another wise quite meaty pie. I wouldn’t personally add apricot to the pie, but it did make this pie a bit more unique and might appeal to some. Also, while this pie wasn’t dry, it did lack an ideal amount of moisture which would be provided by a little more gravy/stock. The side and base pastry, while nice to eat, could have done with being a bit less dry.

However my main disappointment with this pie was actually the level of pepper included in the recipe. Unfortunately this was a big distraction from the actual taste of the meat in the pie – so much so that when someone asked me the next day about the pie I had eaten, all that immediately came to mind was that it was far too peppery (for me and my special guests). I’m not a huge fan of pepper in pies, but this pie not only had pepper in the turkey and bacon filling and the stuffing, but also cayenne pepper in the short crust pastry!!! I can only hope that the pies we ate had been made in an overly peppery batch because the levels of pepper were so much that I’d personally rename this pie a “Pepper with turkey, bacon and stuffing” pie. To those who love their pepper, this is clearly the pie for you. Sadly, however, I don’t think this would greatly appeal to the wider turkey pie loving market. I certainly wouldn’t eat another if the recipe did not change.

At £3 per pie, I think this is very reasonable for a good sized, meaty Christmas pie. In addition, the pie box contained a token that – when 10 are collected – would allow me to get a free Higgidy pie, so I’m already well on my way to a free pie having eaten 4 Higgidy pies for the ’12 Pies of Christmas’ music video.

I don’t like to end on a sour (or peppery) note, but hopefully this was just an overly-peppery batch and the recipe will be slightly tweaked to provide a delicious turkey pie for next Christmas! There’s certainly a lot of potential in this Christmas pie if the recipe is just tweaked slightly.

Higgidy “Special Guest” Lincolnshire Turkey, Bacon and Stuffing Pie
Score: 5.36/7
[Colour 5, Capacity 6, Consistency 4, Condition 7, Chewiness 6.5, Cheapness 6, Content 3, Total: 5.36/7]
RAS

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Two of the pies on offer

The pies come served in a box

Compared to some of the other prices I've seen in this market, that actually seems quite reasonable for a large, heavy portion of food. It's by no means a bargain, but it could have been more expensive I think. Here's what the pie looks like on a plate:

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Pierate Pie Rating Demo – Mince Pie Edition

On board the Pierate Ship we are always looking for new ways to share our love of pies with the world. So when attending a Christmas Party with some friends, Pierateer RAS decided to - ins-pie-red by @aliimdadbakes cake making demo - host the first ever Pierate Pie Rating Demo!

That's right - an informative and educational whistle stop tour of how to rate a pie - the Pierate way! With three mince pies each to rate in a near blind taste test (the lights had been turned down low to create ambience in the room, which led to us having to use our mobile phones to see the plates of pies!!!) a group of wannabe Pierateers joined Pierateer RAS for a thorough brief.



Pie Rating Demo - before and after!

All ‘Pierateers in Training’ were given a copy of the 7 Cs - the way us Pierateers have been rating pies since we started four years ago - and were guided through the requirements. None of the guest Pierateers were told where the mince pies were bought from, let alone which one was which!

But before I tell you whose pie was rated highest by me and by the 'Pierateers in Training', here are the scores on the doors:

Cs	Pie A	Pie B	Pie C	Average
Colour	6	5	5.5	5.5
Capacity	4.75	5.25	6	5.3
Consistency	4.5	5	5.5	5
Condition	5.5	5	5.5	5.3
Chewiness	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.5
Cheapness	3	6	5.5	4.8
Content	5	5	6	5.3
Seven Cs Score	4.89	5.25	5.64	5.26

Name	Pie A	Pie B	Pie C	Highest Rated
Tim	4.14	5	5.5	Pie C
Ramin	1	5	4	Pie B
Tom	3.71	5	5	Pie B and Pie C
Will	4	4	5	Pie C
Brittany	2.86	5.14	3.57	Pie B
John	3	3	4	Pie C
Pierateer RAS	4.89	5.25	5.64	Pie C
Average	3.37	4.62	4.67	Pie C

And for those intrigued as to which pie was which, the results were:

Pie A = Heston from Waitrose Puff Pastry Mince Pie
Score: 4.89/7

Pie B = Tesco Mince Pie
Score: 5.25/7

Pie C = Sainsbury’s Deep Filled Mince Pie
Score: 5.64/7

So there we have it – while there were a few slight differences in scoring, we have a winner by a very small margin. Well done Sainsbury’s on winning this particular Pierate Pie Rating Demo – Mince Pie Edition! Until next time...

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Christmas by Sainsbury’s Deep Filled Mince Pie Review

It seems every supermarket likes getting into the festive pie spirit and Sainsbury’s are no exception. With a fantastic range of mince pies in store, we picked up the Christmas by Sainsbury’s Deep Filled Mince Pies to rate and also use as part of the first ever “Pierate Pie Rating Demo” (article coming soon), in a blind taste test with two other supermarket pies.

