Australian and New Zealand meat pie
Commercial production
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)
Manufacturers of pies in Australia tend to be state based, reflecting the long distances involved with interstate transport and lack of refrigeration capabilities in the early years of pie production. Many pies sold ready-to-eat at smaller outlets are sold unbranded and may be locally produced, produced by a brand-name vendor, or even imported, frozen pies heated prior to serving.
The Australian meat pie manufacturer Four’N’Twenty says that its pie was invented in 1947 by L. T. McClure in a small Bendigo bakery, to become the brand Four’N’Twenty. Due to their relationship with Australian rules football, Four’N Twenty has iconic status in Victoria and high popularity outside the state.
Other manufacturers predate this, and the pie manufacturer Sargent can trace their pie making back to 1906. Sargent meat pies were served at the opening of the Old Parliament House in 1927 or rather 10,000 pies were not served and the left-over pies had to be buried nearby.
In South Australia, Balfours has been making pies since the early 1900s and remains (with Vili’s) one of two major pie manufacturers in the state. Both of these pie makers supply pies to various venues hosting Australian Rules Football games.
Produced in Western Australia, Mrs Mac’s Pies are now sold nationwide, found mostly in service stations and corner stores, competing with other brands in the contested takeaway hotbox market on the basis of quality and fillings other than the normal fare.
In Victoria, some of the well known and famous pie makers are Pie in the Sky from Olinda, Clarke’s Pies from Mortlake, Kings Pies from Hamilton, Gillies from Bendigo, Beaumont’s Pies from Geelong and Patties Pies from Bairnsdale.
In Tasmania, the main manufacturer of pies is National Pies[citation needed]. National Pies make typical beef mince pies, as well as “Cottage Pies”, which are topped with mashed potato. National Pies’ mince pies are rectangular in shape, as opposed to most other brands, which are round.
Australian Meat Pies were introduced into the United States in 1994 by Mark Allen, of Boort, Victoria, when he and his wife, Wendy, began operation of Pacific Products, Inc. in Marietta, Georgia.Stutchbury, Michael (June 20, 1995). “Pies de resitance in the Land of the Feed”. The Australian Financial Review. Almer, Sean (June 3, 1996). “Aussie strives to put meat pies into diets of Yankee sports fans”. Business Sydney. Pacific Products was a wholesale only business, selling their pies to chain retailers throughout the United States. Although Pacific Products is no longer in business, Mark Allen and his Partner Neville Steele opened the Australian Bakery Cafe in Marietta Georgia, a retail bakery which also ships its products throughout the USA. The Australian Meat Pie Company opened in Seattle Washington in 1998 and ships nationwide as well as supplying frozen pies to select supermarkets
Nutritional value
Former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr launched a Childhood obesity Summit in 2002 where he told participants that feeding children a diet of meat pies, sausage rolls and chiko rolls was akin to child cruelty.
In April 2002, the Australian Consumers Association conducted a study of 22 frozen meat pies available in supermarkets. They found three brands did not meet the minimum 25 per cent meat content requirement set by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), they also found that the fat content ranged from 15 to 35 grams of fat per pie. The ACA study was of a select group of frozen meat pies in supermarkets, thus the study does not account for freshly baked meat pies of which the meat content and nutritional value varies from bakery to bakery. Another study by ACA in 2006 found 5 of the 23 pie products tested had less than the minimum 25% meat required.
In 2006, The ACA awarded pie manufacturer Black and Gold “The CHOICE Shonky Award for UnAustralian Content” for their pies found to contain just 17% meat.
The meats allowed by FSANZ in a meat pie are beef, buffalo, camel, cattle, deer, goat, hare, pig, poultry, rabbit and sheep. Kangaroo meat, a leaner alternative, is also sometimes used. However, most pie manufacturers specify ‘beef’ in their ingredients list; typically, those using other types of meat will simply put ‘meat’ in the list instead. FSANZ’s definition of meat includes snouts, ears, tongue roots, tendons and blood vessels. Only offal (such as brain, heart, kidney, liver, tongue, tripe) must be specified on the label. Wild animals (“slaughtered … in the wild state”) may not be used.
Controversy
In 1993, Manufacturer Gartrell White lost millions of dollars after an extortionist falsely claimed to have put cyanide in Big Ben pies.
