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!


The Pierate Pie made especially for us by Nice Pie!
It follows in the footsteps of the very first International Pierate Day in 2013, which has been celebrated on 12th November every year since! 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 tenth birthday – we would love you to join us in eating and rating pies this week to celebrate!

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!

An illustrated guide on how to rate a pie by @emily_etc


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 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 
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "International Pierate Day 2019"

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!

Pierate Pie Night


The motley crew from our Pie Contest 2013
Yes, on Saturday 16th November from 5:30-7:30pm we'll be welcoming Great British Bake Off Series 6 star Sandy Docherty and the pies from our number 1 pie maker (out of over 625 pies rated on our blog) - MyPie!

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!!!

Sandy and the Pierateers
Sandy and the Pierateers!
No surprise then that Sandy immediately became our favourite of that series, despite some real competition from man of many homemade cooking aids Ian, the king of the jungle Paul and series winner Nadiya (who you may remember had the privilege of then cooking the Queen's birthday cake!) You can reminisce on all the bakers from Series 6 here in their pre-show BBC Bios or read up on Series 6 on Wikipedia!

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:




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.

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
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "Pierate's Birmingham Pie Night for Charity 2019"

Monday 25 March 2019

Pieminister Gluten Free Moo Pie Review

Pieminister Steak & Ale Pie Review

A few years ago Pieminister started selling Gluten Free pies in their shops, but unfortunately I couldn't regularly get hold of them because there isn't a Pieminister shop near me. So I was delighted when they started selling them boxed in Sainsbury's. If I am to buy a pie from the supermarket this is my preferred choice, especially when they are on offer. It is great that there is now so much more choice in Gluten Free products including pies. It is fair to say that the standard of product has also gone up. I look back at some of the pies I reviewed a few years ago and to be honest, if I was to review some of those pies again I would probably score them lower. This Pieminister pie is probably the best you can get in a supermarket at the moment and it is well overdue a review on Pierate! Here are my thoughts on their Gluten Free Moo which is Steak & Ale Pie. I am told that this is based on one of the favourite flavours from their standard gluten containing range.

 
Condition - 5.5/7 - The pie looked nice, it was tall and appealing. It had collapsed a little and perhaps could have benefited from a foil tray rather than being free standing. It was in a plastic tray in the box which I don't like but didn't affect the s.
Colour - 5.5/7 - A nice golden brown around the edges but a bit pale and greasy looking towards the middle but overall an attractive pie.
Capacity - 6.0/7 - The pie scored strongly because it was tall, especially compared to other Gluten Free pies out there which tend to be shallow. It had a marginal sag in the middle. It was well filled with content without much air gap.
Cheapness - 5.0/7 - At £4.50 standard price this is really not a cheap pie. But it is important to remember that it is premium product. You can buy a box of two Genuis pies for around the same price but they are about half the size and have hardly any filling.  I would rather spend my money on this pie and eat it less often.
Content - 5.0/7 - The filling was a classic beef pie flavour and was very tasty although not out of this world. The chunks of meat were in a thick sauce and accompanied by pieces of carrot. The meat was tasty but in quite small pieces, I think for the price I expected bigger chunks. The smaller chunks probably made it seem like there was more meat than there was. The pastry also tasted really nice.
Chewiness - 6.0/7 - The meat was nice and lean and I didn't find any chewy bits. There was a brilliant crunch to the outside of the pastry.
Consistency - 6.5/7 - This pie is a great pastry and filling combination and works really well. The thick sauce has a satisfying consistency.

Overall a great product which is illustrated by the fact that I keep buying them! I would probably buy them more but I am trying to avoid buying any products packaged in plastic!

