Right, the first pie to touch my lips this year is a Christmas by Sainsbury's Deep Mince Pie. One would expect the first pie after 10 months, regardless of quality, to taste extraordinary; a feeling akin to a mother seeing her newly born baby for the first time! Okay, maybe that's a bit too far, but I was definitely looking forward to sinking my teeth into this one. Lets see how it did.
Presentation - 5
Box has good Christmas colours of red and gold. I wonder how the pie on the right of the picture is actually leaning forward as the pie behind appears to be a little too far away for it to be resting on this! Other than this its nice, clean, modern and stands out. The pattern on the side of the box makes my eyes hurt a little.
The pie looks like the picture, maybe not as golden as the picture, but I guess its because I haven't oven cooked them. A little cracking on top around the edges, but other than that, it looks decent. Don't worry Sainsbury's, i've noticed the veins on the holly. Good attention to detail.
Nutritional Content & Price - 5
At £1 a box of 6, these are the default price for mince pies. No shocks or surprises there.
These have 256 calories, 19.4g of sugar and 9.5g of fat. Comparing it to last years mince pie these are very similar, and only a slight reduction in calories.
Pastry - 23
This is not a bad pastry. Its crumbles a little but maintains its shape. It is however clear that there's excess moisture in the mincemeat, which has been absorbed into the pastry, making the base a little stodgy. It's just the right thickness and you can taste the butter. Not bad for the first mince pie.
Mincemeat - 15
Unfortunately, this is where it's let down. I was initially pleased to see that there was no large pocket of air above the mincemeat, but it went downhill from there. The image on the box shows large vine fruits in a variety of shades of red. What you actually get is a dark, mostly purée, mess. While it is meant to have the same sugar content as last year, this tastes sweeter. Too sweet for me. Not even the shortcrust pastry helps to neutralise this. There are vine fruits inside, and they are fairly large, but the sweet purée ruins the colour, flavour and texture.
Satisfaction Level - 5
This is quite a mediocre pie. Nothing spectacular and not terrible. As the first mince pie to begin filling that pie shaped void within me this year, I could do much worse. I was surprised to find this mince pie so early on in the year, but I guess if some of my colleagues at work have started Christmas shopping, there is no harm in getting into the Christmas spirit a little earlier.
If you want a good filler pie until (I expect) the better ones start rolling out, these Sainsbury's Deep Mince Pies are not terrible.
Here are the scores from my fellow Mincers.
Tester 1
Presentation (6) Nutritional content & Price (7.5) Pastry (28) Mincemeat (25) Satisfaction Level (7
Tester 2
Presentation (6) Nutritional content & Price (6) Pastry (25) Mincemeat (26) Satisfaction Level (7)
OVERALL
65.5 / 100
Look at where these fit in on our leader board.
(Don't forget to follow us on twitter @TheMincePieBlog and on Facebook)
Presentation - 5
Box has good Christmas colours of red and gold. I wonder how the pie on the right of the picture is actually leaning forward as the pie behind appears to be a little too far away for it to be resting on this! Other than this its nice, clean, modern and stands out. The pattern on the side of the box makes my eyes hurt a little.
The pie looks like the picture, maybe not as golden as the picture, but I guess its because I haven't oven cooked them. A little cracking on top around the edges, but other than that, it looks decent. Don't worry Sainsbury's, i've noticed the veins on the holly. Good attention to detail.
Nutritional Content & Price - 5
At £1 a box of 6, these are the default price for mince pies. No shocks or surprises there.
These have 256 calories, 19.4g of sugar and 9.5g of fat. Comparing it to last years mince pie these are very similar, and only a slight reduction in calories.
This is not a bad pastry. Its crumbles a little but maintains its shape. It is however clear that there's excess moisture in the mincemeat, which has been absorbed into the pastry, making the base a little stodgy. It's just the right thickness and you can taste the butter. Not bad for the first mince pie.
Mincemeat - 15
Unfortunately, this is where it's let down. I was initially pleased to see that there was no large pocket of air above the mincemeat, but it went downhill from there. The image on the box shows large vine fruits in a variety of shades of red. What you actually get is a dark, mostly purée, mess. While it is meant to have the same sugar content as last year, this tastes sweeter. Too sweet for me. Not even the shortcrust pastry helps to neutralise this. There are vine fruits inside, and they are fairly large, but the sweet purée ruins the colour, flavour and texture.
Satisfaction Level - 5
This is quite a mediocre pie. Nothing spectacular and not terrible. As the first mince pie to begin filling that pie shaped void within me this year, I could do much worse. I was surprised to find this mince pie so early on in the year, but I guess if some of my colleagues at work have started Christmas shopping, there is no harm in getting into the Christmas spirit a little earlier.
If you want a good filler pie until (I expect) the better ones start rolling out, these Sainsbury's Deep Mince Pies are not terrible.
Here are the scores from my fellow Mincers.
Tester 1
Presentation (6) Nutritional content & Price (7.5) Pastry (28) Mincemeat (25) Satisfaction Level (7
"I'm not dissatisfied, give me an oven and a pot of cream and i'd be a happy girl"
Tester 2
Presentation (6) Nutritional content & Price (6) Pastry (25) Mincemeat (26) Satisfaction Level (7)
"Pleasant and would happily eat again. Would definitely buy."
OVERALL
65.5 / 100
Look at where these fit in on our leader board.
(Don't forget to follow us on twitter @TheMincePieBlog and on Facebook)
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