Originally, they were quite nice, as was the pastry - they were, in fact, steak & kidney pies - over time, they should have been kidney & steak pies, as they tried to make them cheaper by making them more kidney than steak - the principal ingredient comes first - my mother never liked steak & kidney pies, as she didn’t like the liver in them - no mention of liver in the recipe - it’s actually kidney - they taste similar - anyone tried heart? Over time, they have changed the recipe to cheapen it - but have ruined it in the process! Fray Bentos used to do some really nice steak & kidney puddings as well! My eldest sister gets these pies, or similar - and keeps the little tins that they come in to make assorted flans with any combination of cheese, ham, bacon, onions and even pigs in blankets - washes them first, obviously - who wants bits of steak and kidney pie in a cheese & onion flan? I certainly don’t!
@@arthurvasey I have found that nearly all foods whether it's pies or generally tinned foods, don't taste the same as they did many years ago. Many original recipes have changed for the worse, as it's all about the savings with cost. Foods used to taste so good back when I was a kid but then, life was so much better than today.
These used to be lovely years back, lots of meat. But over the years the meat has been replaced with grissle and fat and then tonnes of gravy and horrid pastry.
@@pvere3246 lmao my mother made my dad cat food burgers using beef "whiskers supermeat" 🤣 he knew something was wrong because he could actually keep it down 😲
@@Tony-tourette My mates lived in council houses and so they had far more money to spend on food than we did. We were on our arses with the mortgage payments and upkeep looming. The Fray Bentos pies were a real rare luxury on a Sunday.
To be honest, Fray Bentos pies have always been about the lovely crispy top pastry / soggy bottom pastry combo and the meaty gravy, ie. the meat filling has always been the weak link. Even back in the 1960s, when I was a child and a Fray Bentos pie was a very occasional convenient alternative to something home made, there wasn't a lot of meat in the filling, especially once you had picked out all the kidney to surreptitiously slip to the dog under the table.
Well you'd certainly have difficulty picking out the kidney in todays Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney pie to slip to the dog. Poor dog would starve. Loved them when younger, persevered more recently but given up buying now.
I think you're better off buying the tinned meat fillings and putting a bought puff pastry over the top. Costs about £2 but much better pie filling and better all round pie for 2 to 3 people.
OR just closing the kitchen: switch off fridge freezer lock the door and eat at Wetherspoons - much cheaper. The £100s you save by just switching off your fridge freezer will shock you
I just checked the price of Aldi puff pastry. £1.09. Plenty enough for one pie, maybe two. So a tin of Aldi minced beef and onion at £1.75 would make a really nice pie for less than Morrisons are asking for a Fray Bentos.
I stopped buying Fray Bentos pies quite a number of years ago due to the appalling lack of meat, but watching your review and hearing what the up to date pie cost my mind went back to when I was a child in the sixties and Fray Bentos pies were mostly steak and kidney and they definitely had more meat in them, but it was the combination of the puff pastry, soggy bits and the gravy which was memorable. I do remember the price though, they cost half a crown for one pie, that is 12 1/2 pence. Crazy!
I always used to turn the crust over soggy side up when they were supposedly done and crisp that up as well.The empty tins come in useful in the shed for bits and bobs.
Used to love a Sloppy pie back in the 80s&90s. Half a pie with a bit of veg was a decent meal with a decent amount of meat, the other half nuked the next day was even better with the soggy pastry. Last one I had was just tin of gravy.
I have 6 of the old recipe pies in my cupboard, as I bought them for £1.50 from asda about 3 months ago. They are more pastry and tin than anything else but they are lovely. I won't be paying the huge price for the new ones though 😕
Perfect stodge for this time of year. Lots of meaty gravy and puff pastry to mop it up with. Occasionally had them and still do. It was never about the meat content, we all know it should’ve been more. It’s the gravy and soggy pastry, real rib sticking stuff.😊
I have just finished eating about a dozen of these pies with a best before dates of 2015/2016. Absolutely nothing wrong with them, still very tasty! I usully try to cycle my tinned food preps within a few years of the best before dates but these got forgotten lol. Well stored tins last far longer than most people think.
