Food Review: Villi's Party Pies

OK.. in the rare event that you are going to entertain a horde of others.. you think.... party pies... but there are party pies and then there are PARTY PIES...

You could resort to the black and gold or cheap arse alternatives which resemble ground gristle in brown slop encased in cardboard, OR you could impress with REAL mini quality pies.

Vili's is a South Australian icon.. a guy that hit on the bogan mantra - quality pies, which has made him millions.. I wish other bakeries would take note...


I recommend Little Vili's- a selection of high quality pies - mince, chunky, chicken, a host of awesome pies.

Each one is to be savoured, probably the best party pies I have ever had.

For those who like pasties and sausage rolls, there are a couple of those as well

Just the look of them speaks quality... each marked with a type of secret code or shaped to identify its content. 

To be honest, I could not fault these at all... and I have not received any payment for this review! mind you, I wouldnt say no to a couple of dozen of Vili's pies.

There is a reason why Vili has gone national, and its plainly obvious, quality.

So, my rating.. These pies definitely get the bogan seal of approval.

Taste: 9/10

presentation: 10/10

Value for money: 9/10 - its worth the extra

TIM: didnt bother to look, but they rock... so 9/10

Go, on, get a Vili into ya!

Food Review: Sargents Italian Style Beef and Cheese Pie

http://www.sargents.com.au/

I have previously reviewed Sargents Curry Pie, which although being a good pie, lacked the curry flavour.

Today Im tasting Sargents Traditional Italian Beef and Cheese Pie.

As shown in the photo below, the pie on the packet shows a massive layer of hot cheese dribbling over the freshly (surgically) cut pie.

Is adding cheese to a mince pie Italian? Probably would be if there were a fist full of herbs, garlic, Parmesan, tomato, olives and some Italian sausage as ingredients.

25 minutes in a 180 degree preheated oven.. cheese dripping out of the pie makes it promising!

The case of the vanishing Cheese!

Mine didn't quite look the same as the packet - perhaps it was lack of a surgical cut.. or maybe it was just because there was a lack of cheese! What they did put in there were a host of other ingredients - things like thickeners, emulsifiers, colour, antioxidants and a swag of numbers which means nothing to me except the notion that it ain't home made nor very traditional.

From a taste perspective, the crust and pastry was the same as the curry pie - Quite good for a mass produced pie. There was no overwhelming salt flavour - as shown by the Balfours pie. 

The mince texture was quite good, the gravy wasn't too runny, but there was no thick layer of cheese.

Overall, the pie was good. You could taste the cheese, although not overwhelming, so I think they got the balance right. It tasted "light" and easy to eat. I ate both pies without the universal pie improver (Spring Gully Tomato Sauce) as the flavour was OK.

My score is:

Flavour: 7/10

Pastry: 8/10

Colour: 7/10

Im introducing a new score: Truth in Marketing (TIM)

TIM: 3/10 as I dont believe it represents what I would expect in an Italian Style Beef and Cheese Pie and the photo on the packet exaggerates the amount of cheese in the pie.

Regardless.. It easily receives the Bogan Stamp Of Approval for Everyday Use

+1 this if you find it interesting or entertaining!

Food Review: Balfours Angus Beef Pie

Balfours is a South Australian Bakery with plenty of history. http://www.balfours.com.au

Famous for its Frog Cake - a massively overpriced square piece of cake smothered in green icing. For some reason, those with money think its awesome.... Id rather spend the same on the Pie Floater down at the Post Office at 1am on a Saturday night, or that other time honored tradition of a Lamb Yiros in Hindley Street.

Angus Beef has become insanely popular in recent times, even more popular than the Japanese Wagyu Beef. Angus is a prime cut - especially from the Coorong or further south - the green pastures of the South East of South Australia. None of this "Grain Fed" feedlot business, just nice relaxed cattle grazing in the bounty of the farmers paddock. Mind you, Im not sure which (if any) prime cuts make it to the Pie industry.. its probably more of the offcuts and unpopular cuts of meat.

The Balfours Beef Pie ingredient list includes 30% Beef plus around 30 or more other ingredients including all sorts of numbers that reads a bit like a year 12 mathematics exam. One gets the impression that this pie is the result of a collaboration between a Food Chemist and the marketing department. I mean, who needs to put additional Flavour and Colour in a meat pie?

Packaging of the pie is in the normal heat resistant plastic, with the caption "Beef slow cooked in a traditional beef stock with golden flaky pastry". Im not sure how "traditional" some of those additives are, I cant recall Grandma having them in her cupboard.

The Pie itself presents well, nice colour to the crust, flaky appearance, uniform crimping around the edges. I was a bit worried about the base as it appeared to begin crumbling. If I were eating out of the bag, perhaps it may not have stood the treatment.

Interior of the pie appeared to consist of dark thick gravy interspersed by small chunks of meat.

On tasting the Pie, I immediately noted a high level of salt. Salt is used as a flavour enhancer, in other words, if it lacks natural flavour they will try and boost it by add bucket loads of salt. I generally detest high levels of salt as it masks what the food actually tastes like. I doubt if Grandma used this amount of salt in her traditional pies. The pastry was of excellent consistency.  I was pleasantly surprised by the generous number of beef chucks found through out each pie.

A nice size chunk!

My overall impression of the pie was that it lacked spice, it lacked taste - I mean real taste. It was bland.

I had to introduce the universal pie enhancer (Spring Gully Tomato Sauce - the greatest tomato sauce in the universe) to save my lunch.

How did I score it?

Presentation: 9/10 it looked like a pie should

Consistency: 9/10 the chunks were excellent

Taste: 5/10 - it needs to remove the science and salt and add pepper and taste

Value: 2/10 - I would have expected a better taste for the price

Overall, If you dont have a sauce like Spring Gully Tomato Sauce to boost the flavour, you would expect to be disappointed with the taste.

I would give this one a split analysis:

With Spring Gully Sauce: The Bogan Seal of Approval for every day use

Without Spring Gully Sauce: The Bogan sigh of despair

Food Review: Sargents Curry Pie

 Pies are one of the staple dietary requirements for the average Bogan. Curry pies, whilst fulfilling the basic dietary requirement could be seen as "gourmet". Fortunately, Sargents added the word TRADITIONAL which makes it OK.

The pies come as "re-heat and eat" - perfect for the Saturday Lunch. Instructions on the back make it easy to prepare - with the added bonus of warnings for microwave use - I mean who really wants a pie with a soggy crust?

So how does this culinary delight compare to the packaging?

Clearly there could be improvements in branding location and crimping, but it has the basic designs - its round, and made of pastry.

I heated the pies according to the instructions - 175 degrees for 30 minutes with the following results:

The pie on the right is a pretty good representation of the packet. The pie on the left has the classic warning sign - "watch out piping hot filling inside" - burnt tongue a distinct possibility.

Inside the pie:

Consistency is good - colour is excellent. You can see mince in the pie. There was a nice crunch punching through the pastry.

Taste was disappointing. For a Curry pie, I expected a lot more curry, instead it was a good meat pie with a slight curry flavour.

As this was the case, I decided to add my favourite Tomato Sauce, the one and only, Spring Gully.

This made the pie a lot better to devour. 

Overall?

Product Vs Packaging: 7/10

Ease of preparation: 8/10

Taste: 6/10

Value for Money: 9/10

Total: 7/10

This would score a Bogan Seal of Approval for Every day Use.