Mince Pie Appreciation

Other half makes mincemeat ice cream with left over mincemeat every year, highly recommended.

SHOWTIME. Ok, the M&S (left) is definitely better than the ASDA (right). The M&S filling is much more tangy, citrusy and the crisper pastry leaves behind a nice nutty, buttery aftertaste. I'm going to put the ASDA in at a provisional 5th place, but I'll need to do a direct comparison with the Sainsburys ones to see who gets actual 5th place. I'm tempted to put them in joint equal.

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. ASDA Extra Special (provisional)
   
6. Sainos TTD all butter pastry (provisional)
   
7. Tesco finest All Butter Pastry Mince Pies with Brandy & Port
   
8. Sainsbury's 6 straight-up no bullshit deep filled
   
9. M&S festive iced topped
   
10. Waitrose 9 mini all-butter (didn't like)
    
11. Lidl Deluxe 12 All Butter Mini Mince Pies (really not great)
    
    

Edit: my pictures SUCK

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Tried one of the SHOUTY CAPS mincers at lunch on the basis of rave reviews. Had to say it wasn't for me.

Brown butter pastry was super tasty, but it was way too thin, 1mm or so on the top so the morose morsel disintegrated in my hands as it was extracted from the box. The crunchy almonds were welcome, but flavour was a bit on the strong side for me and it wasn't even that deep filled. Perhaps expectations were too high?

Had another one immediately to ensure consistent mincer assessment results and then gave the rest to the office.

Sorry to hear that, man. Based on what you said, I reckon Sainsbury’s or ASDA ones will be right up your street 👍

Also tried these this evening and agree on the thin pastry, ended up using a bowl and spoon. Did taste the nicest though.

So far I've tried sainsburys TTD and bakery, tesco finest and Lidl deluxe.

Sainos TTD - bang average
Tesco Finest - bang average

I had some entry level Tesco mincers yesterday.

Warmed two up in the oven and the pastry just got soggy.

Mince was ok. Some nice big chunks of orange peel and a nice rounded flavour.

First time I've encountered a mince pie that is better cold than warm.

That said, at 14p per pie they went well with a cup of tea.

Sainsbury's All Butter vs ASDA All butter. Saino's on the left - see how it's quite a bit bigger than the ASDA one. That's not the picture, it is quite a bit bigger. The pastry is better on the Sainsbury's one, but the filling is fruitier and slightly tangier on the ASDA one. Overall, the Sainsbury's one just takes it for me, but it's very close between these two.

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. ASDA Extra Special
   
7. Tesco finest All Butter Pastry Mince Pies with Brandy & Port
   
8. Sainsbury's 6 straight-up no bullshit deep filled
   
9. M&S festive iced topped
   
10. Waitrose 9 mini all-butter (didn't like)
    
11. Lidl Deluxe 12 All Butter Mini Mince Pies (really not great)
    

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Opened the Waitrose brown butter ones; yeah they're divine

Is this what we have to look forward to in festive seasons to come? Reckon pricing structure will remain the same, and it's always going to be a 6 pack - so smaller pies accounting for inflation?

I really hope this isn't the case. The misses often buys mini pies - and they should be banned. The pasty/filling ratio is out of whack by default, so eating twice as many is still
complete disappointment.

I fear the shrinkage of standard pies and would pay a premium for a 4 pack of bigger ones.

Well FUCK.

Went out at lunch with the best intentions to prepare for the big day tomorrow. Forgot to even take any method of payment, and go to the shop. Good run though.

Later.

Forge Bakehouse, Sheffield. Completely superfluous - and morally wrong - blob of icing on top, but otherwise an incredible mince pie. Pastry spot on, walking the line between crunchy and crumbly without being dry. Excellent height, and making full use of the headroom with a generous helping of some top quality mince. Could do with maybe a splash more booze, but it’s a minor quibble. I am coming back in here.

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Probably for the best. Might have caved and had two for lunchpudding.

Not certain on either... So much pastry, so little filling...

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Just devoured my first Greggs mincer of the season. Still the best non-dairy option unless anyone knows otherwise?

Went to another branch of Waitrose to try and get SHOUTY CAPS today. Spent ten minutes searching in vain, then asked a member of staff to help. He checked on his handheld terminal and confirmed that they had none in stock. He did, however, confirm that they will be getting more in tomorrow. May go back after my flu jab as I will be needing a pick-me-up, no doubt.

These are the best I’ve tried this year. 4 for £1. I need to step up the running.

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1 more sleep!

The Aldi frangipane mini mincers are back - shown here for scale next to one of Spar's finest which are a fairly standard size. If you like mmarzipan these are a winner - only had one so far & it could possibly use a bit more filling but these will not last long. The size means you need to work in multiples but that's fine.

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The boxing in 12's implies a serving is a two-up.

Minimum - I kinda wish they were bigger to mitigate the higher pastry:filling ratio you suffer with multiple small pies but they do go well with a nice cup of tea.

Caught a colleague having a sneaky one in a zoom call earlier. Called him out on it. He is Australian so definitely a wrong 'un.

It's already December in Australia

Caught a colleague having a sneaky one in a zoom call

had to remind myself what thread I was in there

@Jonny69 thanks for the research.

Following up the excellent SHOUTY CAPS with some Sainos mini all butter.

I feel like if they could combine the pastry from the latter with the filling from the former I'd have a personal winner.

Plus point of the mini all butter was the ability to eat whole. Handy on the car for minimal crumb fallout.