By Judy Schultz.
Comes our antipodean autumn and these islands, both South and North, are awash in food and wine events. Anything goes: wild food, craft beers, seafood, fritters.
Pies.
The pies in question aren’t big and sweet, as in Canada. They’re usually small and meaty, as in nursery rhymes. (Four-and-twenty blackbirds, remember?)
In this country, pies have inspired entire cookbooks. Bakers’ reputations rise and fall on the perfection of their pies. Kiwis use a vast selection of fillings, ostrich, oyster, chicken, beef, lamb, what-have-you, and pies are sold everywhere, from pie shops, bakeries and pubs to fast food joints. In service stations, pies — the perfect road-food — bask in a perpetual glow of infrared warmth.
Figures vary slightly by source, but New Zealanders, of which there are roughly 4.5 million, consumed around 75 million pies in 2013, worth a hefty $140 million to the economy.
Never slow to grab an opportunity, in October 2013 McDonald’s heralded the return of the beloved Georgie Pie. Long-haul truckers, known as truckies, did handstands. So did tourists on wheels and working moms who could slap a Georgie on a plate with a spoonful of peas and call it dinner.
True, there have been some adjustments. By tradition, individual pies are usually round or oval; McDonald’s are square.
Then there’s the pastry itself.
“Should be shortcrust on the bottom, puff pastry on top, light and fluffy,” sniffs a local pie baker. But no, this is a firm crust, top and bottom, nothing light or fluffy about it.
Filled with coarsely chopped beef and cheese, my pie is served absolutely screamin’ hot. “Blow on it!” says the woman who passes it across the counter in exchange for $4.50 NZ.
Now comes the biggie, the national Supreme Pie Competition, food extravaganza of the fall/winter season.
In 2013, 505 professional bakers entered 4,522 pies in the annual contest, hoping to win the coveted title of Supreme Piemaker and go home with the glory and $1,000 grand prize.
Flavour variations were legion, everything from a puha and scrumpy pie (watercress and cider) to lamb rump and beetroot. But in the meat category, 634 were mince (think burger) and cheese, and 682 were chopped steak and cheese.
Here on the Pacific Rim, the New Zealand meat pie has gone international with a deep bow to its Asian neighbours. Two winners in this symbolic Kiwi bake-off were the Japan You Bakery in one category, and individual bakers Tan Trang and Nap Ly in two others.
Still, there’s a certain down-home feeling about a hand-held meat pie, a kind of national loyalty.
“Our pies are a little slice of Kiwi pride,” says one pie company, “honest to goodness!”
“There’s this bloke who buys a meat pie and six beers,” hoots the MC at a bake-off. “Calls it a seven-course banquet!”
Judy Schultz is a writer who divides her time between Alberta and New Zealand’s North Island. She loves pie.