Wow, you just took me back yearswhen in the 60s & 70s when my mam would give us a stake and kidney with mash spud peas several slices of bread, and marge and name sandwiches of the lot. Mind my dad always used to say, get some bread with it, you'll be hungry in an hour . We had bread with every meal back then, especially bread and sometimes best butter with tin fruit and evaporated milk. Oh those good old days, hey ! I just thought of it somehow one of these F B pies fed a family of five ! 😁👍🏴
@Bald Foodie Guy you're welcome duck. I've re subbed, too, lost a lot of channels when my last phone went black screen. I'm glad to be back. Now going through the last few months of your videos.👍
For the soggy pastry haters: If you take the pastry off and cook it for the same amount of time on the oven shelf above the rest of the pie, you get a much crispier results. (Although I love the soggy bit!) When I do take the lid off, I also add some peas and mushrooms in the pie dish for some extra veg if I can't be bothered to make some separately.
I haven’t had one of these pies for years when my mum used to get them for £1, might get one to try again and I could keep the tin to use in the air fryer lol, but will get the cheaper one as there didn’t seem much difference meat wise. Thanks for the review good as always. 😊 x
That has to be your favourite comparison yet. You were drooling over them. I reckon if you had to compare them again you would take no persuading. Another great vid Gareth.👍
My partner buys them for a backup meal kept in larder. Certainly very little meat these days but the pastry always looks nice and crisp. The soft bit 7nderneath is how it has always been.
I love these pies ! I know I shouldn't but I do . Mash potato and marrowfat peas ! Childhood memories of the 1970's. My Mum used to post them through my letter box when I was skint many years later !! Got a couple of chicken ones in the cupboard ! Hmmmm !!
Like you I regularly was fed Fray Bentos pies as a kid. Last year I bought a steak pie also a chicken pie. I was well disappointed with the steak pie. It was all pastry and gravy. The " just chicken " pie was a lot better. Recently I bought a mincemeat and onion pie and it was really nice. I also noticed that theyalso do a chicken curry pie, a vegetable balti pie, a cheese and onion pie and an all day breakfast pie, ( I think I will give that a miss ). Yet another great review.
"No cross contamination" - "I better get another knife." Then places both pastry 'lids' on the same plate!!! 🤣Don't stop being you 🙂 It's what makes your vid's informative and entertaining as well as educational. Love it 😍
To be honest Gareth, I do think that the quality of these pies have improved slightly since I commented on one of your previous videos regarding this product...I hadn't had one for a long time before I watched your original review on this product. I bought one after watching your first review, and my opinion has changed..They are not too bad afterall..Maybe we sometimes base our opinions on the price that we have to pay for our food, especially in these testing times, where money is scarce these days....Good review, as always. I typed my response whilst watching your video, as knew that this was going to be a positive one....
i love a Fray Bentos Steak and gravy i had em 15 years ago growing up.. and im a lover of the soggy pastry.. its a part of the experience. im glad they put more meat in them now... ive put it on my shopping list... keep up the good work dude
In 1975 (a year that sticks in my mind as I had terrible food poisoning that year, I was housesitting with my future Sister in Law to keep her company as it the house was isolated and rural. The house had a splendid old pantry and I home in on a Fray Bentos pie which was Chicken and Bacon in white sauce. I was so excited! Such exotic fayre! It was lovely and I tried to find it everywhere, but it was only available in Christmas Hampers! Gutted. Not sure if they ever became mainstream.
Hi Gareth, I used to love the fray bentos pies, our mum would buy the steak n kidney puds and they were all full of meat. They have changed over the years and even with the improved extra meat pie you just tried, it's still nowhere near as much as they used to have in them. Quite a lot more money as well for still not enough meat! At the end of the day though, I'd rather buy this improved one if I was on my own for a quick n easy dinner.
i had the old one in my cuboard. it was one and a half years out of date. still eat it. don't think they can go off sealed in a tin. tasted lovely. new one is how i remember them as a kid. lot more meat in it. 👍
And the steak and kidney pie has pork kidney. So not steak. False advertisement. Some folk who don't eat pork, actually millions of people don't would not be happy
Good review. The newer version definitely had more meat but way more expensive than the original. But as you mentioned it could just be Morrisons charging that much. After your original review of these pies a few months back I got the Steak and Kidney one and the chicken one. I tried the former and still got the latter in the cupboard. It tasted okay but not great. But the way you do them you make them look so delicious and yummy. Also you've shown us a great new way to eat the pastry and dip it into the gravy - brilliant! So I will look forward to eating my chicken one tonight and will definitely look out for the new improved steak and gravy one - for hopefilly cheaper than what Morrisons charged you. So thank you for your excellent review, it was great. Take care and 'I'll see you on the next one' . Cheers Gareth 👍.
