Friday 28 November 2014

World's Biggest Mince Pie - Pieday Friday - 28th November 2014



It's Friday! It's Pieday!
Please remember to vote for us in the blog awards - only a few days left to vote!


We had a pie party!

The Pierateers held a big 5th birthday bash, and invited 60 of their pie-loving friends along to the event. There were pies galore, with catering provided by the London Pie and Mash Company, top pie-rizes from Paul's Pies, and some amazing homemade dessert pies brought in by the pie fans! You can read about the event and pies here.








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We've been nominated for 2 BLOG AWARDS! And now we really need your votes, for the love of pies!! So please please click both here and here and give us a vote! It won't take 5 seconds!



Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers! You can read our ode to the Thanksgiving pie here. And he's already a confirmed pie-lover on our Celebrities Who Love Pies list, but Barack Obama went one step beyond proving his love for pies by serving up 6 different types of pie for his Thanksgiving dinner. "We go all out on pies," said the president. "We don't play with pie."

Obama, we salute you.


Yorkshire bakery cooks up world's BIGGEST mince pie

I'm not mincing my words when I say that Yorkshire-based Lottie Shaw's bakery have concocted a MONSTER of a pie. This gigantosaurus weighs 2 stone and contains a whopping 56,140 calories. Very im-pie-ressive!



Would you eat an insect pie?

TV presenter Stefan Gates was at Borough Market this week offering a rather unusual twist on your regular mince pie - the mince fly. Alongside the traditional spiced fruit, these pies also contained larvae and locusts, with the aim to challenge people's preconceptions and encourage them to consider other sustainable food sources.


If you have a story you think would be good to feature in next week's Pieday Friday, send us an email at pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or contact us on Twitter @pierateers 
continue reading "World's Biggest Mince Pie - Pieday Friday - 28th November 2014"

Thursday 27 November 2014

Happy Thanksgiving 2014!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's not often that we stop and think how thankful we are for our food – and particularly the pies. Sure, a lot of us in the Western world simply have to pop down to the local supermarket or pie store to be able to pick up a wide selection of pies, as demonstrated by our long pie rankings list of over 425 pies at time of publishing! But we can still all be thankful for each and every one of them (even if they don’t all turn out to rate as highly as we had hoped on the 7 Cs pie rating system every time!)

"Turkey" Pie from the American Pie Council Facebook page
Americans and many others around the world celebrate Thanksgiving Day, to give thanks for the food they have. Sure, like many festivals these days, the idea of “Thanksgiving” has been somewhat pie-jacked by the media and food suppliers as a chance to sell off more of their turkeys and pies, but we at Pierate HQ can see right through that and still want to retain the original “Thanks” in Thanksgiving.

So perhaps you would love to enjoy a pie or two this Thanksgiving and don’t know where to start? Well there is much to learn from the American Pie Council and there are lots of awesome articles and recipes around if you wish to bake your own. Take for example the apple pie recipe by Youtube Chef Caroline Mili Artiss - who has her own Youtube Channel sharing lots of top recipes. This particular recipe can be found on the "indi" website which showcased this apple pie alongside some other goods from this time of year in a competition a few weeks ago and Pierateer Rob went on to bake it for our recent 5th Birthday Pie-rty - another thing to be thankful for as we celebrated 5 years of Pierate just a few weeks ago!

Apple Pie Review
The Apple Pie made by Pierateer RAS for our Birthday Pie-rty!

Whether it’s Apple Pie, Pecan Pie or Pumpkin Pie in the United States, or even a Turkey Pie like we have in the UK, go on... bake or just eat a pie and share it this Thanksgiving time! And it you need some ins-pie-ration, why not check out our pie rankings once again!

AND WHEREVER YOU ARE, WE WANT TO THANK EVERY SINGLE PIE PRODUCER OUT THERE FOR THE PIES THEY HAVE MADE THIS YEAR AND WISH THEM ALL A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING! ENJOY THE PIE!!!


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

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Happy Thanksgiving 2014!"

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Pies at the Pierate Party!

