The best and worst supermarket pork pies, from ‘claggy' to ‘beautifully crunchy'

Who ate all the pies? Me. At the World Pie Awards, which takes place every year in Melton Mowbray, I've judged vegetarian pies, football pies and steak pies. I've done novelty pies (the full English breakfast pie was a mistake, mostly because of the baked beans) and wedding pies which included multi-tier, pastry-rose-bedecked creations, as well as a glorious 'timpano', the pie at the centre of the classic Stanley Tucci film Big Night. Best of all, one year I was promoted to the top table to judge the king of picnic food, the Melton Mowbray pork pie.
So when I set about collecting supermarket pork pies to test for this article, in honour of picnic season, I was delighted to find that all bar one of the single portion (around 140g) pies were in fact, Melton Mowbray pies – i.e., produced in a specific area around Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, with a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status under the UK's Protected Food Names scheme.
Skip to:
How we tested
The taste test
What sets a Melton Mowbray pork pie apart from a regular pork pie is that it contains uncured pork meat, rather than meat that's been treated with curing salt, containing nitrites and/or nitrates. This means it will be a muted beige-pink when cut open, perhaps still a little rosy in the middle, but not the admittedly jolly Percy Pig colour of a cured pork pie. It also arguably means it is more healthy, as cured meat has been linked to bowel cancer. However, loaded with saturated fat, wrapped in pastry (yup, refined carbs) and with a generous helping of salt, no one could call a pork pie of any kind health food.
Melton Mowbray pies are also always made by shaping the pastry on a wooden cylinder called a dolly. The dolly is removed and the pie is filled and topped, before being baked without any additional support. Other pork pies are generally baked in metal rings which keep the sides ramrod straight, while a Melton Mowbray's girth bulges voluptuously.
Partnered with an expert judge at the World Pie Awards I learnt to look for a 'shoulder' of fat on top of the jelly that should fill the gap between the meat and the pastry. This thin layer of white pork fat is an indication that the pie has been filled with the liquid jelly while the pie is still hot.
Probably more important is the pastry, so crisp and rich the knife rasps as it cuts in. Soft pastry has no place in a pork pie, except in the smooth pale inner lining before the layer of deeply savoury jelly around well-seasoned meat.
Picnic nirvana, however you judge it.
How we tested
All the pies were brought to room temperature, unwrapped and assigned a letter to anonymise them. They were judged blind.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Independent

16 minutes ago

• The Independent

Weight loss pill shows promise in new trial

A new weight loss medication, which can be offered by injection or tablet, can help patients lose a significant amount weight, studies suggest. An early study have found that people who received higher doses of amycretin as a weekly jab lost 24.3% of their body weight after 36 weeks of treatment. And initial trials assessing a tablet form of the drug also showed promising results, with patients taking daily tablets losing an average of 13.1% of their body weight after 12 weeks. Weight loss jabs have been hailed as transformative by NHS leaders. But injections come with additional work for over-stretched health services so tablet forms of medication may offer a new hope for the millions of people looking to lose weight. It has been estimated that around 1.5 million Britons are having weight loss jabs, which have been either prescribed through specialist weight loss services or private prescriptions. GPs will be able to dish out that jabs from next week. Amycretin, made by Novo Nordisk, helps to control blood sugar and appetite by targeting two specific receptors in the body – GLP-1 and the amylin receptor. An early trial in 125 adults testing weekly injections of amycretin, which has been published in The Lancet, found that those taking the highest dosage (60mg) lost 24.3% after 36 weeks of treatment. It also showed signs in improving blood sugar levels. Side effects included nausea and vomiting and were mostly mild to moderate and resolved by the end of treatment. 'These phase 1b/2a data support the potential of once-weekly subcutaneous amycretin as a therapeutic for people living with overweight or obesity,' the authors wrote. 'Amycretin appeared safe and tolerable, and there were significant reductions in body weight after 36 weeks of treatment.' The second early trial, published in the same journal, assessed amycretin in tablet form in 144 people over 12 weeks. There were mild to moderate side effects including loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting. Researchers found that people taking the highest dose of 100mg per day, lost 13.1% of their body weight over four months. The authors wrote: 'Amycretin effectively lowered body weight and improved metabolic and glycaemic parameters in people with overweight or obesity. 'Longer studies with more participants are warranted for evaluation of the safety and efficacy of amycretin in individuals living with obesity and type 2 diabetes, and to optimise the dosing regimen.' The studies were also presented at the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions in Chicago, in the US. It comes as a separate study, which was published at the same meeting, examined the effects of weight loss jab Wegovy at higher doses. Researchers found that giving patients 7.2mg of Wegovy, also known as semaglutide, once a week led to an average weight loss of 20.7%, with a third of participants losing 25% or more of their body weight after 72 weeks.