Gluten Free Moo (Pieminster)
5.57/7

ALE
continue reading "Pieminister Gluten Free Moo Pie Review"

Thursday 14 March 2019

True North - Sheffield Pie Challenge

True North Pubs, The Broadfield, Waggon & Horses & The York - Pie Reviews

At Pierate, we like a good challenge for British Pie Week. From spending three and a half days eating only pies to making unique creations, we have done some quite unusual things. For British Pie Week 2019 we headed to Sheffield, we had been given some recommendations for pies to try in the city and it seemed like a good excuse for a weekend away. In particular The Broadfield pub came highly recommended. Upon investigating what pies The Broadfield had on offer we found out that they were running a Pie Week Challenge where you had to eat a pie in 3 of the pubs run by the True North Brewing Company in order to get a voucher. The concept of the Pie Week Challenge was appealing but we decided if we were going to do it we needed to up the ante. Given that we were only in Sheffield for one night, we would try and complete the challenge in just one evening! Contacting True North, they were keen on the idea and kind enough to offer pie at one of the pubs for free if we were to complete the challenge. That made it even more appealing. Given that there was a bit of distance between the pubs, we had to allow ourselves enough time to eat the pies and get between them, our itinerary (or pie-tinerary) was as follows;


The Broadfield 18:15
Waggon & Horses 19:15
The York 20:45

First up The Broadfield was a relatively easy walk down Abbeydale Road from where we were staying. It was a traditional drinking pub but done up in a tidy manner. They were clearly doing something right because it was very busy on this Saturday Night with drinkers and diners. We were ushered to our table in the fashionable semi-gloom that illuminated the dining area. The menu didn't have an overly extensive pie choice with only two meat pies available. There were both vegetarian and vegan pies available which we have nothing against but we would rather let the British Pie Awards deal with those and we can stick to the meat pies.




We opted for the classic Beef, Ale & Mushroom for £9.50.

The Broadfield pie

The Broadfield pie

Condition - 6.25/7 - Tall and well formed, this had a classic look with a nice crimped edge and pastry animal shape on top. Arrived with chips & peas well presented together. Unfortunately it was covered in gravy which made the appearance harder to assess.
Colour - 6.50/7 - A dark brown, and excellent colour hinting at tasty pastry.
Cheapness - 5.40/7 - There was a really good amount of meat in the pie but the pea and mash portions seemed unnecessarily stingy, although only the pie was rated this did affect the value.
Capacity - 6.80/7 - This pie achived near perfect capacity. It was tall, quite big and hardly any air gap.
Chewiness - 7.00/7 - All the Pierateers agreed that the texture of this pie was perfect, from the melt in the mouth meat to the crunchy on the outside and gooey in the middle pastry. We felt it had to be given maximum marks. Pierateer SJL tried to argue that full marks are not possible. The others then found histoiric reviews where SJL had given a number of 7s for one pie so he had to concede!
Content - 6.00/7 - The meat and gravy were delicious and brilliantly captured the quintessential Beef & Ale pie flavour. It was noted that there didn't seem to be any mushroom at all and overall the flavours, whilst brilliant, didn't really have anything to give it an edge.
Consistency - 6.50/7 - The filling was moist enough with a thick sauce, the additional gravy wasn't really needed. The pastry and filling worked well together, the pie was consistently of a very high standard.

Beef, Ale & Mushroom (The Broadfield [S7 1FR])
6.35/7
SJL, RAS, TJP

We had to eat quickly and be on our way. The Waggon & Horses was on the same road so we opted for a walk, but it was a rather long way down the road at 1.3 miles so we had to walk quickly. Whilst it was good to start burning off some of the pie calories, I regretted the choice of having already had a pint at The Broadfield.

The Waggon & Horses was an altogether different type of establishment. On the edge of a park it was a bright and family friendly pub, more aimed at meals than drinking. The staff were well aware of our challenge and the most enthusiastic, even trying to influence us to rate them higher than the other pubs. Ever the professionals we had to tell them our votes could not be bought in any way no matter how much free stuff they gave us and the bar had already been set very high at The Broadfield.

The range of pies here was more extensive and we opted to try a few different ones. Pierateers SJL & TJP opted to split the Chicken, Leek & Mustard and then start pudding early by splitting an Apple pie. Pierateer RAS chose to stict to the main course with a Venison pie.

