Chefs duel to sit upon the pie throne | photos

Twenty restaurants have picked up the gauntlet, with their chefs and cooks hard at work to devise the perfect recipe to win this year’s Pie and Pale Competition.

The competition is in its second year and is a key feature of Winterlude, the city’s month-long winter festival and will be judged by food critic Richard Cornish and local chef Peter Ford.

An Instagram People’s Choice prize will also be held as part of the contest. One lucky pie-eater will win 20 vouchers supplied by each venue valued at more than $400 – more than enough to indulge in a veritable feast of pastry delights.

Ballarat Regional Tourism CEO Noel Dempsey said the city was becoming increasingly known for its craft beer and gourmet food scene, with the Pie and Pale competition a perfect fir.

“Ballarat is becoming somewhat of a craft beer mecca with our ever-increasing beer halls and houses so it makes sense for us to host a Pie and Pale competition,” he said.

“There’s not a whole lot that’s better than an ale and pie to warm you up on a cold winter’s day.”

Craig’s Royal Hotel is entering with chef Shannon Easton’s sumptuous creation of a veal ragout pie with a “pie chimney” made from a marrow bone through the centre.

“It’s a French dish. They use bone a lot because they believe meat with the bone is sweeter. It’s a stylised take on that,” Craig’s managing director John Finning said.

Mr Finning said the pie competition was incredibly positive for Ballarat, helping re-establish the city as a food destination.

“To have a vibrant tourism market...you’ve got to have a really good food culture,” he said.

“We’re trying to do our best and other venues are raising the bar too.

“Our food and wine experience has got to match the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula and anywhere else that’s doing it well.”

Details on the 20 restaurants, their pies, and how to enter the Instagram competition are available at www.visitballarat.com.au/ballarat-s-best-pie-competition