Marie Callender’s Pub Style Steak & Ale pie

I’m sure I’m not alone in having a soft spot for Marie Callender’s pot pies. With their calorie count I don’t even them as often as I’d like, but when I do, I really love to indgule; yes that means I’ll just eat a family sized pot pie all to myself…

Anyway…when I spotted this sophisticated looking new product from the company, resplendent in the gold and black packaging, it was a no brainer. A pub style steak and ale product to enjoy at home – done!

Here’s some shots of the frozen and cooked pie:

Sadly things started badly from the get go with the cooking instructions. The instructions for conventional oven cooking on the packaging didn’t come close to cooking my pie to temperature. I ended up raising the oven heat and cooking for at least another 15-20 minutes to get things up to temp.

The pie itself was a real let down too. The slightly sweet and buttery pastry, was nothing like the pastry on a regular Marie Callender’s pie. It was claggy and not at all enjoyable to my tastes.

The filing was poor too. The amount of beef was minimal and what beef was present was chewy and of a poor flavor. The gravy was overly thick I thought, and had something of a weird aftertaste.

Honestly, the pie went into the garbage after picking around and taste testing the various elements. The only thing that stopped me throwing the second pie into the trash was I wanted to try the alternate cooking method (quick-bake) which also failed to produce good results. Again I had to cook for much longer than the packet instructs.

Overall a real let down for me, this one needs a complete redesign or just scrapping. I’ll still enjoy my regular MC pot pies, but I’ll be giving this one a wide berth.

Marie Callender’s Pub Style Steak & Ale cooking and nutrition

Stuart Melling

Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you!  I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC – Utah’s biggest and oldest online food magazine; I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune.  I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV shows.

I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have covered the Utah dining scene for the better part of fifteen years.   I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand.   I started Shop Smart to catalogue my adventures in the grocery store and kitchen.  Follow along on Instagram too!