Fray Bentos Smooth Chicken and Mushroom Pie

This looked very uninviting when I opened the tin- I was greeted by a light brown sludge that I was willing to bet my life savings on the fact that it couldn’t possibly turn into a nice pastry. Luckily, my life savings don’t amount to much.

The act of cooking the pie works some amazing magic and it comes out nice and inflated and crispy. Some parts, however, don’t work quite so well- the pie was still stodgy in places.

Nice, creamy sauce. Mushrooms aren’t overdone and are a nice size, as are the pieces of chicken.

Be warned: the pastry is only on the top. There is no base and no side to the dish. Speaking of sides, if you’re eating this alone, you won’t need any! This is a big pie!

If you’re not eating this alone, then this will go nicely with green beans and chips. However, you will probably find that splitting the pie cleanly is likely to be difficult.

I’ve seen this for sale between £1 and £2.50. The higher end of the scale isn’t a total ripoff but if you can get it at the lower end, this is a bit of a bargain!

Consider this 4* at £1 and 3* at £2.50.