Rangitīkei bakery takes home pie award with spicy delight of slow-cooked pork and jalapeno

Relish Rangitīkei owners and sisters Libby McNaught-Kennedy (left) and Bridget McNaught with their slow-cooked pork and jalapeno pie. Photo / Eva de Jong

For cafe owners and sisters, Bridget McNaught and Libby McNaught-Kennedy, a family recipe blossomed into a triumph at the Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards.

Bridget McNaught makes her pie with slow-cooked pork, jalapeno and barbecue sauce in their Relish Rangitīkei cafe in Hunterville.

The combination tempted the tastebuds of the judges who gave the pie a bronze award in the Cafe Boutique category.

The flavour combination resulted from McNaught’s son asking her to make their slow-cooked pork family dinner into a pie.

“My son asked me for three years to make it into a pie but I never did, and then I finally did make it.”

As for the jalapenos - they can be a controversial ingredient: “They’re at the top of the pie, so if you didn’t like them you could lift the lid and flick them out.”

“I think the jalapenos may put people off, but I know people who don’t like them and they’ve tried the pie and love it.”

Relish Rangitikei's slow-cooked pork, jalapeno and barbecue sauce pie won third place in the Cafe Boutique category of the 2024 Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Awards. Photo / Eva de Jong

Bridget McNaught estimates she makes about 18 pies a day.

At last year’s Bakels award, her broccoli, blue cheese and caramelised onion pie picked up fifth place in the Cafe Boutique category.

Her most popular pie at Relish Rangitīkei is a classic mince and cheese.

“Once they’re gone, they’re gone.

“But people will ring up and ask us to save one in particular if they know they’ll be gone early in the day.”

The judging for the Bakels NZ Pie Awards 2024 is done blind with each pie identified by a number and its ingredients, but without any clues to give away which bakery the pie belongs to.

“It has to be something you make on a regular basis and it’s got to look a certain way to even make it to the tasting stage,” Bridget McNaught said.

This year’s supreme winner and the country’s most prestigious pie award went to a slow-cooked Sumatra-style beef pie from Rangiora Bakery, Artisan.

Relish Rangitikei has been run by the sisters since 2016, and most of the customers who visit every day are well-known to the pair. The cafe’s position on Hunterville’s main road also makes it a popular stop-off for tourists and families on road trips.

“We still get people who come along and say: ‘How long has the place been here’.”

In the family business, McNaught does all of the baking and McNaught-Kennedy is in charge of front-of-house and accounts.

“We get along well, it’s fun working together.

“It was quite lucky because when we took over a lot of people had already put in some hard work over the years, and it’s been here for 22 years now.”

Most of the free-range eggs and quality vegetables used in her cooking are delivered to the cafe from just across the road.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, we do cafe staples like scones and muffins but we do a good job of it.”

As for her prize-winning pie, McNaught said people should not be scared to give it a try.

“It’s not too spicy.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering general news stories. She began as a reporter in 2023.