The pies of the www.pierate.co.uk 5th Birthday pie-rty!


We were absolutely delighted to be able to celebrate less than two weeks after International Pierate Day 2014 with almost 60 guests, who had the chance to enjoy traditional London Pie and Mash for dinner and then rate some delicious home made dessert pies, at our 5th Birthday Pie-rty held in Birmingham. So what were all these lovely pies?

You can read about the pie party itself - as opposed to just about the pies that were eaten and rated there - in our "Pierate's 5th Birthday Pie-rty" article!


Following in the footsteps of our Pierate Pie Contest 2013, guests had the chance to bring their own pie creations – this time for dessert – with a wide range of pies (and a few “pies”) brought along and thoroughly enjoyed! There was a great selection of dessert pies provided, ranging from the traditional apple and fruit pies to chocolate and cherry and one containing three snickers bars! Naturally the guests were told about the 7 Cs of pie rating and able to give the pies they tried a pie rating!

Home made Pie Party Review
The home made pies of the Pierate Birthday Pie-rty!
Thanks once again to all those who brought a home made pie along with them. It was a great selection and people thoroughly enjoyed them!

The Pierateers also got in on the act, making a fruit pie for dessert. The apple pie Pierateer RAS made was significantly less exotic than the crocodile pie he made a few months ago, which went on to star in the Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice pie episode in which it was rated by none other than Michelin star winning TV chef Michel Roux Jr! However his fruit pie proved popular with the guests and other friends who tried it.

Caroline Artiss Apple Pie Review
Rob used the apple pie recipe by Youtube Chef Caroline Mili Artiss - who has her own Youtube Channel sharing lots of top recipes. This particular recipe can be found on the "indi" website which showcased this apple pie alongside some other goods from this time of year in a competition a few weeks ago. Though let's face it - what could possibly beat a good old apple pie?!

While it didn't quite bake evenly, I think I did the pie justice and the  additional pastry pie, knife and fork logo is reasonably clear on the top! A very nice, sweet apple pie which has a firm but crumbly crust was very tasty and strong enough to be able to pick up in your hand. And not a soggy bottom in sight - exactly what a Pierateer expects from their pie! I would definitely recommend you watch the video and give this apple pie a go. Great job Caroline!

Apple Pie Review

Apple Pie Review


Pierate Pie Party Guests

And let's not forget the savoury pies we were treated to at the party...

Dinner by The London Pie and Mash Company
The Pierateers had organised for dinner to be provided by The London Pie and Mash Company, a relatively new company who are able to cater for parties, festivals and other events. They served up, unsurprisingly, traditional London pie and mash – the name really does give it away! These minced beef pies, mash potato and liquor went down really well with the party guests, and many people enjoyed trying the vinegar and liquor with their pie for the first time. The vegetarian pies were filled with seasonal vegetables and got very good comments from those who tried one too.

Paul's Pies Pie Review
Paul's Pies as pie-rizes!
And if you think the pies look familiar, that’s because The London Pie and Mash Company use the authentic London pies made in London by Eel House Ltd pies – who we have already rated as “Pierate Recommended” with a great 5.73/7! (Click on the link and you can find out how to order some Eel House Ltd pies yourself!)

We also can't forget to mention the delicious Paul's Pies we were donated as the pie-rizes for those who had baked a homemade pie, who got to take home one of Paul’s Highly Rated Pies with them as a big thank you! Thanks to Paul’s Pies for providing a big box of their delicious pies!

RAS

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

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Pies at the Pierate Party!"

Monday 24 November 2014

Pierate’s 5th Birthday Pie-rty

Celebrating 5 years of www.pierate.co.uk with our second pie party/contest!


Pierate Pie Party Guests

We’ve been talking about it for weeks, but on Saturday 22nd November we completed our ‘Month of birthday surPIEses’ – in celebration of 5 years since www.pierate.co.uk began! Having celebrated International Pierate Day 2014 less than two weeks ago, we gave almost 60 guests the chance to rate some pies at our 5th Birthday Pie-rty, held in Birmingham.

