Mince Pie Appreciation

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Mince pies made in Brixton Prison

Started the year with these, because they’re on offer at £1.75 and at 44p per mincer work out cheaper than the usual Finest/Best/TTD/Signature/Collection/Whatever. Did one cold and the other warm.

Attracted by the darker bake on the pastry initially. The pastry is indeed very short and has an almost crunchy texture in places. However, distinct lack of buttery taste and I’d almost go as far as saying it’s very bland tasting as it’s not sweet either. The filling is good. Very fruity and bright and plenty of it. Completely let down by the pastry though. What is this ‘all butter’ ingredient the supermarkets use that doesn’t taste like butter?

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Rice flour in the pastry ingredients. Ala gluten-free flour - that’s probably what’s giving the pastry the shortness and crunch.

£12.50 for 6 at the local bakery in Enfield. Good though.

That label has one too many 'fruit's, but is missing a comma after 'pastry'. Finest indeed 😤

Pile of Costco's mincers just appeared in the office - they're huge! Topped with frangipane, early reports are positive but it'll be a couple of hours before I can get one down me, will report back.

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Update - not bad, if you like the frangipane topped numbers this is a decent offering. And huge.

Pastry good, frangipane was light & not too cakey but the filling was a bit thin - would still probably prefer Gregg's over these.

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^ That ratio is sad

Make mincers great again

Yep, note to all mince pie manufacturers - just copy fucking Gregg's but make it 50% bigger & you'll sell millions of the things!

First mince pie of the season. I'm going to try to keep it restrained this year in the hope of avoiding too much Christmas bloat, so it's high end artisan shit for me only (golf club thread ahoy).

First out of the door, Marmaduke's bakery. I was out and about and hankering for caffeine and these were sitting on the counter top looking all tempting. Controversial crumbly top didn't really add much, but didn't detract either. Not short on filling, pleasingly boozy and spiced, but far too much like a mince flavoured jam for my liking, where is the whole fruit? Will probs bosh a couple more of these given their convenient location, 7.5/10, not a bad start.

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M&S "Our Best Ever Mince Pie" off the bakery counter is very good, really crunchy pastry, good boozey filling. £1.85 per mincer isn't cheap but is significantly larger than Gails which retail at £3 a pop... Going to be shifting my luxury mincer allegiance it seems!

Everything else (breads, croissant, various cakes) I've had from palmers green Holtwhites have all been top top tier

We live in hope

Managed to nab two of these on yellow label for a shade over a quid last night to make up for my Bert-induced train cancellation woes. Agree that they’re pretty good for a supermarket offering. Decent size as well, and minimal air gap.

Can we lay off calling Mince Pies "mincers"? Let's not degrade them. This is the appreciation thread after all.

My folks brought down some Booths ones at the weekend. Unsurprisingly, top stuff. Love Booths.

Also tried a M&S "best ever" pie yesterday. Agree they are pretty good. Pastry is the highlight. Filling a little like marmalade, overall positive though:

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Just say it with a French accent instead. But don’t forget the origins come from the meintza, which was a traditional kosher snack around this time of the year 👍

I'm in the "let's not call them mincers" camp.

Camp mincers?

I'm very close to Konditor - what is the consensus on them? Or is it like every mince pie, zero consensus

All for adding the French accent upping the quality.
We (me and partner) now call anything posh/artisinal/nice, ‘Pengiste’ pronounced pen jeeste.
Came about from having to go to Penge East station and commenting on the slightly nicer environs compared to ordinary Penge and a shop you could buy Perello olives and sourdough.
So crap mince pies are Pengy.
Sublime mince pies are Pengíste.

They are top 5 for me

Adding a French accent feels very golf.

Another M&S bakery outing. Just to check.

Pastry crunchiness is exemplary. Filling depth is good. Filling itself is fine, but not up there with the best.

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Good and expensive

Monsieurs?