Masterton pie maestro Michael Kloeg has done the Ten O'Clock Cookie proud by winning a highly commended for his classic steak and cheese pie in the Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards.
A record 4400 pies were entered in the 11 categories of the competition last week. Michael entered 10 of them
and is pleased with the placing, as steak and cheese is a highly contested category.
"Out of all the categories, steak and cheese is one of the most popular, so fourth place is pretty good. I can't emphasise enough how hard the competition is."
He hopes to get some of his pies placed in the top 10 for each category, which will be announced by the end of the week, and said entering the competition had been good for business.
"It's been pretty busy around here with people coming in for pies, so that's been really good for us."
Michael sources the meat for his pies from Spencer Meats in Carterton to keep things local, but said the secret was in the pastry.
"It's about taking care with making the pastry and also taking the extra time to let it rest."
The supreme winning pie, a spiced plum, port and apple pie, came from Te Awamutu bakers Shane and Kathy Kearns, who are friends of Michael's and were inspired by his gourmet fruit pie entered in the contest last year.
"Shane and Kathy are good friends of ours, and on our way back from dropping off our pies, I went to see them and asked them what they were doing for the gourmet fruit section and Kathy said - with a cheeky smirk on her face - that they took my idea from last year of using plums.
"It looked quite nice and I'm really happy for them, they did quite well. They've just opened a new bakery, so it's good for their new business venture. It couldn't have gone to nicer people."