So what were the Sainsbury’s Mince Pies like? The pies cost £1.30 for a box of 6 mince pies or 21.7ppp, which makes them one of the slightly more expensive boxes of supermarket mince pies this Christmas time. However at Pierate HQ it’s not all about the price – it’s about whether the pie is worth the price!



Sainsbury's Deep Filled Mince Pie

The pies came in very good condition and were arguably the best looking pies out of the standard supermarket range. The colour was quite good for these pies and the pastry was nice and crisp, yet crumbled easily in the mouth. This did however also mean they crumbled quite badly when cut in half with a knife for sampling.
Inside the pie, there was a reasonably strong capacity of mincemeat. The content was nicer than the other supermarket pies I had eaten in the blind taste test, with a nice fruity taste lingering in the mouth upon completion of the actual pie itself. The content wasn’t too chewy, which was good, and was consistently well filled throughout the pie.



All in all, a very nice Christmas pie which is a little more expensive per pie than the comparison supermarket pies, but which still doesn’t break the bank.

Sainsbury’s Deep Filled Mince Pie
Score: 5.64/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6, Consistency 5.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 5.5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 6, Total: 5.64/7]
RAS

Note: While I did enquire with Sainsbury’s Head Office, unfortunately these Sainsbury’s Mince Pies were not featured in the '12 Pies of Christmas' video as George Bowden at Sainsbury’s felt "filming presents significant disruption to our stores".

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Simple Simon's Hot Roasted Root Vegetable with Mango and Chilli Pie Review

This pie review is the fourth in the series of Simple Simon's Perfect Pies pie reviews. You can read the other reviews here:

• A Simple (Simon's) breakfast pie
• Simply a great Beef & Whisky Pie, Simon!
• Chock full of chocolate! A fiery Simple Simon's pie for dessert

Having worked our way through the above Simple Simon pies, we're thrilled to review a fourth pie - this time, a spicy Hot Roasted Root Vegetable with Mango and Chilli pie.



You can see in the picture above that this pie developed a beautiful golden Colour in the oven, with the pastry looking perfectly crispy and flakey, yet the pie is still more than capable of holding itself together - perfect! I'm not quite sure what the XV on the top signifies - perhaps this is the 15th pie which Simple Simon developed? Or is Simple Simon aiming for 15th place in our pie rankings?

Either way, the pie is looking good so far. It's worth noting at this stage that this pie retails at £4.95 on the Simple Simon website, which seems quite expensive for what's a relatively small pie. This will cost the pie a few points in terms of Cost. But this pie is weighty, so it must be packed to Capacity inside with some quality dense filling. In fact, why hypothesise when we can just find out for real! Let's open up the pie!


My suspicions were correct! This pie is packed to Capacity with what looks like some quality Content. There's barely any air gap to be seen here! Terrific. On sampling the filling, I can see why they put "hot" in the name, because the spiciness of this pie certainly packs a punch. Don't get me wrong, it's not overwhelming, but the spiciness is more potent than I had anticipated from a pie. The spiciness isn't quite to my liking, however. As I finish the pie I can feel some perspiration on my face. I'm not convinced that pastry and chilli go together. The contents might be nicer outside of a pie than wrapped in pastry. It's a bit like eating a curry with pasta. The vegetables have a decent Consistency, and lie pleasantly between crunchy and soft, and score amiably on Chewiness.

Overall, this is a well-rounded pie but is let down by its Cost and the mix of chilli and pastry.

Hot Roasted Root Vegetable with Mango and Chilli Pie
Score: 5.29/7
TJP
(Colour: 6.5, Condition 6, Content 4, Capacity 5, Chewiness 6, Consistency 5.5, Cheapness 4)

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Top Collar Pork Pie Dog Biscuits Review

Top Collar Pork Pie Dog Biscuits

For most people who have a dog, their pet really is one of the family. They share the sofa, the bed and most probably a fair few pie scraps at the dinner table! But rather than just getting given the pie leftovers, what if there was a pork pie flavoured treat designed especially with dogs in mind?! Well that’s the brain child of Sophie at Top Collar!

In fact, Sophie’s passion for creating wholesome, fresh, meatilicious dog treats makes me kind of wish I was a dog! And when we heard that there were pork pie flavoured treats in her dog biscuit range, our Pierateer dog’s ears pricked up! We had to give some a rating!

At £4.95 for the dog biscuits and postage, these are a reasonable price to pay for dog treats, but you do have to remember the freshness of the ingredients used to make these biscuits! Don’t go leaving them around for long (as you might with mass produced dry dog biscuits), as they are made with fresh meat and therefore need to be eaten quickly – not that your pet dog is ever going to let you keep hold of these special treats for long!!!

But enough of me talking... these photos of Geordie eating the pork pie treats tell their own story!!!



Woof...Woof...Woof!!! Geordie and the Pork Pie Biscuits!