Chicken, Leek & Mustard

Waggon & Horses pie

Waggon & Horses pie

Condition - 6.25/7 - Very similar to the appearance of the Beef pie in The Broadfield. The pies are apparently made on site but they seemed to follow the same blueprint. Fortunately this pie was not covered in gravy but it was slightly cracked.
Colour - 6.50/7 - A bit paler than the beef pie but it still looked very appealing.
Cheapness - 5.40/7 - Again, this pie was £9.50 which is perhaps relatively pricy but quality is worth paying for!
Capacity - 6.80/7 - Very similar size and shape to the beef pie.
Chewiness - 5.70/7 - There was a range of types of chicken meat but none of it was chewy. The pastry seemed to be quite different to The Broadfield. This was more buttery and crumbly and perhaps not quite the perfect pastry texture the beef pie pastry had. The pastry might have been dry were it not for the fact it was quite thin. However it did taste very nice, even to eat on its own.
Content - 5.00/7 - The chicken was nice and flavoursome. There filling had a slightly sour taste, perhaps from the mustard which was not unpleasant but perhaps not as creamy as I expected. The flavour of the filling complemented the buttery pastry.
Consistency - 5.20/7 - Whilst very tasty, this pie was a little bit lacking in moisture, Pierateer TJP even poured extra gravy on his which wasn't necessary with the pie at The Broadfield.

Chicken, Leek & Mustard (Waggon & Horses [S7 2QQ])
5.84/7
SJL, TJP


Apple

Waggon & Horses pie


Condition - 4.75/7 - The pie was well presented on the plate with fruit and syrup. However it was a lattice top pie which we are not so keen on at pierate. Ideally we don't want to see the filling before breaking into the pastry.
Colour - 5.90/7 - The colour was pretty good. A glisten to the pastry indicated a sweet pastry.
Cheapness - 4.10/7 - At £5 this was pretty standard restaurant dessert price with ice cream or custard but the pie was not very big, probably helpful given we had more to eat but did affect the value.
Capacity - 2.75/7 - The slice of pie was both not very tall and also quite small, neither made us optimistic that it would have much in the way of content.
Chewiness - 4.00/7 - A bit too soft, there wasn't really anything to get your teeth into with this pie. This applied to both the pastry and the few chunks of apple that we found. The apple filling was more like jam. Not the perfect apple which has a bit of bite.
Content - 4.90/7 - The filling was sweet and syrupy which was actually quite tasty. It might have got sickly if there was more of it.
Consistency - 4.25/7 - Although tasty enough, the soft texture of this pie let the consistency down. Not one we would order again.

Apple (Waggon & Horses [S7 2QQ])
4.38/7
SJL, TJP

After polishing off the pie in the Waggon & Horses we had to dash over to The York. This was a bit further away so we took an Uber. He must have known we were in a rush because he didn't even stop at a pedestrian crossing when the light was red and a pedestrian was crossing. This was perhaps taking things a bit far, pies are very important to us but we might draw the line at killing bystanders.

Anyway, we made it to The York without significant injury and went inside. A bit more like The Broadfield, this was a dimly lit drinking hole although there were plenty of tables for eating. They didn't quite understand the challenge we were doing but nevertheless they diligently answered questions about the pies.

We opted to all try the Steak, Ale & Root Veg pie, thinking it would be quite similar to the excellent pie in The Broadfield but we were wrong, here is how it rated;


The York pie



Condition - 6.25/7 - On the face of it, this pie looked pretty similar to the others.
Colour - 6.25/7 - Again a nice glossy brown although this one was perhaps a bit overdone at the edges.
Cheapness - 5.10/7 - For some reason The York charged an extra 50p for thier pies at £10 a pop, with a small amount of potato wedges and peas the value could have been better.
Capacity - 6.80/7 - Again the capacity was very strong.
Chewiness - 2.50/7 - Whilst not as tender as the meat in The Broadfield pie, it wasn't too chewy. The veg was nicely done. However something had gone very wrong with the pastry for this pie, to be brutally honest it was awful. It was soft but also somehow oddly chewy. It tasted like it had been microwaved. We didn't know for sure if this was the case but the waitress did say they cook them in batches and heat them up. She then said they use hot water crust pastry which can go wrong if not heated properly.
Content - 3.50/7 - The steak had a nice flavour although there was less of it given that some space was given over to veg. The pie was sweeter tasting which was perhaps from the root veg which seemed to be predominantly carrot and parsnip. However the taste was tainted by the pastry which not only had an odd texture but also an odd flavour. TJP was brutaly honest when he said that it was a bit flavourless and the flavour it did have wasn't enjoyable.
Consistency - 3.50 - What could have been a consistently good pie was ruined by the pastry, a shame to end the challenge on a low note but given the good filling we can at least say this pie had potential!

