Eye on the pies: Seven-time winner Patrick Lam takes New Zealand Pie Awards seriously

Seven-time Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Award winner Patrick Lam is not taking anything for granted.

"To make a pie is easy. To make a perfect pie is really, really hard."

The Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards is an annual competition where bakers across the country compete in 11 categories.

To win this year's top prize contestants need to impress 21 judges, including celebrity guest chef Peter Gordon.

"It's quite stressful actually," Lam said.

"It's very hard to win the pie competition.

"There are so many good bakers and they all do a good job."

Outside his Rotorua bakery, Patrick Lam told the Rotorua Daily Post about his preparations for this year's national pie competition. Photo / Andrew Warner

Lam said he and his team usually prepared for about a month before they sent in their entries.

"We have to get the testing right, the look right and the weight right."

The perfect pie, Lam said, was about evenly cooked pastry, good filling, and of course having great flavours.

So when the competition was cancelled in 2020 Lam was a little relieved.

"We missed it but it took a bit of stress off," Lam said.

Lam also admitted it had been nice to hold on to the 2019 top prize for one more year.

"We try really hard every year," Lam said.

"To be honest, we always say we're lucky because the judging is blind.

"Every win is like a surprise."

When asked if he had anything up his sleeve for this year's competition, Lam said he didn't see the need to change a winning recipe.

"We carry on entering the competition because it's pretty good for us.

"We keep our name out there and our quality up."

Last year, Lam also came first in the inaugural Bakels Legendary Sausage Roll Competition.

Patrick Lam (centre) received the top prize at the 2019 Bakel's Pie Awards. Photo / File

Lam owns Patrick's Pies in Bethlehem, Tauranga Crossing, and Old Taupo Rd. His bakeries produce about 500 pies a day each with at least 26 different flavours.

Lam encourages all bakers to give the competition a go.

"It's good for business."

Bakels managing director Brent Kersel said the contest was not about Bakels but about giving back to the industry.

"It brings the baking community together and gives them some positive attention," Kersel said.

"It's great to see the entries starting to come in and there's a lot of talk out there."

Kersel said bakers had a lot to gain from entering.

"It's a chance to put themselves on the map."

Entries to the Bakels New Zealand Pie Awards close on June 24 at 5pm.