Pierate Pie Party Guests
The party kicked off with a big welcome to the many guests who attended as people dropped off their homemade pies and got ready for a fun evening of pie eating and rating. Pierateer RAS kicked off proceedings with a brief “pie-light reel” of some of the exciting developments that have happened aboard the Pierate Ship over the past five years – in particular our various radio and television appearances in the last twelve months and judging at the British Pie Awards 2014.

Dinner by The London Pie and Mash Company
This was swiftly followed by dinner time! You’ll be pleased to know that dinner and dessert pie eating took up the two largest chunks of time in the “pie chart” produced for the evening! The Pierateers had organised for dinner to be provided by The London Pie and Mash Company, a relatively new company who are able to cater for parties, festivals and other events. They served up, unsurprisingly, traditional London pie and mash – the name really does give it away! These minced beef pies, mash potato and liquor went down really well with the party guests, and many people enjoyed trying the vinegar and liquor with their pie for the first time. The vegetarian pies were filled with seasonal vegetables and got very good comments from those who tried one too.

Pierate Pie Party Homemade Pies
The brilliant homemade pies!
The London Pie and Mash Company did a great job of catering for the 60 guests, taking over the hall’s kitchen and providing hot pie and mash for the guests. I’d wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone else organising a pie party or event. And if you think the pies look familiar, that’s because The London Pie and Mash Company use the authentic London pies made in London by Eel House Ltd pies – who we have already rated as “Pierate Recommended” with a great 5.73/7! (Click on the link and you can find out how to order some Eel House Ltd pies yourself!)

Following in the footsteps of our Pierate Pie Contest 2013, guests had the chance to bring their own pie creations – this time for dessert – with a wide range of pies (and a few “pies”) brought along and thoroughly enjoyed! There was a great selection of dessert pies provided, ranging from the traditional apple and fruit pies to chocolate and cherry and one containing three snickers bars! Naturally the guests were told about the 7 Cs of pie rating and able to give the pies they tried a pie rating!

You can read about and see more pictures of the pies that were eaten and rated at our 5th Birthday Pie-rty in our "Pies at the Pierate Party" article!


Paul's Pies Pie Review
Paul's Pies as pie-rizes!

All in all the pie party flew by and with a quick game of pass the piecel to end the night on, featuring some delicious Paul's Pies as the pie-rizes, everyone went home happy (particularly those who had baked a homemade pie, who got to take home one of Paul’s Highly Rated Pies with them as a big thank you!) Thanks to Paul’s Pies for providing a big box of their delicious pies for pie-rizes!



Pierateer RAS had this to say at the end of the night: "Many thanks to all those who helped in setting up and setting down the venue - I couldn't have done it without you! - and those who brought pies along. It was a pietastic evening of fun with friends and family! While there was unfortunately not time to work out whose homemade pie won in the end, I think we can all safely say that ‘everyone was a winner’ after an evening of fabulous pies from The London Pie and Mash Company and our home bakers!"

Here’s to many more fun pie nights ahead!

Pierateer Rob with Olac, from The London Pie and Mash Company

RAS

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

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Pierate’s 5th Birthday Pie-rty"

Friday 21 November 2014

Let's All Have A Party! - Friday 21st November - Pieday Friday



It's Friday! It's Pieday!
Please remember to vote for us in the blog awards - only a few days left to vote!


Big Pie Party for the Pierateers!

Last year's Pie Contest 2013
We're celebrating the big '5' with a big '6-0'! Yes that's right - this Saturday 22nd November we'll be celebrating our 5th Birthday by eating pies along with over 60 of our pie pals! We'll all be enjoying a traditional pie and mash dinner from The London Pie and Mash Company and seeing what our guests bring for dessert.

And to top it all off, we've been sent a box full of Paul's Pies for pie-rizes to a number of our comPIEtitions on the evening! This is going to go down in history as a ridiculous not-to-be-missed pie-fueled event! You can almost certainly follow live tweets on our Twitter, although remembering how hectic last year's pie party/contest was, there wasn't much time for tweeting...