Steak, Ale & Root Veg (The York [S10 3BA])
4.84/7
SJL, RAS, TJP

So we have a clear winner in the True North Sheefield pie challenge. As recommended to us, the pies at The Broadfield were truly outstanding gaining Pierate Highly Recommended status. The meat pies at the Waggon & Horses were also highly regarded with a score which achieves a Pierate Recommended award. Many thanks to all at True North, especially Tom in the media team for arranging it, we had a great time and a fun weekend seeing the sights of Sheffield despite the awful weather!



continue reading "True North - Sheffield Pie Challenge"

Friday 8 March 2019

Pancake Pie for British Pie Week

There are some celestial events that occur infrequently and are worth celebrating. For instance, eclipses or close passes from comets gain widespread media attention. So it is this year as British Pie Week and Pancake Day align, a relatively rare event which will not happen again until 2025.

Whilst British Pie Week always occurs the first full week in March, the date for Pancake Day (or Shrove Tuesday to give it's proper title) is not as fixed. It is governed by the start of the period of Lent which is 46 days before Easter. Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon that falls on or after March 21. Therefore the alignment of British Pie Week and Pancake Day happens only about once every 3-8 years. This is something we decided should be celebrated on the Pierate Ship so we have done something we wouldn't normally do; to twist the rules surrounding what makes a pie a pie. For those that don't remember, our definition states;

1. A pie is deemed to be a filling totally encased in pastry.
2. A pie must have sides, a base and a discernible lid made from a separate piece of pastry.

But we have never defined exactly what pastry is. So for this experiment I postulated that if pastry dough were to be replaced by a suitable pancake batter and thus used to fully encase a filling, it could be argued that it is in fact a pie which would perhaps be called a Pancake Pie. Aren't batter and pastry pretty much the same thing anyway? A bit of flour, a bit of fat and a bit of liquid? Given the higher liquid and protein content perhaps batter is like a diet version of pastry, perhaps we could be onto a new pie based diet like a our attempts during British Pie Week 2014.

On with the making, firstly we had to start by cooking up some pancakes;

I mixed 100g Gluten Free plain flour, 1 egg and 0.25 litres of milk. I made thin pancakes which I fried in plenty of butter.




















The first pancake was simply placed in a pie dish....




















Onto the filling. Whilst this would probably work equally well with a savoury filling, I had already eaten dinner so I opted for a sweet filling of sliced Banana and some Hazelnut and Cocoa spread. I have to give a special shout out for this Meridian spread, it is expensive but it is palm oil free and 75% Hazelnut which means it is pretty nutritious but I think it tastes just as good as Nuttela (which by contrast is mostly sugar and palm oil with only 13% Hazelnut).
















Next I brushed the pancake base with a bit of raw batter. Unlike pastry, pancakes aren't going to stick together so this was an attempt to make the lid hold in place.
















The next pancake was freshly fried and placed on top of the pie, it formed a surprisingly good lid.
















Then I placed the whole thing in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 degrees and it came out looking like this...

Pancake Pie















And it actually sliced up pretty well! It held together better than many genuine pies that I have eaten.
















Despite not being a true pie, the Pancake Pie tasted great. It had a really interesting mottled brown Colour and the lid and sides held together well so it was in good Condition. The pancake lid had a nice crispy texture, as you might want from good pastry, whilst the base and sides had a more gooey texture having mingled with the banana. As for the filling, the Hazelnut spread had melted into the warm banana very nicely. It tasted great and made me wonder why there aren't more Banana, Hazelnut and Chocolate pies out there. The benefit of having made a Pancake Pie rather than just eating this as pancakes is that it meant the filling had really heated up and the filling and pancake had mingled together rather than simply just being on the same plate. The crispy pancake was also really nice which was an unexpected surprise.

