Have yourself a very merry Pieminister Christmas Cracker!

Pieminister “The Cracker” (Turkey and Ham) Pie Review

Pieminister Cracker Turkey and Ham Pie

Like London buses, it had been a while since I’d rated a new Pieminister pie (to be fair, with 17 reviews already, it is becoming trickier each time to find a new one!!) and now two have come almost at once! For following hot on the heels of my review of their new(ish) pie shop in Birmingham City Centre, where I rated their “Kate and Sidney” pie as Pierate Highly Recommended, I was invited by them to try their new festive pie – “The Cracker”.

Alongside a number of their regular festive pies, which include “Deer Santa” (a venison pie), “Mistle Moo” (a Christmassy take on their steak pie) and the “Christingle” pie (the vegetarian option of roast parsnip, cheddar, leek and chestnut), “The Cracker” is their new pie for Christmas 2017 and it did the classics well. It was a British Turkey and Ham pie, with cranberries, parsnips and sherry.


With a slightly mixed bag from Turkey pies I’d had in the past, and a reputation as a meat for being a bit dry on occasion, I eagerly awaited how the turkey and ham pie from Pieminister would rate. And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at the moistness of the pie in general (from a nice sauce) and a quite well packed content with succulent meat pieces, considering the ingredients are 13% turkey and 5% ham. Unfortunately one of the pieces of turkey was rather large and chewy, but other than that it was very nice meat.

Pieminister Cracker Turkey and Ham Pie - Cross Section

The other thing was that I was expecting more of a noticeable hit with cranberries, especially as some turkey pies with cranberry in have been noticeably heavy with the sweet cranberry (one was very red in colour too!) but the cranberry flavour didn’t really present itself. On a personal note I wasn’t too bothered, as I don’t really like the overly sweet cranberry flavour and the parsnips provided enough of a different flavour anyway. However we do always note in our reviews if a flavour is labelled on the pie contents but not really noticeable.

The pastry colour was once again lovely and golden, particularly on top, and while the base pastry this time round seemed a little overdone than usual, I still very much enjoyed the pie and even the base pastry was still all eaten (unlike a few over baked pies I’ve had before – particularly at football grounds!!)

Overall the pie, chips and gravy meal cost £8.50, which as I said before is a little pricey for a meal of pie, mash/chips and gravy, but being a new city centre store and comparing this to other pie meals in pubs and shops in Birmingham city centre, I don’t think this is too unreasonable a price. And I’d certainly happily buy another one this Christmas season! I’ll soon review the Mince Pie Ice Cream Pie I also had on my festive visit to Pieminister!

Pieminister “The Cracker” British Turkey and Ham pie, with cranberries, parsnips and sherry
Score: 5.75/7
[Colour 6, Capacity 6.25, Consistency 6, Condition 6, Chewiness 5, Cheapness 5.5, Content 5.5]
RAS