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We've been nominated for 2 BLOG AWARDS! And now we really need your votes, for the love of pies!! So please please click both here and here and give us a vote! It won't take 5 seconds!



Pie Tweets of the Week
Chris is going for gold! Ins-pie-rational! I do hope we'll be tasting a 7/7 from you soon Chris, can't wait!
 Thanks for the international pie advice Steve! As you know, we're trying to find the best pie in the world, not just in the UK. So when we head abroad, such as on Greek Pie Tour in this case, it's very helpful to receive suggestions.


'Lidl has the best mince pies'

In a blind tasting, Wahaca founder Thomasina Miers rated Lidl's Snowy Lodge mince pies as her favourite on the high street. And guess what, the web's premier pie rating website has also rated Lidl's Snowy Lodge offering as the highest scoring supermarket-branded mince pie on the high street (so far)! If you visit our interactive pie rankings table and click on 'Mince', you'll see that Lidl comes third after Robinson's Bakery and, of course, Mr Kipling.

Look out for some mince pie rating on Pierate soon!


If you have a story you think would be good to feature in next week's Pieday Friday, send us an email at pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or contact us on Twitter @pierateers 
continue reading "Let's All Have A Party! - Friday 21st November - Pieday Friday"

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Are Harrods Larders filled with top Essex pies?

Essex Larders Chicken and Herb Pie Review, bought at Harrods


In what's become a yearly tradition (okay, so I've now done it twice...) I headed in to what is probably one of the most - if not the most - famous stores in the world, let alone in London. Getting off the tube at Knightsbridge and quickly darting in from the downpour outside, I plotted my route to the Harrods Food Hall. I was in for a bit of a sur-pies!

Harrods Essex Larder Chicken Pie Review
The Harrods Pie in wrapper
For where I had picked up a pie during my visit a year ago, I saw in front of me probably the world's most expensive shepherd's potato bake (that's a shepherd's "pie", if you're not familiar with the term...) at a jaw dropping £47.60!!!

But don't worry pie fans! You're not going to see the first ever potato bake reviewed on Pierate! Oh no! A bit further round the hall I found my golden treasure, fully encased in pastry. Interestingly they had expanded their range a bit and started selling a 'hot pie and mash' option, in addition to now selling Pieminister pies (which you've no doubt seen sold in local supermarkets and some pubs). You won't be surprised to know we've got quite a number of Pieminister pie reviews on Pierate.

Read about the Harrods Luxurious Mince Pies we rated last year, which featured in our '12 Pies of Christmas’ music video!



But the pie I picked up was from a company I hadn't heard of before - Essex Larders. The pie was a chicken and herb pie, sold cold in pork pie style with jelly and a large filling. It was quite a substantial price at £2.50 per 100g or £9.80 for the piece photographed, but then again expectations (and prices) are high at Harrods. I bought enough to have 4 reasonable slithers - with my housemate Jeremy and friends Laura and Amy.

Harrods Essex Larder Chicken Pie Review
Harrods Essex Larder Chicken Pie Review

Biting into it, the pastry was crisp but not too thick. The filling made up the vast majority of this pie, with a reasonable slither of jelly and quite a thick central herb layer. The chicken was tender and the herbs blended well with it. Altogether a very nice pie, though the jelly was a bit overpowering in my view and there could have been a few less herbs v chicken.

The condition was good and I'd happily eat it again, though the price tag may well put me off purchasing it. But then this is Harrods!

Essex Larders Chicken and Herb Pie Review, bought at Harrods
Score: 5.21/7
[Colour 5.5, Capacity 6, Consistency 4.5, Condition 5.5, Chewiness 6, Cheapness 3, Content 6, Total: 5.21/7]
RAS


See where this pie ended up in the Pierate Pie Rankings or find other pies of a similar flavour.

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Are Harrods Larders filled with top Essex pies?"

Sunday 16 November 2014

Mistake and kidney; and the apple of my pie

It was #InternationalPierateDay, so it was only right that I had a double-pie for dinner!


