He’s a household name thanks to the enormous success of Auckland restaurants, The Grove, where he was executive chef until recently, and Baduzzi on Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter waterfront. Some will recognise him from the first two seasons of My Kitchen Rules NZ. Now Ben Bayly is preparing for another challenge as this year’s NZ Bakels Supreme Pie Awards celebrity chef judge.
It’s an honour he’s thrilled to accept especially as pies, as treats, rank pretty highly in his choice of a meal. “I’m a steak and cheese guy. I just can’t go past it. It’s bloody yum.”
In fact as this interview is being conducted at his new restaurant, The Grounds in Henderson, a couple of gold-winning pies are being heated for a photo but the wafting aroma of them is proving a serious distraction.
Ben remembers with fondness yearning for a pie when returning home to New Zealand for a break occasionally while away for 10 years, initially training at the Johnson & Wales University of Culinary Arts in Providence, USA, then cooking in some of the best restaurants in the world in the United States, UK, Europe and Melbourne.
“I used to come home every two years or so and dad or mum would pick me up at the airport and I’d always stop at a service station to get a pie straight off the plane. That was in my 20s. I left when I was 19 and came back at 30. You just can’t get a good Kiwi pie overseas.”
He still thinks of Te Awamutu as home – he grew up there on a farm and attended the local college – and neighbouring Kihikihi, where his wife is from and grandfather still lives, as the best place in New Zealand to buy a pie at Viands Bakery. “They know how to make a pie and I like the fact that it’s in the middle of nowhere but people know, they know about it.”
Like his career thus far as one of this country most successful chefs and restaurateurs, he’s taking the chance to judge New Zealand pies seriously, and he certainly knows what he’s talking about when he mentions tastes, textures, and keeping pie recipes honest.
“I’m not a big fan of the yellow pastry. I like things to taste the way they are meant to. I know puff pastry well; I make it, so I like a nice puff pastry top and a short pastry bottom. No cheating on the gravies! Nothing artificial, I’m an ‘all natural’ guy. I’m all about using a nice arrowroot, cornflour or even a nice roux to thicken the pie, that’s no problem for me because you just can’t eat a pie without it. I’m not big on the artificial salts and MSGs and I’ll taste it straight away. So if it’s a steak and cheese pie I want to see beautiful braised beef, chuck. Lamb shank pie is one of the most beautiful things around too, braised lamb shank. Just no cheating when it comes to flavour. I will taste it and I’ll come down on you!”
Ben describes the pie as ‘every person’s food’ saying “they deserve to have their pie made properly”.
He’s also looking for a return to vegetables in pies.
“Remember back in the day when they had peas and carrots in pies? What happened to that? They were just frozen peas and carrots but beautiful! That was another nostalgic moment for me; back at school my pies had peas and carrots in them. They’re a natural sweetness. Use vegetables to bulk out the meat, they’re cheaper than ready-made gravies and even frozen is fine.”
Ben declares he’s not a pie-making expert but he is a taste expert. “And I know my pies.”
In the Gourmet Meat and Café Boutique categories he’s looking for distinctive flavours.
“I like hangi pies. I’d love to see a hangi pie in the competition. When you make a pie you have to visualise how people re-heat it and hold it. So you can only use ingredients that lend themselves to that technique of re-heating. You can’t make an eye fillet pie; it would be a waste of time. Seafood is a very delicate ingredient; you’ve got to be really careful how you make it. A paua pie, for instance, would be delicious because minced paua would hold really well.”
If you’re thinking of making a really traditional-style pie, then you are already on Ben’s wavelength. He says the right ingredients are those that are slow-cooked like veal cheeks, lamb sweetbreads, cheaper cuts of meat, even offal.
“Think about the contrasting texture in a pie. You bite through the pastry which is textural and then you want to feel the difference of the filling in your mouth. Show economy using interesting cuts of meat that don’t cost much money. Think about supporting organics too; there’s no reason why you couldn’t make an organic pie.
“The way we eat food is changing and people who make pies will be thinking about changing too,” says Ben.
He hopes to see what they come up with for the 22nd NZ Bakels Supreme Pie Awards.
Key Dates:
Entries open – May 1
Judging Day – July 26
NZ Bakels Supreme Pie Awards – July 31.
