What Makes the Perfect Pie?

As my first time as a pie judge, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Now, having spent the best part of a day judging pies at the British Pie Awards as a guest of the Vegetarian Society, I can share what you should be looking for in the perfect pie!

My top tip – make sure you peruse your pie before you add anything else to your plate. Baked beans, gravy or sauce could sink into your pie and then you might be looking at a soggy bottom, and who wants that?

As you remove it from the pie case, does your pie remain intact or collapse under the weight of its contents? Have its contents seeped out during cooking? Both are not what you want from a well-structured pie.

Is the pastry cooked evenly top, sides and bottom? Is the crust coming away? Allowing for variances with your own oven, if you’ve baked your pie according to the instructions, it should be evenly cooked all over, with no cracks in the pastry.

When you cut your pie, check the pastry width all over. If there’s a real difference in thickness between the top and the bottom, you might have a less-than-perfect pie on your hands. Check the top and bottom have cooked evenly.

And your pie needs to be nice and full – skimping on filling doesn’t is not desirable in a quality pie! And is the filling a mouthwatering medley of colours and textures (or not)?

And then…the taste. Taste the pastry and then the filling. You might discover that one element tastes a lot better than the other. Is the pastry too thick and dry? Do all the filling flavours work together?

And then – dig in!

(My personal recommendation after this year’s awards – cauliflower cheese pie; perfect for lunch on a chilly day.)