First up is a pie that my esteemed colleague Pierateer RAS has already reviewed - a Bird's Eye steak and kidney pie. However, while RAS seemed to have quite a satisfactory experience with this pie, my experience was not quite the same.



The pie just collapsed and fell apart as I cut into it. However, I'm willing to accept that perhaps my friend's oven wasn't up to the task of cooking this pie. Although I put it in the oven for the allocated time, this was my friend's oven so perhaps I'm not used to how it cooks. Also, the lack of golden colour on the pie would suggest it might be underbaked. However, regardless of that, I did find the filling lacking in any decent chunks of meat - it was mostly gravy, and didn't taste particularly nice in my opinion. I won't rock the boat by re-scoring this pie (as the venerable RAS has already fulfilled this duty) - but let's just say, I personally wouldn't buy this pie again.



Before we head on to the dessert course, please vote for us by clicking here! >>>>>>>
Thanks!


 Freshpack Apple Pie Review

Now onto dessert - and a pie we haven't rated! A £1.49 large apple pie from Freshpack. This is a decent price for a large pie.



Upon removing the pie from the oven, you can see there is a very uneven bake. Again, this is most likely my friend's oven at fault here. However, some of the pastry on the lid is a little soggy and the pie doesn't look in the best of conditions. The lid is very plain and a bit boring. The pie is also quite shallow. (Note that the picture on the box is just a serving suggestion - if you want the lid to look like that, you have to add additional sugar and milk)



On cutting into the pie, I can see just how shallow this pie is. In my opinion, the filling isn't the best of quality - it seems rather sickly sweet, and it's small jammy chunks of apple are quite distant from a quality hand-made affair. The pastry is a bit bland, a tad chewy, and doesn't have that nice flaky texture. Still, I shared this pie with two friends and we all quite enjoyed it (and it got eaten pretty quickly, so that's a good sign). In short, this pie is cheap and friendly, but its shortcomings are fairly obvious.

Freshpack Apple Pie
[Colour: 3 Condition: 3 Content: 2 Capacity: 3.5 Chewiness: 4 Consistency: 3 Cheapness: 5]
Score: 3.36/7
TJP
continue reading "Mistake and kidney; and the apple of my pie"

Saturday 15 November 2014

Help take Pierate to the next level in just 5 seconds

For the first time ever, we've actually entered an awards thingy, and now we need your votes! Go on, give us a cheeky vote, for the love of pies! It will only take 5 seconds.

Just follow the links below (there are two categories, and you can vote once in each)

Most innovative:


Food and drink:
 

Thanks so much!!

Pierate HQ
continue reading "Help take Pierate to the next level in just 5 seconds"

Friday 14 November 2014

Pierate Birthday Celebrations - Pieday Friday - 14th November 2014


It's Friday! It's Pieday!


Month of Birthday SurPIEses - 5 years of Pierate Pie Reviews

As you'll no doubt have noticed here on Pierate we really do enjoy rating pies - so much so that we have over 425 in our Pie Rankings at present and many more to add to it in the next few weeks!

But did you know we've been rating pies for 5 years now?! Yes, from that first post back on 12th November 2009 to the present day, we've been rating pies on the 7 Cs of pie rating and we did precisely that on Wednesday 12th November 2014! For we have designated this day "International Pierate Day" and you can read about the day and see our commissioned art work by @michlan in our International Pierate Day 2014 article!



In addition to encouraging you all to eat and rate pies on 12th November, Pierateer RAS also decided to try and solve the question of why shops sell mince pies before December?! To help him ponder this, he ate a mince pie for every meal that day and you can read the results here!

You can also catch up with all the latest birthday pie news by following our twitter hashtag of #InternationalPierateDay


Greek Pie Tour

You may not realise this but we're not just sailing the 7 Cs of pie rating to find the best pie in England or even the UK! We're looking for the best pie in the World!!!