So there you have it, we have tried a few experiments on the Pierate Ship but unlike the Pie-thon (Python Pie), the Piezza or the Popcorn Pie, this is one of the rare occasions where it actually worked! Do try this at home, I think I will try it again in 2025.

SJL
continue reading "Pancake Pie for British Pie Week"

Thursday 7 March 2019

British Pie Week - Day Four

British Pie Week is a chance for pie makers big and small to celebrate the humble pie. Whether that's a company making thousands of the pastry beauties each day or someone in their home kitchen making a pie for their tea, we want to celebrate pies of all shapes and sizes! You may have seen on Twitter that Pierateer Sam made a "Pancake Pie" on Tuesday - to celebrate the clash of pie week and pancake day - and another quirky pie with beautiful decoration has been sent in to us from Victoria of Sweet Art Cakes in Darlington.


Mother and Child Cookie Crust Apple Pie by Sweet Art Cakes
I'm sure you'll agree with us that this Cookie Crust Apple Pie looks stunning! A very unique take on a classic pie flavour and a beautiful top crust. You can read more on her blog and find out more about this and the cakes she normally makes there. Plus there's a little history lesson on the origins of pie there too! Do check it out!

As for us, Pierateer Rob sunk his teeth into two pies from Jarvis Pickle Pie Company on Thursday evening - their Chicken and Leek and their Pork and Blue Cheese pies. He'll be rating them soon and trying some more tomorrow night!!

Tweet of the Day


Excited to hear that that Turner's Pies - who won the British Pie Awards last year - have been stoking up their ovens ready to make the pies for the pie lunch at the British Pie Awards prize giving tomorrow! Enjoy!!



See what the Pierateers have been up to this British Pie Week in our daily Pie Diary articles (added and updated throughout the week):


Day One – Monday 4th March 2019
Day Two – Tuesday 5th March 2019
Day Three – Wednesday 6th March 2019
Day Four – Thursday 7th March 2019
Day Five - Friday 8th March 2019
Day Six - Saturday 9th March 2019
Day Seven - Sunday 10th March 2019


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 "British Pie Week - Day Four"

Wednesday 6 March 2019

British Pie Awards 2019 - Live!

British Pie Awards 2015 Judges
Judges at the British Pie Awards, including Pierateer Sam

The day of the British Pie Awards has arrived! Held in the heart of pork pie country - Melton Mowbray - the scene is once again set for around 100 judges to rate well over 900 pies from across Britain and beyond! Of course you won't be surprised to know we've been invited again this year - having been a judge, media or helper at the British Pie Awards since 2013 - and this year Pierateer Rob will be there as judge and media to give you the inside scoop of what takes place - Live! Plus check out this exciting news about the Pie Awards being filmed this year:



The 11th annual British Pie Awards heads home to St Mary's Church in the heart of Melton Mowbray once again. And as well as looking forward to seeing lots of our pie friends at the Awards, we're looking forward to sharing our ex-pie-tese with fellow judges and providing the inside scoop with some media coverage too.

As you may know the British Pie Awards use a significantly different set of criteria to us (rather than the 7 Cs of pie rating that we have used to rate over 625 pies on Pierate) but there are very few pie experts with more ex-pie-rience than us when it comes to the pie-fect pie!

So check back here during the day for live blog posts below and on Twitter and we hope you enjoy hearing about the British Pie Awards 2019!

This isn't the first time we've attended the British Pie Awards! Oh no! Find out more in our other articles here:
Judges in 2018  |  Media in 2017  |  Judges in 2016  |  Judges in 2015
Judges in 2014  |  Helpers in 2013



9:30 It seems amazing to think that a whole year has passed by since the last British Pie Awards but here we are again, travelling up to the greatest show in pies! It's just Pierateer Rob attending this time round and he is on his way on the train from Birmingham now.

