Mince Pie Appreciation

How odd. That sad looking thing in the grauniad seems to bear no resemblance to what I had

I have seen pies in store with the star on top, but they're minis, and I have no time for miniature food

I don’t trust star topped mince pies

Seems like a good tablespoon's worth in there

Apologies for the lack of natural light, but if it was a nice sunny day I wouldn't be indoors, stuffing my face with pastry

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Heating up the proper way.

Classic Morrisons run of the mill mincer. Enjoyed with a mug of hot mulled wine.

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Finally got my grubby mitts on some Saino’s all butter mince pies. These definitely have the best pastry out of the non-premium all-butter pastry pies. It’s a great colour, crisp and tastes good, bettered only by the SHOUTY CAPS brown butter pastry IMO. However, the filling is a little straightforward. Like in the Tesco ones, it’s neither particularly sweet or particularly tangy and nothing really stands out. It’s just nice. So I’m putting them close behind the M&S and Waitrose ones as they have the better fillings.

My supermarket list so far (best to worst):

1. Waitrose Brown Butter with COURVOISIER VS Cognac IN SHOUTY CAPS
   
2. M&S -FOOD- COLLECTION mince pies in the gold box
   
3. M&S C L A S S I C All Butter
   
4. Waitrose 6 All Butter
   
5. Sainos TTD all butter pastry
   
6. Tesco finest All Butter Pastry Mince Pies with Brandy & Port
   
7. Sainsbury's 6 straight-up no bullshit deep filled
   
8. M&S festive iced topped
   
9. Waitrose 9 mini all-butter (didn't like)
   
10. Lidl Deluxe 12 All Butter Mini Mince Pies (really not great, don’t bother)
    

Spent about ten minutes looking for SHOUTY CAPS pies, only to be greeted with this.

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That's because @Jonny69 is an #influencer

But seriously thank you Jonny. I still won't eat any until December 1st because eating them in November is sick and wrong but I will be able to start the season on a firm footing thanks to your important work.

Disappoint in lack of pics mind.

eating them in November is sick and wrong

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I had some sainsbury's TtD last night - were fine, nothing to write home about.

And how is one supposed to get through the sheer volume of mincers in just one month?

It's because of attitudes like these that Gregg's stop doing mincers at New Year's.

First foray into mince pie territory this season, would have started back in October but have been trying to lose weight.

This is the offering from Endcliffe Park cafe. Controversial sponge top, but ample amounts of boozy mince make for a satisfyingly moist experience. Bonus points for being fucking massive. An excellent opener, will mince again.

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It wouldn't be fun if it wasn't challenging, right?

Look at these people, congratulating themselves on their own cowardice

Makes me sick

£3 a slab if you can get em.

The Sainos TTD were piled high and down to £1.50 - just 25p a bang. I'd concur with Jonny69 though - they are a good all-round pie, but I'd be disappointed if there was not better supermarket offerings out there. Will have to track down some SHOUTY CAPS this week.

SHOUTY CAPS are *chefs kiss

warmed some up in the oven today. Ooft. Like a mini Christmas pudding 👌🏻

got a mincer from Gravesend Cyclocpark cafe today - best of the season so far for me. Deeper than it was wide and handmade

186 Mince Pies is manageable. Anything more would be gluttony.

Roll on Weds 1st.

Also

I've banged a lot of these down my food hole already, purely through convenience as we get Sainsbury's food delivery. I think they first popped up as a delivery recommendation back in late September with a hefty 50p price cut and I've been ordering them almost every order since then.

They are very eatable but not moreish. One's enough, I'm not left feening to finish the pack once I've finished the one pie.

Went via ASDA on the way to work. Got the Extra Special Luxury mince pies (left) which are their all-butter ones and the Extra Special Luxury Sloe Gin mince pies (right) which I guess they’re pitching against the gold box M&S and SHOUTY CAPS.

All-butter ones first. These are a really good pie. The pastry is really crisp and good tasting. The filling is a bit wetter than in all the other pies and sweet and a little bit tangy. It’s difficult to rate this now, so I’m going to have to do a side-by-side taste later with another M&S one. But it’s going to be up there somewhere.

Sloe gin ones. I’ve had these before and I really like them. They’re an acquired taste though, because the sloe makes the mincemeat taste different and they are also very sweet. Pastry is good, like the other ASDA ones. Definitely try them if you like sloe gin or just curious, but do expect them to taste quite different to a normal mince pie. I’m not going to put them in the rating list because they’re not a direct comparison.

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Wenzels mince pies are an absolute treat.
The best of all last year was the Dusty Knuckle offering, I have not yet been to test out in 2021, but look forward to making sure they are as good as I remember.

Disappoint in lack of pics mind.

Good point. I’m going back and adding them.