In the last two minutes of the video you demonstrated a novel way of eating this pie, by folding over the pastry lid like a pasty. So you could eat the whole pie like that. The "pasty" in one hand and a fork in the other to eat the meat. Probably a spoon will be required as well. With me, it's a love/hate relationship with Fray Bentos pies. I _don't_ like the soggy bottom, but I do like the meat and the pastry lid. I've noticed some prices in Morrisons getting super crazy. Last week I was going to buy a tube of Primula squirty cheese with prawns, but it was £1.99! So expensive compared to just a few months ago. So I didn't buy it on principle. I could have afforded it, but decided to try and teach Morrisons a lesson. Next time I'm in Tesco or ASDA I'll see what the price is there.
I remember when I needed some new cake tins and couldn't afford to buy new ones so I bought a couple of Frey Bentos pies just for the tins. Now I make my own pies.
All varieties shot up to £3 last week (£3.25 in some places). But today Tesco had them on offer at £1.50! Our pantry now has good stocks for our lad, who loves them. Their Steak and Kidney one says that they have reverted to the old recipe as people didn't like the new one.
Fray Bentos pies are the daddy with a bit of creamy mash 👍👍Cheap and cheerful they used to be! £3 odd is way to pricey ,But the crusty top and the snot as we used call it is banging love em ❤️❤️👍
Fray bentos steak n kidney, mash and marrowfat peas! Amazing tea back in the day when you actually got decent meat content. Always undercooked them because I loved the gooey pastry. Will need to try one of the new ones and see if they have redeemed themselves.
A couple of years ago, their cans started to appear with "Deep Fill" marked on them. But the cans hadn't changed in size or weight at all. The brand is now owned in the UK by Baxters, which manufactures the product range in Scotland, so maybe they will have a haggis flavour one soon?
For decades I used to stock up on Fray Bentos pies whenever I saw them for sale at £1 each. Which happened often enough for me to keep a constant stock. The amount of meat in the pies went down over the years, and the prices I was paying went up a lot. So I only buy them occasionally now. I bought an "OXO Good Grips" tin opener specially for these pies. As a lot of other tin openers won't grip on the sloping sides of the tin. We always used to use the old butterfly tin openers, but the versions of them they make now are often just cheap soft metal rubbish.
Ahhh the 'good old days' when Fray Bentos pies were mega! But they went the same way as all things, fell foul of the accountants who cut back on the meat only to regret it later. I remember going to my Grandads on a Saturday for games of snooker in his garage Man Den with a FB pie for supper with mushy peas and chips, and a glass of Cydrax...bliss
I've always got a couple of Fray Bentos in the cupboard for emergency. Like you, l find the 'soggy bottom' the best bit 😂. I always keep my eyes open, as the old style £1 pies still occasionally turn up in supermarkets and the 'pound shop'. Don't think that's going to happen with the new version though. Fray Bentos used to be a South American company quite a while ago, but got bought up by one of the big jobs.
The 'newer fuller' pie is available at the mo from Iceland £3 per pie or 2 for £5 - still at £2.50 WAY TOO much to go into my basket much as I love the guilty pleasure of that squidgy pastry!
@@juliej9999 yeah I wouldn’t rely on Iceland for the cheapest options most of the time. They just suck people in with deceptive multi buy offers. Edit: looks like Tesco is also £2. Iceland deal is a bit shite really
I can't believe how timely this video is. I have no idea why google thought I'd want to watch this. I had one of these about forty years ago. I remember liking it when I tried it. The other day it had caught my eye in the shop for the first time since the 80s and I thought I'd try it but first I had a look at the ingredients. I saw it had a small amount of beef and palm oil, the latter just knocked it on the head for me. Looking at the measly amount of beef in it in your video I'm glad I didn't buy one. It should have been brimming with beef. How in heaven's name has this company survived so long with so little meat in their meat pies. Thanks for the video!
I took several to france where i was working in the early 90.s and treacle pudds in a tin too ..... frogs COULD NOT BELIEVE IT WAS POSSIBLE ,pissed themselves laughing,it was the talk of the company,they were amazed.... i became a instant celebrity. Took a few order for next trip home. They really liked the fray bentos pie range, but LOVED THE TINNED TREACLE PUDDS......🤣🤣i stay,d 28yrs there made a packet ALL BECAUSE 💪🇬🇧 FRAY BENTOS & HEINZ TREACLE PUDDS 🇬🇧💪
Yeah, I saw the Chris the Butcher one too, 'cuz RU-vid's algorithm has decided that all I want to watch now is videos of Fray Bentos pies. However, no offence, but he ain't no Bald Foodie Guy. Keep up the good work, pal!
