Double the pie desire for Pukekohe

Pukekohe has proved to be the place to score the best mince and gravy pies, after two Franklin bakeries came away with awards in the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards 2017.

After scooping the top honour in last year’s awards for his steak and gravy pie, Counties Bakery owner Michael Kuoy continued his success and took away silver for his mince and gravy pie this year.

Kuoy said the judges looked at the pie’s pastry first, to see whether it was fluffy, then it came down to the flavour of the filling.

Kuoy started making pies while he was still in high school and has perfected his technique along the way.

‘‘I started baking for someone else and then about three or four years later we bought our first shop,’’ he said.

‘‘We’ve been here for 16 years and we started competing three years ago.’’

At the awards dinner in Auckland on August 1, Kuoy said he was surprised to find out his mince and gravy pie had come second.

‘‘We were actually quite surprised as only gold gets a call before the awards. We were really stoked.’’

‘‘It’s out of the whole of New Zealand and there’s close to about 6,000 pies in the competition,’’ he said.

Sticking to the basics is what Kuoy said was the key to his success.

‘‘Just do what you do at your shop. Some people overthink it. Our pastry is the same at the shop as what we do for the compe- tition.’’

‘‘The judges said this year was really competitive compared to the previous year.’’

Kuoy said he loved to create new and interesting flavours for his loyal customers. He’s currently perfecting a boil-up inspired pie made of pork and watercress.

The gold award in the mince and gravy category went to Crown Bakery and Coffee’s Lee Ung. Ung also picked up a silver award for his mince and cheese pie and Pukekohe’s Target Bakehouse and Cafe scored a highly commended for its steak and cheese pie.

This year, the supreme pie honours went to a venison, mushroom, bacon and cheese pie by Lee Ing of Fast and Fresh Bakery in Taupo.

The Supreme pie came out on top of 5696 entries during judging on July 27.