As such, when we visit a new country we are always looking out for a pie-tential golden pastry treasure just waiting to be unearthed! And with Pierateer RAS heading out to Athens for the week, he'll be in search of any Greek Pies on offer!

Early indications look good, with a mention of "cheese pies" in the guide book he has about Greece, though having ordered a "spinach pie" on the first evening of his holiday, what was presented to him certainly didn't meet the criteria of a true pie! (It was more of a slice.)

Full reviews will be coming soon, but in the meantime check out his reasonably successful "When in Rome..." Pie Tour from this time last year!


Pie Tweet of the Week
Yep... so this week we had a tweet from Jamie Oliver. THE Jamie Oliver! And while we were disappointed to see him promoting a top crust recipe on his twitter account, we did aPIEreciate him admitting that a proper pie has to be fully encased in pastry when he was picked up on it by our pie friend Chris! Chris had just teased Jamie that he needed help, as a true pie needs pastry all the way round! Couldn't agree more Chris - see our definition of a true pie here!


Paul's Pies set for BBC Two feature tonight

You don't need to hear us banging on again about how we were on TV on the Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice.

But excitingly Paul Sykes, the founder of Paul's Pies and maker of our current number 1 and number 3 pies out of over 425 in our pie rankings is going to be appearing on BBC Two tonight (14th November). He shall be featuring with chef Tom Kerridge on his current TV show "Tom Kerridge's Best Ever Dishes". We look forward to seeing him on there! And if you want to know a bit more about Paul and his pies, see our interview with him when we awarded Paul "Honoury Pierateer" status last year.


If you have a story you think would be good to feature in next week's Pieday Friday, send us an email at pierateship@yahoo.co.uk or contact us on Twitter @pierateers 
continue reading "Pierate Birthday Celebrations - Pieday Friday - 14th November 2014"

Wednesday 12 November 2014

International Pierate Day 2014 - Mince Pie with every meal

Of course you won't need us to tell you we were going to be eating and rating pies on International Pierate Day 2014! That's a given. But it's not like us to do some sort of silly pie-blicity stunt just to get your attention... wait, okay... so maybe we occasionally do! But Python Pie, Crocodile Pie and eating 21 pie meals in 7 days (and losing weight while doing so!) aside, we hardly make a fuss about the 425+ pies we've rated so far. So for our birthday, we thought we'd try and solve a mystery:


Just why do shops sell mince pies before December?

Pierate Pierateer Print Michlan
Our birthday print by @michlan
In order to answer this question, and quite frankly a great excuse to do Piethagoras' Theorem on International Pierate Day 2014, Pierateer RAS has decided to try "Mince Pie with every meal" - an attempt to solve why mince pies are sold before December!

Breakfast


I'm not going to lie - a mince pie for breakfast is at times almost a common feature of my diet, rather than an abnormality or chore of any kind. Especially last November/December time, when I ended up eating tens of mince pies in order to create our "12 Pies of Christmas" music video! The mince pie of choice for the day is Booths Mince Pies - sold in the Northern supermarket chain and purchased on a recent trip up to Morecambe to film with the BBC.

Booths Mince Pie Review
Supplementing my usual breakfast banana, the pie slipped down well, providing a bit of a sugary, pastry boost to the morning. Well needed when I woke up tired after staying up late to write our Birthday post last night!

The pastry wasn't overly crisp and the wonky lids didn't create the nicest condition possible, but the pie filling was quite nice and fruity. I'd certainly prefer a less shallow pie than this, as the pastry rather dominated the flavour of the pie. But the pie was good and I'm just limbering up for my lunchtime mince pie...

Lunch


Booths Mince Pie Review
Lunch involved a trip to the work canteen and the main meal for the day was Lamb Tagine. I have to admit, seeing the stew like option there on display the first thing that went through my head was “Why don’t they wrap that in pastry – with clearly defined base, sides and lid naturally – and sell it as a pie?!”

Anyway, the meal was nice, but the main thing was the mince pie I had with it, which again I couldn’t help think was a little too shallow and the fruit mix in it wasn’t quite as nice. There were a few crunchy bits in the mince mix within this pie which I didn’t particularly enjoy. However all in all, the pie was again a reasonable standard.

