Fray Bentos "Boozy" Steak & Ale Pie

Description: The "Boozy" pie. Tender pieces of steak drenched in a delicious real ale gravy topped by our signature puff pastry.

Cost: Very often these are on offer. I managed to get it for £1. The normal RRP is £2.19

Cooking: Cook for 30minutes on number 8.

Verdict:  Well, what can you say about the famous Fray Bentos pies? They are a long established icon in the UK. I remember when I was at University a Fray Bentos pie was my monthly treat!

This particular pie is their "Boozy" Steak & Ale pie. For those who don't know, the Fray Bentos pie is a pie in a tin. You open it up with a tin opener, bung it in the oven and 30mins later its ready.

Looking at the ingredients it says 25% beef, 24% pastry and 10% brown ale. That only adds up to 59% so I'm not exactly sure what is in the rest of the pie?!

Anyway, in the oven it goes.

30 minutes later and its ready. Cutting it open and the pastry is typical Fray Bentos - nice puff pastry, typical of a Bentos pie. Inside the pieces of steak are a fraction of the size of that in the photo on the tin, and I struggled to taste any ale at all. Fortunately the beef did taste nice and the gravy did taste pretty awesome, nice, thick consistency, lovely beef taste to it. The pastry was nice and stodgy and the whole pie was quite filling. I did find a couple of pieces of fat inside it which was a little disappointment but didn't detract from the eating experience.

All in all, the best thing with a Fray Bentos pie is that you know exactly what you are getting. You always get the same taste experience. Comparing it to a non-tin pie and it cant directly compare, its a different type of experience completely. Its not exactly better or worse.. just different! Everyone should have one of these in the back of their cupboard for emergency use.


Calorie wise, each half of a pie is 377 calories, however you are likely to be eating the whole pie yourself!

Rating? 5 out of 10.

Pieminister Peahock Pie

Description: Ham Hock, Garden Pea and Mustard.

Cost: £3.49 a individual 270g pie.

Cooking: 25 minutes number 4 from fresh

Verdict: I found myself in the unusual situation this morning of running out of breakfast cereal. So looking through the fridge to see what else I could eat for breakfast and I realised I had a Pieminister Peahock pie in there waiting for my tea tonight. A pie for breakfast? Too good to resist I think.

Ive had mixed results with Pieministers pies in the past. The first few I tried just didn't hit the mark, but the previous Fish Pie i had from them did hit the grade, so I was 50/50 as to whether this one would be a hit or a failure.

In the oven it goes whilst I brew up a nice pot of tea.

25 mins later out the oven it comes and it smells lovely. The crust is nice and crusty, and cutting it open the contents look fantastic. My stomach is rumbling already. Inside the filling really is filling, they have crammed the pie full. Loads of pulled ham, peas and a lovely sauce which has the right amount of creaminess without being sickly and a hint of mustard to it. The peas were also in just the right amount, enough to be a nice side, but not too many to be over powering. Some cheap pies do tend to skimp on the meat and fill the pie up with cheaper veg, but not in this case.

I have to say I licked the plate clean and for me, I think this pie would make a great all-in-one meal on its own without needing any side potatoes or veg.

Id definitely buy this one again. Thumbs up for the Peahock pie!

Calorie wise its 653 calories per pie which is pretty hefty but that's more than likely down to the sauce & pastry.

Rating? 8 out of 10.

Hollands Steak and Kidney Pudding

Description: Chunks of diced steak & kidney covered in rich gravy, steamed in our unique pastry case,

Cost: £1.50 for 2 pies, I was lucky to get them on offer for 90p.

Cooking: Steam in a saucepan for 40mins from frozen.

Verdict:  Having tried a couple of other Hollands pies previously and being extremely impressed with them I was very much looking forward to trying their Steak & Kidney puddings. These were a first for me on this blog as they are steamed rather than oven cooked.

You simply put about an inch or so of boiling water in the bottom of a saucepan, drop the puddings in, and leave boiling for 40mins. I was a bit apprehensive as to whether this cooking technique would work, but i didn't need to be, they came out, very thoroughly cooked all the way through.

Cutting open, the contents were a rich thick gravy, with pieces of what looked like minced beef in it. There were a couple of small chunks of steak and no sign of any kidney. The gravy did however taste lovely, steak flavoured and you could certainly taste kidney in the gravy, but couldn't see it. The 2 small chunks of steak didn't taste as tender as i was expecting, and one of them actually turned out to be a bit of gristle. This was quite a disappointment as the previous Hollands pies id tried were very good.

In case it was just a one off, I actually cooked the 2nd pie and ate that too. The contents were just the same.

The pastry on the pies was really good. Very stodgy, and a good consistency. The contents didn't leak out until you put your knife through it. Very good.

