we have a lad,Big Gus,(think he must be a baker) compiling a definitive peh register of the first division just now,his thread has been running all season and is eagerly anticipated by the peh fans amongst us,could become the standard for all pehs to be measured by.
Here's a wee sample..............
Pie 1:
Steak and Gravy Pie served at Almondvale Stadium, ?2.10 Livingston FC vs Dundee FC (Dundee won 2-0) on 5th August 2007.
First game of the season and the tightly packed Ferrari's bus rolls into Livingston. Lovely sunny day and a massive turnout of travelling Dundee fans made for a good atmosphere. Perfect for pies!
In a change to the norm we were in the ground for 2.45 so myself and my fellow sampler - Davie AKA Z-Bag - stood in the large queue (corner of the East stand) for hot meat products! The stall was quite small and staffed by 3 youngsters who did gamely with the large queue. The pricing wasnt too bad except for liquids. ?1.80 for a mince pie and ?2.10 for a steak and gravy. A coke was ?1.80 as well. There was the usual facilities of sauce, pepper sachets etc. For the more avante guarde amongst us there was hot dogs, burgers etc on sale as well. Napkins were not freely available. 7/10 for pricing and facilities at this ground.
Anyway, onto the pie.
Presentation: The Livi pie comes in a bog standard tin tray. Much better than just getting it on a napkin - especially if it's a messy pie. No problems here though, this pie was properly "fired" with a nice puffy lid. Lifiting it from the tin revealed a nice crisp underside. Definate 8/10 here.
Pastry: As mentioned, the lid was puff and picking at it was very nice. The rest of the pie crust was standard and I reckon the perfect 8oz/6oz flour/marge blend. Quality crust this, expecially for a football pie. Another 8/10.
Filling: Again, I can't fault our hosts fare here. A rich, thick gravy with differing size nice, juicy steak pieces. I never tasted a fatty bit and there was 1 massive chunk in there that was exceptionally succulent and delicious. This is right up there with the best. 9/10
Consistency: Sometimes a steak and gravy pie is a recipe for for squishing gravy that can cause third degree scalds through your jeans. Not a problem here, gravy was of a nice consistency and, while I picked at the lid and one side, the "pick up and munch" was easilly done as the pie came out the tin simply, no stickage. 8/10
Overall Score: 8/10 The Livi Steak And Gravy Pie is a quality product. A great start to the football and pie sampling season and a tough benchmark to beat!
Pie 2:
Mince Pie served at Den's Park. ?2.00. Dundee Vs Queen Of The South (Dundee won 2-1) on 12th August 2007.
Our home ground but don't expect home favouritism. The Dundee FC pie has often been ropey in my opinion. You may note I chose a mince pie here. This follows a harrowing incident a couple of seasons ago when, on a cold Winter evening, I bought a steak and gravy pie and it had 1 crappy little fatty chunk of steak in it and a blob of gravy, This thing was 90% crust and 10% filling. So I've boycotted them since. The mince pie I sampled was served to me from the stall in the South Enclosure about 15 minutes after the kick off. There was already "nae burgers". The stall is not a patch on the livingston one though the young staff do quite well, if a little surly. 6/10 for facilities. Being open to the elements is OK this time of year though. The pie didn't fare so well....
Presentation: Shocking. As soon as the girl opened the pie warmer I could see the burnt lids inside. I had to request she took a pie off the top of the warmer for me. The pie comes in a tin tray (they never used to so this is at least a minor step forward). The top was still overcooked and burnt, lifiting the pie - with difficulty as it was stuck in the tray - revealed the bottom was still squishy pastry. Poor show. The lid was not big enough, there had been shrinkage, it was no longer covering the insides! 3/10.
Crust: A tale of two halves with an over-fired top and squishy bottom. Schoolboy pie cooking error really. The pastry itself wasn't too bad. Tasty enough, but prepared this poorly there was no saving this pie. 4/10
Filling: An improvement here. The mince pie is often seen as the steak pies poorer, chavier brother. I do quite like a good mince pie though. The filling here was OK, a little overmoist still but it was quite tasty. Didn't seem too fatty and no grissly bits. Tasted nice and peppery. Sadly it couldnt totally make up for the chronic pastry.
Consistency: The mince pie is traditionally easier to pick up and eat due the the lack of gravy. Sadly the soggy bottom of this pie never made eating in hand all that easy and in the end I resorted to picking the crispier crust off the top them wading into the squishy bottom with slightly burnt fingers. 4/10
Overall: 4/10. The Dundee pie has, for the last few seasons at least, been a riseable attempt at a decent pie. One can only hope samplings later in the season at Dens Park are slightly better.
Next trip: McDiarmid Park, Perth. Saturday 18th August 2007.