Geordie’s owner made these helpful comments:

Like most (or is that all?) Golden Retrievers, Geordie always enjoys biscuits, but given the speed with which he:-

1) assumed the position (bottom hitting the floor);
2) was very focussed (see photos);
3) waited patiently;
4) woofed the biscuits down; and
5) came back for more;

it fair to say that he very much enjoyed his new treats. A probable canine vote would be maximum points with 7 out of 7!


Safe to say that Sophie really has hit the nail on the head with these pie flavoured treats! While I would of course rather eat a pie than just a product that tasted like a pie, it is still a fab idea to provide the taste of pie to our canine companions and we wish Sophie all the best with her new venture. I’m sure dogs up and down the country will love their owners for buying these pork pie treats this Christmas time!

Oh and a word of advice to Sophie... You better get stockpiling on the pork pie dog biscuits!!!

For further info, do check out the Top Collar website and @TopCollar twitter feed. Thanks to Geordie’s owners for taking the photos and providing feedback. And thanks so much to Sophie for sending us a free sample! You can tell Geordie really enjoyed them!

RAS

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Lidl Snowy Lodge Mince Pie Review

Having been highly commended by Which? Magazine in a blind taste test, but not having had any of their pies rated on www.pierate.co.uk, I stopped off at Lidl in Manchester. Purchasing both the mini pies and the standard version (thus a total of 21 pies for only £2.84) I set about rating them.



11 Lidl Mince Pies, part of the '12 Pies of Christmas' (POC)

The standard Lidl pies came in a box of 12 at just 12.4ppp. Quite remarkable really, when a lot of mince pies can be anywhere from 25ppp to £1 or more! The pies were in quite good condition, although just on picking the pie out of the silver foil case, I could see cracks appearing between the side and lid pastry, which wasn't ideal. That said, when it came to biting into the pastry it was nice and light, crumbling perfectly in the mouth and not dry at all. The pastry was golden and buttery.

The content looked on first appearance like it would be more sauce and less fruit, however upon taking a few bites I was left with a nice, slightly lingering fruity flavour but also several pieces of fruit to chew over! A little too chewy perhaps and not quite as much fruit as some mince pies I've had (and believe me, I've reviewed a few mince pies lately!!!) but that didn't stop me thoroughly enjoying this mince pie! And at less than 12.5ppp it's hard not to say "no" to another... and another... and another...



Lidl Mince Pie

It is a good, affordable Christmas treat. One that will only leave a Lidl dent in your wallet but a far greater dent on your waistline! Especially if you eat 11 of them...

Lidl Snowy Lodge Mince Pie
Score: 5.79/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6, Consistency 5.5, Condition 6, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 7, Content 5, Total: 5.79/7]
RAS

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Do you know any celebrities who love pies? Don't forget to get involved in our #CelebrityPieQuest!

We're hunting down those celebrities who love to eat and share their love of pies. Have a look at who's got a famous fondness for pie, and add your suggestions in the comments or send us a Tweet @pierateers with #CelebrityPieQuest.

[Image: flickr/ tolomea]

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I've come here to Borough Market in Southwark, London, to see what pies I can find. The first stall I come across is The Ginger Pig, who sell quality rare breed meats. They fortunately also have quite a variety of pies on offer. I opt for the Beef Bourguignon pie.
 At £5.50, the pie is quite expensive. However, as you can see, the pie is also quite large.
The colour of the pie is already an attractive golden pine.
This pie is about to board the Pierate Ship for a thorough review from not one but FIVE Pierateers!












So what did the Pierateers make of the beef bourguignon pie from The Ginger Pig? Here are their notes:

• SJL: Packed with unprocessed steak, possibly rare breeds. A bit dry, but really tastes like beef bourguignon. Big bits of onion, but the pastry is hard, doughy, and really hard to cut to the bottom. Overall score: 4.50
• ARL: The pastry was solid. Overall score: 4.20
• TJP: The pastry was quite tough and difficult to cut with a knife, especially at the base of the pie. The steak was however of good quality, but a little dry for my liking. A tad expensive. Overall score: 5.30
• Guest: Overall score 5.50
• Guest: Overall score 6.95 (crazy! But this is a farmer who is keen on his quality beef)

Of course, here on the Pierate Ship we like to keep things consistent so we only use scores from accredited Pierateers when calculating the grand overall total score. Read the Seven Cs for how we rate our pies.

The Ginger Pig Beef Bourguignon Pie
Score: 4.67/7
TJP/SJL/ARL

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The Pierateers of www.pierate.co.uk have been eating many Christmas Pies - Turkey Pies and Mince Pies - on their adventures and have recorded a Christmas Video! Loosely based on the '12 Days of Christmas', enjoy the Pierateers take on this Christmas classic as you watch the '12 Pies of Christmas'. Enjoy!

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‘Tis the season to be jolly, and what could be more jolly than a festive pie? I’ve been baking gingerbread every Christmas since I was a teeny tiny Ship’s Cook, so a gingerbread pie seemed like the obvious choice for some December baking.

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