The 2011 mince pie taste test!

The results of the 2011 lovemoney.com mince pie taste test are in. The premium pies came out on top for taste, but sit at the bottom for value for money...

Festive pop quiz: in which direction should you stir your mince pie mixture to avoid bad luck for the coming year?

Answers on a postcard, or in the comment box below!

Not that festive flan mythology will really concern many people nowadays. With such a selection of mince pies at the supermarkets, many will now opt for a trip to the shops over a day in the kitchen.

But which brand of mince pies are the best?

Previous years

The mince pie taste test has become something of an annual tradition here at lovemoney.com towers. Over the last couple of years we’ve sampled pies from all of the biggest retailers with a couple of popular brands thrown in for good measure.

The general conclusion of the tests has been a somewhat unexpected one: you don’t necessarily get what you pay for. Yes, Lidl and Asda have frequently emerged on top for taste while pricier brands sit towards the bottom of the rankings.

But is that still the case this year? Let’s find out.

The test

For the 2011 test we’ve taken own-brand packs of pies from six supermarkets as well as a pack of Mr Kipling pies and Heston Blumenthals puff pastry creations from Waitrose. All of the mince pies are of a standard price bracket, with the exception of the M&S offering which is the luxury level.

We tried to get hold of packs of six pies, however Lidl only had 12 packs available.

Six members of the lovemoney.com team, along with Andrew Webb, the editor of our sister site lovefood.com were recruited to taste the mince pies.

As always, the test was conducted completely blind with the pies identified only by number. The tasters were asked to rate each pie out of 10 for overall appearance, minced filling taste and pastry quality. With seven tasters, this gave each pie an overall score out of 210.

Before we reveal the results check out this video of all the tasting action, along with comments from the participants:

Results

So after some hardcore tasting and in-depth deliberating, here are the results:

Winners

Either the budget pies have declined in quality or the premium offerings have upped their game, as this year’s results are almost completely opposite to 2010’s and are dominated by the expensive brands.

Heston’s offering tops the chart, scoring 145 out of 210. While the tasters were somewhat divided on whether the puff pastry really worked (one questioned whether this was really even a pie!), most agreed that the minced filling was fantastic. Comments included “subtle and mature filling” and “new concept, very good”.

But if you want to get your hands on this Heston pack you will have to pay top-dollar: each pie costs 54.8p. That’s over three times the price of the Lidl and Asda offerings.

A full 15 points behind the leader is another premium brand, M&S’s Luxury pack. But again this is a pricey piece of pastry, clocking in at 44.8p per pie.

Sainsbury’s emerges as the highest placed standard pie, coming in third with a score of 123 out of 210. However the tongues of the tasters weren’t overly tingling at this offering. Comments included “gloopy”, “middle of the road”, “boring” and “a bit average”.

Losers

Last year’s victor Asda drops straight to the bottom of the 2011 rankings, a massive 57 points behind the top pie. One taster criticised the pie for its soapy taste and ugly nature. However another participant defended the filling, calling it “sweet and tasty”, but again lambasted it for its “cheap” appearance.

Lidl – the runner up from 2010’s test – didn’t do much better, coming in sixth with a score of 111 out of a possible 210. The pastry was criticised for its “crumbly” nature, however a few tasters praised the filling as good on taste but poor in terms of volume.

However it is important to remember that both of these packs come in at around 16.5p per pie. That's abour a third of the price of the winning entrants. In fact, comparing the total scores to the overall price, the Lidl and Sainsbury’s pies emerge as the top value packs.

Moving on, Tesco came in second to last. The tasters approved of the pie’s appearance but criticised the pastry for being “too thick” and “heavy”.

The own brand offering from Mr Kipling emerged mid-table and won praise for its “fruity and juicy” filling, but was criticised for its “boring” appearance. The Co-operative’s offering followed this and was hailed as a “good solid pie”, but perhaps too solid for one taster who described the pastry as “lardy”.

Conclusion

Now, it’s important to point out that this test isn’t the most scientific of experiments as everyone has their own mince pie preferences. And obviously we didn’t try every type of pie from every store and missed out a variety of other retailers such as Iceland, Aldi and Netto.

But in terms of overall conclusions, we can draw a few.

Yes, the premium brands won on taste, but you’ll have to pay a lot for them. The Heston pies will set you back £3.29 for six, while at Lidl you can snap up 12 pies for just £1.99 or six for £1 at Sainsbury’s.

So is it worth paying the extra?

Well, according to our test, no. The price difference is not mirrored in the taste score difference. In fact if you divide the overall pie score by the individual pie cost to get a taste/value indicator, the Heston and M&S pies come out at the bottom, while Sainsbury’s and Lidl shoot to the top.

So ultimately it’s up to you. If you fancy a fine tasting premium pie, Heston and M&S are the pies for you. But if you’re after the best value, you may want to look elsewhere.

Your favourites

Where do you usually get your mince pies from?

Let us know using the comment box below.

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