Mince Pie Appreciation

Have started on the mince pies and lebkuchen. Been sampling dairy free options. M&S and Holland & Barretts efforts are nowhere near the King of mince pies (Greggs).

Do you not find a Greggs mince pie a bit sweet? They're great, but they hurt my teeth.

They also have an admirable amount of badness in them. About 300 calories and 20g of fat in each one if my memory serves me correctly! Not that I consider that a bad thing tbh...

Yeah Greggs are too sweet agreed. They lack a bit of depth. Gone right down in my estimation

M&S were too shallow with not enough filling and the pastry in the H&B ones was just nasty. Not had a Greggs this year yet to be fair.

First mincer today. IMO Christmas starts when the clocks change. Plus now that it's dark all the time I need the lift. Went for a standard Sainsburys deep filled to get me going. Surprisingly acceptable, if a little bland. Gregg's have been solid the last few years, so very worrying to hear standards might have slipped.

Not making mince pies yet, they don't have a lid. Just using up some of the mincemeat that's been maturing in the Fridge since last Christmas...

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Ratings so far:
Sainsburys - Pastry quite thick, filling nice but not enough. 5/10
Greggs - Too sweet for me, pastry was good though. 6/10
Tesco - The front runner so far, decent amount of filling and good ratio to pastry. 7/10

Went mince pie shopping today.
Fortnum & Mason. Check.
Harrods. Check.
Kondotori in Borough Market. Check. 8 boxes????????
M&S. Check.

I'll try and get Lidl, Aldi, Waitrose, Sainos & Greggs done tomorrow.
And that'll be all of my terra firma Xmas shopping done.

Also took Mother to do her weekly shop at Sainos.
Still trying to figure out which was more taxing.....

Greggs Brixton: no good

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/21/supermarket-luxury-mince-pies-ranked

Which has had its say.

I had some from Sainsbury’s bakery counter which were good but a bit shallow.

I hate engaging with Christmas stuff before about 18 December so I don’t eat many to be honest. Just sharing the above as a service to you lot.

Marks and Spencers fresh bakery thing. 💯

Source: rankings according to the Which? mince pie expert panel: Patrick Moore, the Artisan Bakery, Rebecca Levell, Hobbs House Bakery, Aidan Chapman, Bread Ahead and James Adams chef and restaurant food consultant.

How does one apply to be part of the panel?

Patrick Moore

By being dead?

By being part of the big pie establishment.

First set of mince pies were brought into the office today. Disappointed I cracked before Dec.

Picked these up on the way home from work. Do I have to wait until 1 Dec to sample one?

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No.
You are here just once.
This isn't a dress rehearsal.

Got heavily involved in the Iceland offering rated 2nd by Which. 12 for £3. Decent as fuck.

Had a couple with a cup of tea. Pretty disappointing, plenty of filling but the pastry is anaemic, almost undercooked. Looks like Patrick Moore was right.

liquid pastry is fucking sex

you don't want your mincer wrapper in a fucking biscuit do you?

Anyone mincing before Dec needs to have a serious word with themselves. Poor form. Have you got your tree up as well?

Horseshit. It’s a mince pie, not a Christmas pie. I’d eat these fuckers year round if they were available.

And there division. DIVISION IN THE PIE THREAD.

Had a couple of these this week from Aldi:

At first I thought there wasn't enough mincemeat, but the taste is certainly there. Good if you like marzipan.

Why would you ever take it down? You’re only gonna have to put it up again.