Go Dutch, Eat a Holland's Pie!





We were very happy recently to accept an invitation by Holland's Pies  & Puddings to a pie tasting event in Manchester. What a wonderful evening with a nice venue, the Rain Bar and great hosts. Different beers were available to taste to accompany your particular Pie. Also an informed guide to Pies was provided by chef and author Tom Bridges. Finally the stars of the show were Holland's various pies.

Arriving early for the event (that's a first!) the first pie up was the Chicken and Ham Hock. I must admit personally I'm not a big fan of Chicken in any pie but this was excellent, very tasty indeed. Next up was the Beef and Vegetable Pasty which was piping hot and of course I couldn't wait...ouuuucccchhhhh. It was very moreish and definitely worth a repeat serving!!

The third offering was the Peppered Steak pie which was simply fantastic. This one didn't last long at all on the plate! Finally came the Cheese & Onion pie which was very good although we would ask for a bit more onion in it. If it's going to be there you need to be able to taste it.  

We were asked at end of the evening which was our favourite taste, which means that perhaps we didn't like one, but that was not the case as they were all enjoyable and I would have them again willingly. But the Peppered steak won out by a clear margin amongst the gathered throng. Quite apart from the taste overall we like the size of the pies and the pastry. Often you can buy a pie and it's a good handful but too often its a thick dry crust with a lot of air...not these babies oh no.

Many thanks to Holland's Pies for an informative and enjoyable evening. It was great to hear about the Hot water pastry and other background from Tom Bridges. Subsequent testing with some samples at home would also suggest oven heat rather than Microwave if you've got the time and patience!