Dinner


Booths Mince Pie Review
Having got home from work and with packing to do for my holiday the next day, I needed something quick and easy to cook. Admittedly I could have easily used this as an excuse to go to the local takeaway and get a Pukka Pie and chips (believe me, I don’t normally need an excuse for a pie!) but having a mince pie ready and waiting for dessert, I decided to stick with my original plan of chicken kiev.

As I’d already had two of these mince pies “au naturel” I decided to have this third one of the day with a bit of ice cream, which did mix it up a bit. However by this point I had definitely decided that this wasn’t my favourite mince pie to eat. The pastry wasn’t overly crisp and there could have been more filling to balance the pastry:filing ratio better but overall it was a nice, if not spectacular mince pie. At £1.19 for 4 pies, so 30p each, this was a fair bit more expensive than the Lidl/Tesco/Mr Kipling comparisons of last year but not too badly priced.

Pierate Birthday Card
Pies, our birthday card and birthday print by @michlan
Booths Mince Pies
Score: 4/7

[Colour 3.5, Capacity 4, Consistency 3.5, Condition 4, Chewiness 4.5, Cheapness 4.5, Content 4, Total: 4/7]

And as for why mince pies get sold before December? Well, I think there are a few reasons. Firstly, why would you ever only want to eat pies in December?! Surely more places should follow the lead of Robinsons Bakery and sell mince pies all year round! Secondly, with so many to choose from, you need to start early in order to sample a good range of mince pies in order to choose your favourite for Christmas Day!

But finally - and arguably most importantly – you wouldn’t be able to eat and rate mince pies on International Pierate Day if they weren’t sold until December. And we certainly wouldn’t want that to happen!!!

RAS

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

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "International Pierate Day 2014 - Mince Pie with every meal"

International Pierate Day 2014

Today the Pierateers of pie review website www.pierate.co.uk celebrate their 5th Birthday! So naturally we thought what better way to celebrate than to eat a pie and rate it?! It follows in the footsteps of the very first International Pierate Day last year.


But we don’t want you – pie lovers worldwide – to just sit at home and watch as we eat all the pies! Oh no! Pie eating and pie rating is something we can all enjoy. Something that can bring friends, family and communities together. Pies are celebrated and eaten in so many countries worldwide and so today – marking our fifth birthday – we would love you to join us in eating and rating pies with us!

That’s why we’ve designated
12th November as International Pierate Day!

And to celebrate the occasion of our 5th birthday, we commissioned designer @Michlan to create us this lovely, personalised print (which is proudly being displayed in Pierate HQ right now!)

Pierate Pierateer Print
Our Birthday Pierateer print by @michlan

So here’s the deal... in six simple words: Eat a pie and rate it!

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 to! But the important thing is we love to eat pie and rate it – for we are, after all, the Pierateers!

In addition to all the exciting plans we have for #InternationalPierateDay and our 'Month of birthday surPIEses', we are also delighted to announce that The London Pie and Mash Company Limited are coming to Birmingham to provide traditional London pie, mash and liquor for our 5th Birthday Pie-rty on 22nd November! We can't wait!!!





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?

Pierate Pie Reviews Seven Cs Infographic
The Seven Cs of pie rating infographic

This International Pierate Day we're looking to solve a pie mystery that has bamboozled shoppers for years... Just why do shops sell mince pies before December?

Find out our thoughts on the matter and our pie rating of Booths Mince Pies by checking out our article
"International Pierate Day 2014 - Mince Pie with every meal"


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 - of over 425 pies we've rated and reviewed over the past 5 years - or perhaps you'd like to narrow it down to our 'Best Pies in London Restaurants'?

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 today! We sure will!!!



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

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "International Pierate Day 2014"

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Frozen microwaveable pie and mash...what could go wrong?

