Last week a panel of professional judges, including NBIA President Mark Dennien, donated their tastebuds and bellies to tasting and grading pies and sausage rolls from around the country to award a result for Australia’s greatest pie and sausage roll.
Around 1,500 pies and sausage rolls were entered across 20 categories into the 33rd Official Great Aussie Pie competition, which took place at the Southern Hemisphere’s leading food industry trade expo Fine Food Australia at Melbourne’s ICC.
The Greatest Plain Meat Pie award was taken out by Whittlesea Bakehouse (Whittlesea, VIC) while the Overall Gourmet Pie was awarded to Miss Amelie Gourmet (Wodonga, VIC). The Little Red Grape Bakery (Sevenhill, SA) went home with best Plain Sausage Roll Award and Gippsland Gourmet Pies (Nambrok, VIC) took out the the Gourmet Sausage Roll award.
While the awards for Australia’s greatest pie and sausage roll are true attribute to this years winners, there were a large number of gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded to various pie and sausage roll makers around the country, along with an official winner of each gourmet sub-category. The full results for this can be found on the Official Great Aussie Pie Competition website.
This year also saw four new Aussie Pie Legends inducted into the Official Great Aussie Pie Competition Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Pinjarra Bakery, Four Seasons Bakery & Patisserie, Rolling Pin Pies & Cakes, and Dani Lindsay for your contributions and excellence in pie / sausage roll making. Visit the Aussie Pie website for full details of their achievements.
“The calibre of pies and sausage rolls in this year’s competition has lifted the standard to a new level,” said competition organiser Dani Lindsay from the Aussie Pie Council. “We are proud to continue elevating an Aussie icon and providing genuine feedback on more than 1,500 pies and sausage rolls from around the country. Well done to all who have put their heart and soul into their entries, we look forward to many more great pie comps in the years to come.”
The Official Great Aussie Pie Competition was established in 1989 and has been held yearly since, with the aim of raising the quality standards of pies and sausage rolls throughout Australia. It is facilitated by the Aussie Pie Council, which is a consortium of industry-leading businesses; Complete Display Equipment, Simple Simon (Lindsay PieMaking Equipment), and the National Baking Industry Association (NBIA).