HOW WE CONDUCTED OUR TASTE TEST
It's free and fair!
We put out a call to Sunday Times readers to be part of the panel of tasters. Forty of them came together on a Saturday morning to taste ready-made steak pies from leading supermarkets.
The chefs at HTA Culinary School in Randburg, Joburg, prepared the food as per the package instructions. The panel of tasters were presented with each of the products "naked" without any branding or packaging. They were asked to judge them according to their appearance, taste and texture and to say whether they would buy them or not.
Morne Kok, an internal auditor at Transaction Capital, was on hand to monitor the objectivity of the blind-tasting process, from removing the packing to numbering the products, overseeing the preparation and adding up the scores.
THE RESULTS
FIRST PLACE: Woolworths Beef steak pie
Price: R69.90 for 520g
Judges's comments:
- Judith: A lovely saucy filling with good flavour. It tastes homemade.
- Terry: Filling is generous and tasty, as is the pastry.
- Pearl: Tastes pretty good, although a little salty.
- Bianca: This pie made me smile - intact pastry, delicious and flavourful filling.
- Mark: Tasty filling, this is a good beef pie.
- Selvin: Plenty of gravy, soft meat with lots of flavour.
SECOND PLACE: Pick n Pay Steak pie
Price: R69.90 for 600g
Judges's comments:
- Joan: It looks neat. Filling has too many spices.
- Judith: Flavour and taste is good although meat feels overdone and a bit dry.
- Terry: I found the filling a bit gristly with unusual taste.
- Bianca: Great pastry, soft meat. The pie looks beautiful but the filling is average.
- John: I found the pastry thick, filling nice, but there's not enough of it.
- Selvin: The meat is stringy.
- Nicolene: A perfectly average pie.
THIRD PLACE: Checkers Cafe Culture steak pie
Price: 550g for R54.99
- Jacqui: No steak in my piece and the filling is mediocre.
- Judith: Pastry is almost underdone, both the top and bottom. Filling is not generous at all and the meat a bit chewy.
- Thami: Too saucy and not enough meat.
- Beryl: Gristle in filling and greasy pastry.
- Pearl: Tastes like rubber. Where's the filling?
- Sarah: Too much pepper, very rubbery filling and dreadful pastry.
