PIEGATE. 12TH APRIL 2024. MASTERCHEF.
Fellow pie afficionados and MasterChef fans… Were you as outraged as me at the sight of two this-is-not-a-pie-pies rearing their ugly, half-dressed faces on the pie challenge set by Jay Rayner on last night’s MasterChef?
I mean, come on. REFEREE!
In fairness, Pete was pulled up on his Vietnamese beef stew with a puff pastry lid and Shreya was mildly remonstrated for her jackfruit galette (clue’s in the name there, kiddo). But what were they thinking? And is it a bit harsh to say they should both have been de-robed of their MasterChef aprons and marched by the elbow from the kitchen?
FAKE PIES!
For the avoidance of doubt, The British Pie Awards definition of a pie is one whose filling is “wholly encased in pastry and baked.”
Not half dressed, even if it is with some fancifully complex lattice work.
Not a dish of minced beef or lamb topped with mashed potato, no matter how intricately you pipe it.
And most definitely not that old American faithful pumpkin ‘pie’. SHE IS A TART! (Thank you Nellie Boswell for gifting that to the nation, it never gets old!)
Filling without a complete encasing of pastry is like bread without butter; like a roast dinner without gravy; like tea without cake. Unthinkable.
So stop it. At once.
