Food writer Nicholas Jordan recently put some of the baking industry to the test when he recruited bakers for a blind test for a very important mission: to determine the nation’s best supermarket meat pie.

Writing for The Guardian, Nicholas said he bought every frozen or refrigerated pie that was labelled as either beef or meat – coming to 12 in total – and got a team of Sydney-based bakers and chefs on board to discover the gold medal-winning pie.

His team of taste testers was made up of: Rob Pirina (Glenorie Bakery), Tom Mitchell (Shadow Baking), Andy Bowdy (Kiln), Justin Narayan (MasterChef), Toby Wilson (Ricos Tacos), Kimmy Gastmeier (Cherry Moon General Store) and Ryan Broomfield (Broomfields Pies).

After baking each pie according to their instructions Nicholas then placed the pies in a pie warmer. Each taste tester was allowed to use tomato sauce with their own discretion before scoring each pie out of 10, considering the pastry and filling separately.

The Elmsbury Chunky Sous Vide Slow Cooked Beef (400g) from Aldi tied for first place with Herbert Adams Chunky Sous Vide Beef in Rich Gravy (400g), with each scoring 7.5 out of 10. The Elmsbury Classic Chunky Beef Pies (700g) was nominated as being the best value.

The comments for the Elmsbury Chunky Sous Vide Slow Cooked Beef pie were if you suspend a desire for “buttery, flaky pastry, these pies do you provide you with dense, margarine-enriched pastry you might expect on a gluten-free quiche, and a stew you might be happy to serve yourself on Thursday night while you watch Rush Hour. Unless you’re a snob, that’s a great night.”

Rounding out the list were:

• Four’N Twenty Angus Aussie Beef (700g) scoring 6 out of 10.
• Mrs Mac’s Famous Beef (700g) scoring 6 out of 10.
• Charlotte’s Bakery Chunky Beef (400g) scoring 6 out of 10.
• Simmone Logue Chunky Beef and Vegetable (450g) scoring 5.5 out of 10.
• Ivan’s Chunky Angus Beef (440g) scoring 5 out of 10
• Garlo’s Pies Lean Beef (400g) scoring 3 out of 10
• Elmsbury Classic Meat Pies (900g) scoring 2.5 out of 10.