According to a recent report in The Courier-Mail, wagyu beef pies are tempting the taste buds of pie enthusiasts across the country.

Sargents Pies, which controls half of the NSW market in pies, is behind the new range of upmarket eats. And so is the consumer, said Karl Fretwell from Sargents Pies.

“Times are changing in the pie game,” Mr Fretwell told The Courier-Mail.

“Ever since McDonald’s jumped onboard with their angus burger, marketing the pie category has had to move with it.

“People are seeing different species of beef listed on menus and the butchers are selling all these different cuts of meat, so people are becoming a lot more aware of quality,” Mr Fretwell said.

Mr Fretwell told the newspaper that 19 out of 20 people on Sargents’ testing panels preferred the wagyu pie against any other pies they sampled.

“That means 95 per cent of people preferred the flavour of the wagyu pie,” he said. “They could actually taste the difference in the species.”

Sargents’ wagyu pies are sold in twin packs for about $5.10 or $2.55 a pie compared with $1.75 for a regular meat pie, and are stocked in Woolworths, Coles and IGA.