Listen
Pies from across the nation have arrived in Penrose to be judged by pastry professionals.
The Bakels Supreme Pie Awards are now in their 25th year, and the competition has grown to 4500 pies from 500 bakers.
Guy 'Fearless' Field has been a judge at the Bakels Pie Awards since their inception. His philosophy is simple: "When you walk into a shop and you see a pie, it either strikes you as being a nice pie or a bad pie.
"If you don't like the look of it, I'm sorry but people don't buy it."
Field did not earned the moniker Fearless by holding back in his judgement.
"Every time it's a mixed bag," he said. "You can get a pie that looks absolutely superb, and unfortunately the taste lets it down - it's happened many times."
This year Field was assigned to the vegetable pies, a category he said got better every year.
"The standard is right up there, and people are getting more health-conscious, so when you make the pastry, you're trying to think of the health-conscious part of it as well - the sodium content, all those things come into it.
"People spend a lot of time to enter the competition, so as a judge, we really have to put the time and effort into making sure the best pie comes through."
Pies are a Kiwi tradition. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
Meatlovers were not forgotten, with categories for steak and cheese, steak and gravy, bacon and egg, and chicken and vegetables.
Chin was on the mince pies all day. But he and his fellow judges were not allowed to tuck in straight away, with a strict method to follow.
"First round, how many pies did we judge? Two hundred and forty-four pies? Basically, we just judged the external pastry, bottom and top, and then we go and look at the filling - we don't yet taste it."
The field was whittled down to 20-30 pies based on looks, with only the most alluring in each category heated up for the taste test.
Judges exchange notes on the hundreds of pies they have to judge each year. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
Chin said they had to save themselves for the good stuff.
"Two hundred pies to eat - I wouldn't be able to walk out of here."
Although it was perhaps the humblest of pies, Chin said the mince category could still hold a lot of variation.
"There are different flavours. I've tasted chocolate notes, herby notes - heaps of things come through."
Welcomed back as the contest's celebrity chef for the second time, Al Brown of Federal Delicatessen fame said the competition kept lifting its game.
"People are really thinking outside the circle," he said. "I tried what they call a Reuben pie, which had corned beef in it, sauerkraut, mustard and white sauce.
"I thought, 'Oh, really?' But I ate it - brilliant."
Sometimes it's hard to choose between two great pies. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
I put the question to the award-winning chef - when is a pie no longer a pie?
"I really don't know how to answer that," Brown said. "Everything's better with pastry. The thing about a pie is it's part of our DNA; it's really humble, it's warm, it's very nostalgic - you can remember your first pie.
"You see plenty of tradies having them for breakfast; they're certainly great for lunch, dinner, and at two in the morning out of a gas station."
As the day marched on, we found judge Tracey Bartlett at the gourmet station. She said it was not a job for the faint hearted.
"I worked out a couple of years ago when we did it that I had sampled 50 pies through the day.
"I think that equates to about 12 whole ones, doesn't it? That's a lot of pies."
Judges end up eating a dozen pies' worth a day. Photo: RNZ / Tom Taylor
Bartlett says it was a tough category to judge, with an immense range of flavours.
"Pāua, butter chicken, there was a really nice seafood one, shrimp, pork and watercress, boil-up, a Matariki pie with a nice little star on top."
Trying to find common ground between the three judges was its own challenge.
"That guy on the end? If it's got pāua in it, he rates it really high. That's why you have three judges; we all have different flavours.
"I don't like a really spicy pie, so I'm probably going to put that down a little bit in my scoring.
"It balances out, but we will all get to the best pie, there's no doubt about it."
Just in case, I donned my jacket and saw if any judges needed some help.
In the steak and cheese category, it was down to the final two pies. After a small portion of each, I'd made up my mind.
The weighting was just right, the pastry nice and flaky; Option 1 was a 10 out of 10 for me.
But what if it came to a split vote? The other three judges gently reminded me that wearing a jacket did not, in fact, make me a judge.
Luckily, it did not come down to that anyway, with a clear favourite from all four of us.
But before I decided whether to hand in my resume, I had one more question for Mr Fearless Field: was this, in fact, the best job in the world?
"Well, it's not too good on your waistline," he said.
The winners of each category, and the supreme winner of the Bakels Pie Awards, would be announced on Tuesday.