All in all the pies were very filling, and quite low calories compared to other similar sized pies. Unfortunately the contents let the pie down. Id rather these had been advertised as minced beef & kidney pies as that was more accurate description.

Calorie wise, each pie is 349 calories.

Rating? 3 out of 10. Hollands make some cracking pies, but i wouldn't buy this particular one again.

Tesco Slow Cooked Steak Short Crust PIe

Description: Tesco slow cooked steak short crust pie.

Cost: 2 for £3.50.

Cooking: 35 minutes on number 6 from chilled.

Verdict: First impressions? Well this looked like a nice pie. They put quite a lot of blurb on the packaging. Firstly they mention "20% more steak" and looking that ingredients they state 44% steak, so that already sounds quite promising.

They also have a detailed description on the back of the packaging which I copy below:

"we pride ourselves on making brilliant deep fill pies, created by master bakers with years of experience. First there’s the pastry. Our short crust melts in the mouth while our puff is light and flaky - as good as anything you could make at home. 

Then there’s the filling, We`ve put 20% more meat in each pie, so every bite is packed with delicious, flavoursome good stuff. We use only British steak, carefully slow cooking it to ensure it stays beautifully tender and succulent. It’s all topped off with a rich glossy gravy that’s full of flavour.

Finally our skilled bakers are on hand to make sure every pie is cooked to crisp golden perfection - a treat for the whole family."

So all in all, its sounding good!

In the oven it goes whilst I prepare some lovely new potatoes off my garden along with the usual peas.

The pie was ready on time as per the cooking instructions. I cut into it and it had a lovely crust on it. The base was also just right, not too stodgy at all - so if you’re after a more stodgy pie this wouldn’t be for you. The contents looked good, nice chunks of beef, not 100% tender as id expect from slow cooked beef, but not too bad. There also was a nice amount of gravy which looked good but is where this pie failed desperately. Whilst it looked like nice gravy it simply tasted just like water. I couldn’t believe it. No taste at all. The meat was nice and had a good flavour to it - without any lumps of gristle or fat, but the gravy was shocking. It really ruined the whole pie.

I don’t understand how they could ruin the gravy. I made a lovely homemade steak & ale pie last week and after slow cooking the steak for about 3 hours on the stove, the juices and flavours all went into my gravy and tasted just amazing. I didn’t even need to add anything other than an oxo cube to it. It’s not rocket science.

All in all, I wouldn’t buy this buy again. In my opinion it wasn’t as tasty as their value ones.

Calorie count is 473 calories per 1/3rd of the pie.

Rating?   3 out of 10.

UPDATE: Tried this pie again tonight and this time the gravy was much better, so maybe the previous poor gravy was a one off. This time the gravy was very thick, quite tasty and complimented the steak quite nicely. The pie had a good amount of nice sized chunky lumps of steak - which was tender and quite nice. No grisle. This time around though both Mrs Pieman & myself felt the pastry wasnt as good as it could have been. There was quite a bit of crust around the outside of the pie.

However, due to the improved gravy experience this time around, id now rate this pie as a 6 out of 10 and certainly one to try if you fancy a nice steak pie. I would also point out that if you are reasonably hungry you`ll easily eat half this pie, like I did.

ASDA Bistro Ultimate Steak & Ale Pie

Description: Generously filled with marinated British steak in our rich ale gravy, wrapped in butter-enriched short crust pastry.

Cost: £2.50 for a 250g pie (1 serving).

Cooking: 40minutes on number 4 from frozen.

Verdict: First impressions? Well, through the packaging this looked like a nice pie. Id tried a couple of the ASDA Bistro pies before, with mixed opinions, so was keen to try this Steak & Ale pie to see how it compared to the Steak version id previously tried.

I cooked this one from frozen, so 40mins in the oven isnt long to wait whilst i prepared some lovely new potatoes and some chopped carrots.

On the plate the pie looked good, cut it open and loads of lovely thick gravy came out. Quite a surprise compared to the previous steak pie id tried which was seriously lacking in gravy. The crust was nice and crumbly.

Now for the critical moment. What did it taste like? The pastry was nice, stodgy, crumbly and tasty. The gravy was nice and thick with lumps of tender steak. The steak tasted like slow cooked stewing steak, very nice with a good flavour.

I was half way through the pie when I remembered this was actually a steak & ale pie! But id not actually tasted any ale yet. So I carefully had another taste of the gravy. There was a very mild faint taste of ale, but it was really hardly noticeable.

I also noticed that by now the crust was getting a bit sickly. It was very sweet. Checking the packaging i realised why, it was "butter enriched" when it didnt really need to be.
 
Ive been fortunate to try quite a few steak & ale pies and so have quite a lot I can compare this one too. It didnt hit the mark for me at all. Sure the steak was nice, and overall it was slightly better than their Bistro Steak Pie, but compare it to the Pukka Pie Steak & Ale its like night & day, no comparison. So this isnt a pie id buy again.