9:35 It's great to see Cross country trains have added free WiFi to their train service - makes live blogging so much easier!!!

10:00 Just been familiarising myself with the Judges briefing pack ready for later! Wonder what category I will have this time - having done "Other meats" on my last judging visit!

10:15 Just left Leicester train station - next stop Melton Mowbray!!

10:35 I have arrived in Melton! Time to find some pies!!!

British pie awards 2019
Arriving at St Mary's church in Melton Mowbray


10:50 So confirmation that I am on Class 13 - Chicken and other meat! I'm in the same class as fellow pie blogger Katie Peel, our newest Honourary Pierateer!

11:10 Apron collected and now it's time for the judges briefing to commence, to welcome everyone and fill everyone in on what is happening today.

The trophy's are on display!
11:25 We have just had our briefing and are now going to file into the main hall ready for the control pie, which shows how the head judge would score a pie.

TV cameras are in place this year for a BBC documentary
11:30 Matthew, the chairman of the Melton Mowbray pork pie association, is thanking all the judges and the sponsors of the pie awards.

11:35 Reverend Kevin from St Mary's church has just blessed the pies, as is traditional for the awards. That means it's almost time to rate!!

11:40 The head judge Colin Woodhead is going through the control pies - one cold pork pie and one hot beef pie - to say why he would give the scores he has.

11:50 Let the judging commence!!! I'm judging with Sue Woodall, from ladies in pigs, who has judged 7 or 8 times now. First up in the chicken and other meats category is a chicken and ham hock pie! The first of many, I predict...

12:15 The judging is in full flow. Mainly chicken and ham but a few with haggis or chorizo to mix things up!

Melton Mowbray pork pies
12:45 I have been doing the rounds to find out how others are finding it and there are certainly some intriguing flavours - especially in the speciality meats and game pies class. Lots of venison (including one with dark chocolate) plus a duck and blueberry pie and rabbit pie.

13:00 Once again the top table (class 1) is the Melton Mowbray pork pies - all judged in pairs. Looking fantastic!

13:10 A few pies have had to be disqualified due to being over weight and a pasty definitely snuck into the beef pie class but overall people seem to be enjoying themselves!

13:25 Just been speaking to TV's Andy Clarke who is looking very patriotic (pastryotic?!) in a union jack shirt. He has enjoyed a number of venison pies in the speciality meat and game class.

13:35 A mix bag in the free from class, with a lot of steak and ale pies in there. Some pastry holding together better than others!

13:40 Our last pie wasn't a cracker but overall the standard was pretty high. Some definite gold medal winners and will be interested to see who made our chicken and other meats class winner!

13:50 Still judging going on in some of the larger classes but we're all done for the day, with our top 3 selected. Fellow pie blogger Katie Peel had a chicken and haggis pie but lots of chicken and ham too.

14:00 Filming is complete for the day. Looking forward to seeing the documentary later this summer about the awards! Check out the British Pie Awards Twitter feed on Friday to find out who wins it all!!

Pierateer Rob assessing the final 3 pies!


The winners at the 11th annual British Pie Awards will be announced on Friday 8th March on the @BritishPies twitter feed and updated on the British Pie Awards website.


British Pie Week 2019If you want to find out more about the British Pie Awards 2019, check out our Countdown to the British Pie Awards article.


Did you know? This is the fourth time that the British Pie Awards are happening in British Pie Week, following a successful but controversial first time out in 2016 when a pasty was crowned supreme champion and a more regular win for Dickinson and Morris Pork Pie in 2017 and Turner's Pies Steak and Ale Pie in 2018.

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 "British Pie Awards 2019 - Live!"

British Pie Week 2019 - Day Three

We'll once again be heading to Melton Mowbray!

British Pie Week has for the last few years coincided with the greatest show in pie - the British Pie Awards. Previously held in April, it is a very logical step to move the Pie Awards to coincide with British Pie Week and get an even bigger audience's eyes on those pies! Once again the awards are being held in St Mary's Church in Melton Mowbray and we for one can't wait to attend again! Pierateer Rob will be reporting live from Melton Mowbray in our "British Pie Awards 2019 - Live!" article coming online soon and you can also find out more about the awards by following the Pierateers on Twitter!