In 2007, a woman in New Zealand choked on a bone that was contained in a NZ Big Ben pie. The bone broke on its way out, ripping the woman’s esophagus. The owners of the Big Ben Pies brand, Purity Foods, had offered her an out of court settlement of up to $8000.
The Great Aussie Meat Pie Contest
Started in 1990 and held annually since, the Great Aussie Pie Contest was created to find the best everyday commercially produced meat pie produced in Australia, to promote the higher quality pie production as well as attempting to increase media attention upon the foodstuff, the iconic meat pie often dwarfed by the omnipresent advertising of fast food chains.
The contest attracts various pie makers Australia wide, the pies for the contest are judged anonymously to avoid bias towards or against specific bakeries or states. Run in parallel to the main contest is one for gourmet pies, with categories for such fillings as chicken, seafood and even vegetarian pies. As well as the main prize, certificates of excellence are awarded for entries that reach set quality standards. The main award is highly coveted due to the greatly increased sales it generates, with many people travelling interstate to sample the winning pie.
Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards
In New Zealand an annual pie competition is held since 1997, the Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards aims to recognise the best pie manufacturers in New Zealand and assisting them in producing award-winning pies and continuing to help foster and encourage developments within this category of baking.
They were entered in 11 categories – mince and gravy; chicken and vegetables; gourmet meat; bacon and egg; gourmet fruit; steak, vegetable and gravy; steak and cheese; vegetarian; mince and cheese; seafood and commercial wholesale pies. The pies were judged on presentation, the pastry on the top and bottom, the filling and the profile.
Celebrity judges included New Zealand food writers Julie Biuso and Richard Till.
Other cultural references
In the 1970s meat pies were mentioned in an advertising jingle for General Motors Holden Australia. The jingle Football, meat pies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars, they go together underneath the Southern Stars was an adaptation of an American jingle for the General Motors Chevrolet brand. Holden is owned by General Motors.
Fair-Go Dibbler, citizen of Fourecks (The Last Continent) in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, is famous for selling the archetypal pie floaters to his unsuspecting customers.
In 2007, Domino’s Australia and Domino’s New Zealand both released a meat pie pizza, consisting of minced beef, peas, diced fresh tomato, onions, gravy, thick pastry and tomato sauce.
See also
Pie floater
Meat pie
Chiko Roll
Sausage roll
References
^ http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/TheNewZealanders/12/en
^ Sausage Roll Policy
^ http://www.nzlistener.co.nz/issue/3548/features/11017/new_zealand_eats_.html Sarah Barnett, New Zealand Eats, New Zealand Listener, Vol 213 No 3548, May 10-16 2008
^ Bye-bye American pie – theage.com.au
^ Andre Taber states that in 2004, business transactions for meat pies in New Zealand were worth NZ$120 million. The average cost of a meat pie was about NZ$2 this puts the sale of meat pies in New Zealand to be 60 million. As New Zealand has a population of 4 million this puts the average consumption per head to 15 per year. Andre Taber, The Great New Zealand Pie Guide: A Tasting Guide To Some of the Best Kiwi Pies Up and Down the Country, Renaissance Publishing, 2006, pg 7-8
^ The CHOICE Shonky for UnAustralian Content – CHOICE May 2006 edition
^ Body parts and gravy? – CHOICE May 2006
^ Woman chokes on bone while eating pie – Western Leader, 11 October 2007
^ History of the Great Aussie Meat Pie Contest
^ Bakery’s pie success – The Ararat Advertiser, 2 Oct 2007
^ The pies have it! – The Sunshine Coast Daily, 30 Sept 2007
^ Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards
^ Pie baking contest attracts upper crust – New Zealand Herald, Jul 25, 2008
^ Pie technology breakthrough – news.com.au 5 April 2007
External links
The Great Aussie Meat Pie Contest
Pie Article from Australian Flavour
Choice Magazine – Meat Pies
Meat Pie history & trivia
Categories: Australian cuisine | Australian pies | Australian rules football culture | New Zealand cuisine | Savoury pies | National dishesHidden categories: Articles to be merged from October 2009 | All articles to be merged | Articles needing additional references from October 2009 | All articles needing additional references | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from June 2007
I am an expert from China Products, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as apricot kernal oil , fatted.
Processing your request, Please wait....