@@BaldFoodieGuy ahhhh that's good to know, I just mean I can't believe the amount of times on RU-vid I hear 'I'll put it in the description' and then it isn't there 🤪 I like the crunchy pastry 😁
years and years ago, like you , i loved these pies. i stopped buying them cos no meat in them.. that "original" one you show in this vid is far better than the last ones i ever bought but still not enough to send to me back buying them.. the price of the "new" one is outrageous considering how much better a 1lb o beef stew n a roll o pastry can give you...
I can't say I ever buy fray bentos these days they look a bit naff. For large pies from a supermarket the best one is the Holland's potato and meat family pie. Review it if you haven't tried it. They're about three quid. Really well filled.
@@BaldFoodieGuy £4.40 they are now in Asda. Can't find it on Tesco but they did have it when I was last in. It's really nice. I remember getting them for about £2.50. but even at £4.40 they're still worth it. A lot better filled than the individual pies and the pastry is a lot better. You'll easily get four servings out of it. They do a cheese and onion and a minced beef aswell.
A couple of our local butcher's shops make and distribute homemade pies of excellent quality. Chicken,Ham&Leek. Steak&Onion etc. A large family sized pie from them costs £6.20p and is certainly multiple times more meat in them than this Fray Bentos crap.
its 10% extra for the overall weight of the pie but in real terms is 66% more meat , tesco does the new recipe steak and kidney for £2.00 so the steak only will probably be of a similar price
I just watched the video and was thinking; surely someone knows it's way more than 10% extra meat! On weight alone 15% of 425g is 63.75g verses 25% which is 106.25g. As you say 66% extra, well pointed out.
Asda Fray Bentos Steak & Gravy Pie 425g now £2.00. I think i'll get one of all the new improved! version. We reuse the pie tins to make our own pies, adsa just essentials stewed steak, asda frozen Scratch Cook Vegetable Base Mix, asda tinned potato's, asda passata, asda gravy granules and premade puff pastry is our goto. Make a big batch portion it out and freeze it, defrost you have a pie filling or a stew and once defrosted you can pimp the flavour the way you want, spicey curry, herby in the tin or over rice or pasta what ever you want. Thanks for the video i have been avoiding these since the improved the recipe, but i will give hem a try, at least we will have afew more pie tins. Take care,God bless one and all.
They do say if you don't want the soggy pastry is to take the top off after the top bit goes crisp and place it back in the oven by itself so more of it crisps up, while putting foil over the tin to stop it drying out.
I like the soggy pastry too. Don’t expect much if they are cheap , but over three quid ! Last year these were only a pound in Farmfoods . Will be more now though…
Really interesting history about these. Meat packaging and canning company in Uruguay in the 1860 and has always been British owned .. originally by the Oxo company..they supplied millions of tins of corned beef to British troops in ww1 ,a tank was named Fray Bentos the reason being her crew said they felt like meat in a can . The business was sold to The Campbell Soup Company in 1994 and surprisingly I'd guess that's when its decline in quality started ....they also opened Princes that make a similar pie that is awful ....think Cambells now put more soup in than meat .
Fry Bentos river in Urugwaj. Worked for the company it was called Brooke Bond....with PG tips headoffice in Croydon Leon House. Tea tasting rooms on the 12th floor , with specialists from India , tasting by brewing 30 pots a day to come up with the same tasting blend. Yes it merged with Vandenbergs, moved way from Croydon, I still have pass to staff shop. Use to feed yorkie with the pie, we also eat it.
Back in the 60s Frey Bentos Advertised with "No lumps of fat or Grizzle" because they used De-Hydrated meat. Don't forget save the empty tins as they make great tins for homemade large Yorkshire puddings.
I bought a few before the lockdown when people were going mad buying toilet rolls. They were £1.25. They stayed in the cupboard for almost 2 years till I decided to start eating older canned stuff. I hadn't had one since I was a kid and while I wouldn't say it was rank, it wasn't great either. I didn't know whether it was just worse or that we'd got used to better food over the years. Given FB's admission on the new one, it's probably a bit of both. I still have a couple in the cupboard and will get round to them but I'm not looking forward to it.
Don't waste the electricity cooking them. Take them to your nearest clay pigeon shooting range and launch them out of the clay trap.....it's a far more appropriate use for these dreadful items.😂
I tried a chicken fray bentos pie for the first time ( i know i'm late to the table lol ) it was very bland and not enough pastry for me . That is one of my weaknesses is pastry lol so when i saw there was only a pastry lid i was disapointed . great review as always my friend
Only thing no worries me with these pies is the issue of BPA plastics. About 10% of canned goods still contain BPA, despite the fact that the chemical is a health hazard. The FDA has deemed 50 micrograms of BPA per kilogram of body weight per day a "safe" amount, though negative health outcomes have been reported as a result of far lower doses.