After enjoying the Turner's Pies Steak and Ale last night for dinner, which you may recall won the British Pie Awards last year, we look forward to seeing the range of pies on show today and judging the pies that will lead to the crowing of the 2019 Supreme Champion! Will it be the year of the vegan pie? Or will Turner's get the double? Find out more about the awards in our British Pie Awards 2019 preview article!

And whatever you do, go crazy for pie this British Pie Week! Enjoy!



This article will be updated throughout the day/week, so do check back for what we've been up to!

Tweet of the Day


We are very excited by the prospect of a 30 minute documentary on the British Pie Awards that's in the pie-peline!!



See what the Pierateers have been up to this British Pie Week in our daily Pie Diary articles (added and updated throughout the week):


Day One – Monday 4th March 2019
Day Two – Tuesday 5th March 2019
Day Three – Wednesday 6th March 2019
Day Four – Thursday 7th March 2019
Day Five - Friday 8th March 2019
Day Six - Saturday 9th March 2019
Day Seven - Sunday 10th March 2019


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 "British Pie Week 2019 - Day Three"

Tuesday 5 March 2019

British Pie Week 2019 - Day Two

British Pie Week 2019 is now in full swing – so what more motivation do you need?! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge. Don't forget that despite this year's British Pie Week clashing today with Pancake Day, there's still no excuse not to enjoy a pie with your pancake or even instead of one! Check out all these things you can do today and this pie week:


You can follow the Pierateers on Twitter and find out how our #PiePledges are going!
You can read about pies - after all we've had over 1 million pageviews now!!
You can choose a pie (we have well over 625 pies reviewed in our rankings table!)
You can think up some puns for the Pie Dictionary!
You can suggest a pie you’ve enjoyed.

British Pie Week 2019 Logo

While we are still a day away from the British Pie Awards on Wednesday, we think we have warmed up for it well by kicking the week off with our Birmingham Pie Night yesterday, and have a number of Turner's Pies to enjoy with friends tonight! You may recall that Turner's Pies won the British Pie Awards last year and so we are very much looking forward to digging into some more of their lovely pies!

So whatever you do, go crazy for pie this British Pie Week! Enjoy!



This article will be updated throughout the day/week, so do check back for what we've been up to!

Tweet of the Day






See what the Pierateers have been up to this British Pie Week in our daily Pie Diary articles (added and updated throughout the week):


Day One – Monday 4th March 2019
Day Two – Tuesday 5th March 2019
Day Three – Wednesday 6th March 2019
Day Four – Thursday 7th March 2019
Day Five - Friday 8th March 2019
Day Six - Saturday 9th March 2019
Day Seven - Sunday 10th March 2019


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 "British Pie Week 2019 - Day Two"

Monday 4 March 2019

British Pie Week 2019 - Day One

The countdown timer has struck zero and British Pie Week 2019 has begun – so what more motivation do you need?! Grab a pie, make a pie, tweet your #PiePledge. Whether you already have plans or this is all new to you, here’s some things you can do this British Pie Week:


You can follow the Pierateers on Twitter and find out how our #PiePledges are going!
You can read about pies - after all we've had over 1 million pageviews now!!
You can choose a pie (we have well over 625 pies reviewed in our rankings table!)
You can think up some puns for the Pie Dictionary!
You can suggest a pie you’ve enjoyed.

As for the Pierateers, we are ready and waiting for possibly the biggest British Pie Week yet! The British Pie Awards are once again taking place in British Pie Week with Pierateer Rob in attendance as media to cover the event and judge a few pies! We have an exciting trip planned for this coming weekend. Plus the week will all kick off with our Birmingham Pie Night on Monday!


British Pie Week Nice Pie Pierate Pie
Nice Pie's Pierate Logo Pie from British Pie Week 2014!
It seems this year, more than any before, people are bigging up British Pie Week. Plenty of pubs and shops are doing something special for British Pie Week... but weirdly the pastry company who invented British Pie Week (to sell more pastry) have decided to once again ditch it! The end result of which is this... Pierate Pie Reviews is the home of British Pie Week!!!

