Sadly, Tesco lacked pork pies of any description, so I had to throw myself on the mercy of Sainsbury's, and their Crusty Bake Snack Pork Pie 2-pack, which I think Justene reviewed some time ago.
The question is, has it moved on from the somewhat mixed review - 'gag reflex', 'very greasy', 'low on seasoning' - its ancestor received?
I'll admit to having low expectations. It was 3pm on a Friday afternoon, I'd had my lunch already, and I'd skipped the pricier options on the shelf in favour of something more compact.
Opening the packet provided no cause for concern; my chosen pie of the pair looking crisp and smelling suitably porky. The cut: demanding, as it should be - I'm a man who likes his meaty goodness densely packed, right up to the sides. Encouragingly little of the unspecified gelatinous goo my esteemed colleague had detected nearly five years' hence, despite the wholesale damage to the financial markets caused by the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the intervening period, and the resultant austerity to which we have become accustomed. This is pie made in the UK, not Guangzhou, and it shows.
The taste: remarkably good. The aftertaste a little peppery perhaps, but a delightfully meaty bouquet, with pastry not likely to trouble Trading Standards, being both baked and undeniably crusty.
Ultimately, this is a brace of taste, a pair with flair, a twosome I found quite woosome: unassuming little pies which deliver on their £1.09 for two price tag, and will get you coming back for another piece. Politically, economically, socially, culturally, the intervening years may have been tough, but the piemasters of J Sainsbury have not been surrendering to the gloom. They've taken the salt- and fat-reduction regulations on the chin... and been cooking up a treat in reply.
Flavour balance: meat: 60%, pastry 38%, gelatine 2%
Overall Score: 7/10
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment