In another thread, it transpired that quite a few members buy the occasional Fray Bentos tinned pie. They seem to be a favourite of our menfolk in particular. They have been around for many many years and I suspect they have been largely superseded by chilled or frozen whole pies which are readily available in supermarkets. Despite their name, they are made by Baxter's who are well known for their soups.
My suspicion is that they will end up being discontinued, just as tinned steamed puddings were a few years ago. Anyway, I thought I would test one out - so first up is steak and kidney. I cooked and served one to my partner and here is how it turned out.
N.B. This post is destined to be a review - but I would like some input from other members first.
I cooked the 425g pie which ought to serve 2. It cost £1 from Tesco's although this was a discounted price. It comes in a tin like this:
Before you can cook it you must remove the lid. This is quite a tough job, so you need a strong tin-opener! Its a pity they don't have a ring pull system, although perhaps that wouldn't work on such a wide diameter tin. The pie is then placed in a hot oven for 25 mins. It came out like this:
I was quite impressed by the puff pastry and it looked appetising - until I removed the lid (really the only way to serve it is to take off the lid first)...
I couldn't see much in the way of meat. Lots of gravy but not much meat. So I fished out as many lumps of meat (minus gravy) as I could to demonstrate:
Not a lot of obvious whole pieces - and the pieces were much smaller than I'd expect in a steak and kidney pie. They were about 2 cm square, There was other evidence of meat in the gravy but it was in a sort of mushy, not whole pieces. Here it is with gravy added:
Overall, the filling does taste rather good and there is no shortage of rich gravy. Due to the small pieces of meat it was difficult to differentiate between the steak and the kidney. If this was feeding two people I think they would be disappointed with the lack of chunks of meat they each received.
My partner said he enjoyed it and would eat it again - but for me I would prefer more pieces of meat in chunkier pieces.
Now - please do cook one and tell us you verdict! Or tell us your memories of eating one.
My suspicion is that they will end up being discontinued, just as tinned steamed puddings were a few years ago. Anyway, I thought I would test one out - so first up is steak and kidney. I cooked and served one to my partner and here is how it turned out.
N.B. This post is destined to be a review - but I would like some input from other members first.
I cooked the 425g pie which ought to serve 2. It cost £1 from Tesco's although this was a discounted price. It comes in a tin like this:
Before you can cook it you must remove the lid. This is quite a tough job, so you need a strong tin-opener! Its a pity they don't have a ring pull system, although perhaps that wouldn't work on such a wide diameter tin. The pie is then placed in a hot oven for 25 mins. It came out like this:
I was quite impressed by the puff pastry and it looked appetising - until I removed the lid (really the only way to serve it is to take off the lid first)...
I couldn't see much in the way of meat. Lots of gravy but not much meat. So I fished out as many lumps of meat (minus gravy) as I could to demonstrate:
Not a lot of obvious whole pieces - and the pieces were much smaller than I'd expect in a steak and kidney pie. They were about 2 cm square, There was other evidence of meat in the gravy but it was in a sort of mushy, not whole pieces. Here it is with gravy added:
Overall, the filling does taste rather good and there is no shortage of rich gravy. Due to the small pieces of meat it was difficult to differentiate between the steak and the kidney. If this was feeding two people I think they would be disappointed with the lack of chunks of meat they each received.
My partner said he enjoyed it and would eat it again - but for me I would prefer more pieces of meat in chunkier pieces.
Now - please do cook one and tell us you verdict! Or tell us your memories of eating one.
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