And while we may not have the amazing Pierate Logo pie to enjoy this year (made especially for us by Nice Pie in 2014), we do have an exciting new logo to share with you all! As unveiled in mid-January, here is the British Pie Week 2019 logo:

British Pie Week 2019 Logo

So whatever you do, go crazy for pie this British Pie Week! Enjoy!



This article will be updated throughout the day/week, so do check back for what we've been up to!

Pierateer RAS


I've made five #PiePledge commitments this British Pie Week, which are the following:

1) One or more pies eaten every day
2) 2 days of annual leave taken to eat, rate and tweet about pies (one of which was Friday just gone, in pre-pie-ration and to get some pies delivered for pie week!)
3) Organise a pie night - which is what is happening tonight in Birmingham!
4) Live blog the British Pie Awards
5) Go on an e-pie-c adventure with Pierateers Sam and Tim this coming weekend!

I look forward to keeping you updated with how I get on with all these pie pledges this week!

After a cheeky Mr Kipling apple pie for Breakfast at work, the main pie of the day was a British Pie Week special at Pieminister's Birmingham pie shop, as we hosted a pie night there! Pierateer Rob was joined by 12 friends to enjoy their new "Lady Baa Baa" Lamb Pie, which rated very well on the 7 Cs. Look out for the full review later this week! Everyone had a lovely time and we were very grateful for the special ice cream Sundae's that Pieminister bestowed on our group. Thanks very much!!

Lady Baa Baa Lamb Pie Review
Lady Baa Baa Roast Lamb pie at Pieminister Birmingham



See what the Pierateers have been up to this British Pie Week in our daily Pie Diary articles (added and updated throughout the week):


Day One – Monday 4th March 2019
Day Two – Tuesday 5th March 2019
Day Three – Wednesday 6th March 2019
Day Four – Thursday 7th March 2019
Day Five - Friday 8th March 2019
Day Six - Saturday 9th March 2019
Day Seven - Sunday 10th March 2019


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 "British Pie Week 2019 - Day One"

Tuesday 26 February 2019

British Pie Week 2019 - 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 2019 - just like we did last year!


Pierateer Rob visiting Pieminister Birmingham
Pierateer Rob visiting Pieminister Birmingham
Being held from 5:30-7:30pm on Monday 4th March, the night will be a chance for pie fans across the Midlands and friends of the Pierateers to catch up on what's been going down on the Pierate Ship, and most importantly to eat and rate some delicious pies! It's going to be a great way to kick off British Pie Week 2019 and comes just days before we go to the 11th annual British Pie Awards to provide our live feed of all the pie action!

Pieminister Birmingham at 16 Waterloo Street
For those who don't know, Bristol pie giant Pieminister opened up a shop in Birmingham city centre in mid-2017 and we've frequented it a number of times already. However we certainly hadn't waited until they opened a shop in Birmingham before rating one of their pies, for we have rated 19 Pieminister pies in total and one of our very first reviews over 8 years ago was from Pieminister!

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
Delicious pies on offer at Pieminister - we've rated 19!
We'll be arriving at the Pieminister Birmingham store at about 5:30pm, where we'll have some dedicated Pierateer Takeover tables set aside for us! (We advise you book up to avoid disappointment!)

Pick your pie!
While there are a whole host of pies to choose from on their menu, as it will be British Pie Week the shop has a special Mothership offer on Monday. For those who don't know, a Mothership is your favourite pie with mash, peas, crispy shallots, Cheddar cheese and gravy - all for just a fiver! And that includes their British Pie Week 2019 special - Lady Baa Baa (yes, you guessed it - a lamb pie!!)

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 Monday, 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 have a fab pie-motions on, a different one each day. More info at https://www.pieminister.co.uk/pie-week-19/


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! Plus we'll soon be posting our British Pie Week #PiePledge article - with our full plans for British Pie Week - 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
and let us know your thoughts!
continue reading "British Pie Week 2019 - Birmingham Pie Night Announced!"