Kershaws 'Cooks' Pie and Mash

It is time for another pie review! Now, I was perusing the freezer aisle of a medium-sized independent supermarket, knowing this was the ideal place to pick up some unreviewed pies (I think we've reviewed most commercially available supermarket pies now). I came across this little package - a 'Cooks' pie and mash! 

pie and mash

Ooh, Cooks, that's not a brand that we've tried before, this could be quite good! 'Family butchers'! An 'East End Speciality'! Only £1.89 for pie, mash AND herb liquor!

But then I flipped the pack over and my heart sank a little. It was a Kershaws. Readers of the blog will know that I've tried a couple of Kershaws pies in the past and found them rather...disappointing. Their segmented microwaveable packages never seem to live up to the appetising picture on the box, and while they're cheap they are not very filling. The condition of the pie is pretty dismal, presented like a limp rectangle in an oversized plastic packet.

pie and mash

After some time in the microwave, the pie and mash is ready for serving. Blimey, this is quite a stingy portion! It barely takes up half of my regular-sized plate! It doesn't look too bad though, considering it's a microwave job. The pie at least has a reasonable golden colour, and it is actually fully encased in pastry.

pie and mash

On slicing the pie open, I note that pie is (perhaps surprisingly) rather well filled. I mean, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at that considering how small the pie is (there wouldn't be any room for an airgap without the pie being virtually empty), but it's still pleasing to the eye.

pie and mash

Since I microwaved this pie, it's a given that the pastry is going to be chewy and not at all crispy. What I am pleasantly surprised at is how nice the liquor is. It does seem to be genuinely herby. The pie, however, has little going for it. The meat filling isn't any special, and the whole thing is just so small and miserly. 

In summary, this pie is edible, and I do believe it is the first time I've ever seen a traditional pie and mash in a supermarket so thumbs up for originality. The best part, in my view, was the liquor, but this pie is tiny tiny so even at the low cost of £1.89 this pie isn't a steal.

Kershaws 'Cooks' Pie and Mash
Colour: 3.2 Condition: 3 Content: 2.5 Capacity: 1 Chewiness: 3 Consistency: 3 Cheapness: 3.5
Total: 2.74/7
TJP
continue reading "Frozen microwaveable pie and mash...what could go wrong?"

Monday 10 November 2014

Pre-pie-ration for Pierate's 5th Birthday!

International Pierate Day 2014 - Pie review website www.pierate.co.uk are getting ready to celebrate their 5th Birthday!


We are now just a couple of days away from when the leading pie review website - yep, that's us at www.pierate.co.uk - is five years old! So we naturally thought what better way to celebrate than to eat a pie and rate it?!

But we don’t want you – pie lovers worldwide – to just sit at home and watch as we eat all the pies! Oh no! Pie eating and pie rating is something we can all enjoy. Something that can bring friends, family and communities together. Pies are celebrated and eaten in so many countries worldwide and so on Wednesday – marking our fifth birthday – we would love you to join us in eating and rating pies with us!

That’s why we’ve designated
12th November as International Pierate Day!



So here’s the deal... in six simple words: Eat a pie and rate it!

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 to! But the important thing is we love to eat pie and rate it – for we are, after all, the Pierateers!

In addition to all the exciting plans we have for #InternationalPierateDay and our 'Month of birthday surPIEses', we are also delighted to announce that The London Pie and Mash Company Limited are coming to Birmingham to provide traditional London pie, mash and liquor for our 5th Birthday Pie-rty on 22nd November! We can't wait!!!





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?

Pierate Pie Reviews Seven Cs Infographic
The Seven Cs of pie rating infographic

So what do you need to do now?


Well, get your eyes on the pies and have a pie ready for Wednesday! (Or if you're anything like us, get a number of pies ready, so that when you "accidentally" eat one or two today, and tomorrow, you still have some left on Wednesday!)

For insPIEration, you might find our Pie Rankings - of over 425 pies we've rated and reviewed over the past 5 years - or perhaps you'd like to narrow it down to our 'Best Pies in London Restaurants'?

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!!!


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

Make sure you 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Pre-pie-ration for Pierate's 5th Birthday!"