Vegetarian pieman minces competition

Supreme Pie maker Danny Dalton with other products he makes at Brookfield New World in Tauranga. Picture / Alan Gibson

A vegetarian baker has won a top pie award for a flavour he does not eat: mince and cheese.

Danny Dalton, pastry manager at Brookfield New World in Tauranga, was named winner of the 2005 Bakels Supreme Pie Award in Auckland last night.

The Herald spoke to Mr Dalton yesterday, before he knew his mince and cheese pie had won not only its category but the supreme award.

Mr Dalton, who has been a baker for 11 years and a vegetarian for eight, was convinced it was his vegetarian pie that had netted him a prize.

He and the supermarket's bakery manager, Derek Hughes, who went with him to the awards in Auckland, created the vegetarian pie with wholemeal pastry and a pumpkin, carrot and potato filling.

"It was just perfect," Mr Dalton said.

But it was mince and cheese, the supermarket's top seller, that won Mr Dalton the $7500 prize.

The secret of mince-pie success was removing the fat, he said. "We skim all the meat and take a lot of the fat out. It's a bit leaner."

Others had told him the mince and real cheese used in the pie had "a very nice flavour".

Mr Dalton also won a silver medal in another category he would not eat himself: mince and gravy.

There are eight categories in the awards. Mince and cheese receives the most entries.

The awards are in their ninth year and this year is the third in a row the supreme award has gone to a baker in the Bay of Plenty.

It was won by Patrick Lam of Rotorua's Gold Star Bakery in 2003 and 2004. Mr Lam was a winner again this year, taking the gold medal in the bacon and egg category.

His brother, Mark Lam of Owhata Bakery, won best steak, vegetable and gravy pie.

The 2004 awards attracted more than 2000 entries from 190 bakeries.