Daily Mail​

37 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

Erectile dysfunction drug Viagra has surprise new health benefit, scientists find - offering new hope to 3million ageing Britons

A surprising new health benefit has emerged from the sex drug Viagra - which means three million ageing Britons can now also enjoy a harder skull. The little blue tablet was found to increase the production of vital bone cells, preventing back pain and fractures in old age. Sildenafil - also known as Viagra - can help human stem cells transform into osteoblasts which help the human skeleton regenerate as it is completely replaced roughly once every 10 years. As humans get older, they lose more bone than is built, increasing the risk of breaks or osteoporosis, which makes bones brittle and painful. Follow-up tests on mice by Peking University also suggested a prevention of bone loss. Dr Menglong Hu and Dr Likun Wu told MailOnline: 'Our findings offer new insights into the physiological effects of the medicine. 'Sildenafil enhanced stem cell osteogenic differentiation and inhibited bone loss — it may usefully treat osteoporosis.' Viagra was invented as a heart drug in the 1980s before being found to help with erectile dysfunction. Some studies suggest it may also help reduce the risk of dementia. However, the have been cautions over the years that the drug could have some negative side effects, in particular if taken too much. A large quantity of the drug could result in a painful, 'uncomfortably and disproportionately large erection' called a priapism which could go on for hours. Some experts also found regularly taking the common drug may raise the risk of three serious eye conditions. Common side effects may include headaches, hot flushes, nausea, indigestion, dizziness and a stuffy nose. Nearly half of men between the ages of 40 and 70 suffer from erectile dysfunction in the UK - this is more than 4.5 million people. Though, reports suggest Viagra is now even becoming increasingly popular with younger individuals in their 20s and 30s. Last year, it emerged Viagra may help prevent dementia by boosting blood flow in the brain. 'This is the first trial to show that sildenafil gets into the blood vessels in the brain in people with this condition, improving blood flow and how responsive these blood vessels are,'Dr Alastair Webb, a neurologist and study author at Oxford University said.

Daily Mail​

an hour ago

• Daily Mail​

Warning over 'two tier' support for ADHD sufferers amid 'significant' rise in the use of unregulated private providers

NHS waiting lists for ADHD diagnosis and support have led to a 'significant' rise in the use of unregulated private providers, a report has said. The ADHD Taskforce, commissioned by NHS England with the support of the Government, has published an interim report calling for the system of diagnosing and managing the neurological condition to be overhauled. ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is characterised by patterns of restlessness, impulsivity and difficulty concentrating on one thing, with assessment and treatment typically provided by highly specialised doctors. But the report warned: 'Inability to access NHS services has led to a significant growth in the use of private providers that are not regulated, resulting in two-tier access to services, diagnosis and treatment; one for those who can pay and another for those who cannot. 'This drives health inequalities and links to disproportionate impacts and outcomes in the education and justice systems, employment and health.' Experts said waiting times for NHS ADHD services 'have escalated and are unacceptably long', with demand on services 'very likely' to continue to rise. Professor Anita Thapar, chair of the ADHD Taskforce, said: 'We need to get this right – to make sure people get early diagnosis and support.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'The report into the state of the NHS laid out how severe the delays have become for people waiting for an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis.'