Calorie count is 781 calories per pie, which seems quite high for quite a small pie, but on pair with the other ASDA Bistro pies.

Rating?   6.5 out of 10.

Pieminister Pietanic Fish Pie

Description: Smoked Haddock, Salmon, Pollock & Prawns in a creamy sauce.

Cost: £3.49 a individual 270g pie.

Cooking: 25 minutes number 4 from fresh

Verdict: If you look back through my blog you will see I have tried other Pieminister pies in the past and not at all been impressed with them. For me, they certainly didnt live up to the hype with their extremely sparce fillings. However, I thought id give them another go, and not having had a fish pie for a while I was really looking forward to this Pietanic Pie.

In the oven it goes whilst I prepare my potatoes and this time carrots rather than the normal peas I have.

25 minutes later and the pie is ready, certainly smelt lovely. Cutting it open I had my first surprise. This pie is crammed full of lovely filling. Nice chunks of fish and I even spotted a couple of small prawns. The sauce oosted out and the lovely fishy smell soon had my cats running over to investigate what delights I was having for tea!

On the downside the pie was very fishy and soon stunk the entire house out much to Mrs Piereviews annoyance. But, how did the pie taste?

The filling was lovely. Really tasty. The chunks of fish had good texture and were lovely & meaty. The sauce went perfectly with the fish and there was just the right amount. The pie crust I found was a bit too crispy, but there was just the right ratio of pastry to filling. I even gave my cat a bit of the pollock and he made all the right positive noises about it! All in all I was very impressed, especially compared to the other Pieminister pies id previously tested. Maybe they had read my blog and decided to increase the amount of their fillings?

Id definitely recommend this pie to fishy pie lovers! (and cats)

Calorie wise its 686 calories per pie which is pretty hefty but that's more than likely down to the sauce & pastry.

Rating? 8 out of 10.

Pukka Pies Steak & Ale Pie

Description: The packaging has a lot of text explaining who Pukka Pies are, and the process they went through in creating this Steak & Ale pie - using Pedigree Ale. They describe this pie as "Chunky steak in rich gravy made with Marstons Pedigree Ale in a light puff pastry.  www.pukkapies.co.uk.

Cost: £1.78 a pie.

Cooking: 50 minutes number 4

Verdict: I have been looking forward to this pie for some time. My previous experience of Pukka Pies have been without doubt extremely good, so I was keen to try another one of their creations. Ive always been a big fan of steak & ale pies and made a few home made ones myself, so when I saw this in the supermarket, it went straight into my trolley.

In the oven it goes, and I sat there patiently watching the clock!

The timer soon went off, and out came the pie. As before, the pie looked nice and stodgy and smelt awesoem. I cut it open and my mouth started watering. Nice chunky lumps of steak, lots of gravy of just the right consistancy and that lovely steak & ale small.

Theres no mistaking it, this is a cracking pie. As with the other Pukka Pie Steak Pie i tried, the steak was lovely, mouth watering and tender. The gravy tasted awesome and the whole experience was very good. The crust & puff pastry was nice and filling and once again I was very impressed by Pukka Pies. I cant wait to try another one of their pies!

Calorie wise its 519 calories per pie which is pretty reasonable.

Rating? 9 out of 10.

Tesco Chicken & Chorizo Puff Pastry Pie

Description: Flaky puff pastry pie filled with succulent British diced chicken with chorizo in a tomato sauce.

Cost: £1.55 for single pie.

Cooking: 50minutes on number 6 from frozen

Verdict: First impressions? Id never tried a chicken & chorizo pie before so this one caught my eye. Chicken normally works well with bacon or ham in pies, so I figured chorizo is kinda the same sort of thing but a bit spicier, so this should taste nice.

Out of the box the pie looked nice, deep filled.

Cooked for the recommended time and pies cooked a treat. So whats it like?

Well, the filling as good, nice lumps of tender chicken, nice bit of gravy which had pieces of tomato and a nice tomato / chorizo taste to it. The base wasn't too stodgy and it was a deep filled pie. The puff pastry top did seem a little over cooked, although that might just be my oven. One pie was a good portion and ideal for one person.

The contents were as described, which is unusual these days for a pie, and amazingly it even looked like the picture on the box! Unfortunately I have to say I didn't like the chorizo & chicken combination together, I found the chorizo was just too overpowering. It would have been more suited for some hearty winter Moroccan dish rather than a pie. But that's just a personal thing and others may like it. The quality of the filling and the pastry was very good however, so it gets good marks from me on that.

Calorie count is 560 calories per pie which seemed quite high! Maybe its that chorizo?!

Rating?   6 out of 10. (If id had liked the chorizo id have scored this a 7.5)