Hey Gaz👍 to me it just looks like they've had some complaints and thought 'ah, we'll put a bit of meat in them then' certainly doesn't look like it's worth the extra £1.36! I really like the chicken curry one they do tbh, nice one mate✌️🍻
My thoughts too. Plus, I notice they have re-designed the lid artwork, to suggest increased size. Sure they've had complaints. If this were a case of a new product needing some fine tuning, you could accept the low meat content as being an honest mistake by the manufacturer. But Fray Bentos have been around for decades. The original firm traded for many years without complaints like this, AFAIK.
When Baxters bought it from Princes after the Campbells acquisition they changed the recipe from a decent-ish way to get a fresh pie with minimal effort or skill, into a poverty-level effort. They cut costs by removing the fillings, basically.
I've still got a load of these when i stocked piled during lockdown, they were £1.00 each, that was the going rate in 2020, I'll never eat them but it seemed like a good idea at the time for family members
I had a steak and kidney FB pie from Home Bargains, costing £1.79 in Northern Ireland. On baking for the recommended length of time from the manufacturer's direction it took 35mins to crispy, and offered 9 pieces of steak an 113 pieces of beef kidney. Gravy was about a litre 😏, and a through and utter embarrassment to Fray Bentos!
Back in the early 70's my brother worked for Fray Bentos and they were allowed to take away damaged tins at a very very much reduced cost. The steak and kidney pies and puddings were a great treat, a lot more meat than shown here, but then, with the meat more grissle. But very tasty.
The new one, there was a speech bubble on the back of the can, in bright red, I am surprised that you didn't read it out. "Humble Pie for Us We put our hands up. Our recipe has not been up to scratch lately. So we've brought back our classic Steak and Gravy recipe and are ready to reclaim our title as "dinner of champions". I used to love these pies, but I would not have them anymore. I imagine you could do a DIY pie, using a tin of stewing steak and a packet of pastry from the chiller cabinet, and get a better result.
God be with the days. Reminds me of my childhood - Fray Bentos steak and kidney with mash and peas; then a big mug of tea and half a packet of custard creams. Nowadays I eat suff like quinoa, avocado on toast etc. They would have been lovely had they any meat in them.
Wow! £3:25. Never paid that much for a Fray Bentos pie. Bought one (Steak and Kidney) in Coop last week, oddly enough, and that was £2:80. Tesco shop on Sat. and they were £2:00 (still old type tho).
Hi mate, love those pies and wow what a price difference. At tescos they have the more of it steak and kidney pies for £2.00 so might try that this weekend. Thanks for the review and the new one does look better so looking forward to trying that. Unfortunately tescos website doesn't say they sell the steak and gravy but I'll have a look when in store.
Gareth, I'm absolutely sure this will be a joke only us Cumbrians with the local lingo will get, so apologies to those who don't.... 'Two pies having a drink and a crack in the pub. First pie says "Hey pal are you Fray Bentos ?" Second pie replies "No marra, as fray Cumbria". You have to know, to know 😅🤣
I like the My favourite sr]tteak& ale pies, are the Charley Bigham pies -they come in a ceramic dish, there are quigte a few come in other forms as well, but are a bit costlier than £1.3.38.
Well I'm a bit of a sucker for the steak & kidney...but that's just a personal preference. Funny story... when I was 19 I lived in a small flat with a living room, bathroom, kitchen and a hallway.... and only one window...fortunately that was a sash window and I could use the bay window below to sit and soak up the sun in the mornings with a sea view in Hartlepool. Here's the sorry bit....The gas oven in that place was so terrible that on full whack it would take over 24 hrs to cook a fray bentos S&K pie.... I was skint and starving the day I put it in the oven... I'd lost another 1/2 stone by the time it was cooked the next day.... very fascinating way to do slimming! I'm 53 and I'm always reminded of that every time I see a Fray Bento's Steak & Kidney Pie! Lol
We can get just the steak & kidney here in Australia, made locally under license. It costs AUD$9 around 4 pounds 50p. Mainly gravy but the puff pastry seems nicer than the UK version. I brought a Fray Bentos Breakfast pie back from the UK last visit; it had the quarantine guys confused and worried but they let it through. Finding a can opener here that can do the job is quite difficult.
A few years ago they were focussed on being the cheapest option in the store, with them being often priced at £1, adding a few grams of meat to push the price up is going to be a hard sell.
