French Inspired Potato Top Wins Sam Supreme
Mr Samraksmey (Sam) So, owner of Rosedale Bakery & Café in Auckland will be smiling from ear to ear today knowing his love of reading food magazines has won him the 27th Bakels NZ Supreme Pie Award.
His stunning pie – a swirled potato top with a centre core of fondant-style cooked potatoes finished in au gratin layers that he'd developed the recipe for after seeing a dish of French-style layered potatoes in a magazine.
Sam explains: 'We take the time to fry the potatoes and then we put them on a tray with butter, garlic and rosemary and we bake them off. We cut them with a round cutter after baking and put them in the pie and bake again, and they look like a crispy outside.'
The innovative potato concept took a bit of working out, says Sam. With his staff inspired by western foods and a friend who had worked as a chef in a five-star hotel, they all began tasting the potato core and adding their suggestions. Meanwhile Sam kept adjusting the recipe until everyone agreed it was perfect.
Sam, who owns two bakeries in Albany, Auckland, bought his first bakery in 2019 and started really making a name for himself when he won a silver award for his mince and cheese entry in the 2023 Bakels NZ Pie Awards. It was his golden pastry sausage roll though that secured his baking credibility when he won the Bakels Legendary Sausage Roll competition in the same year. The taste of success motivating him on towards perfection and the Supreme win.
As celebrity chef judge Nici Wickes brushes off the pastry crumbs after the Supreme judging round, she says: 'I have to say New Zealand bakers are great at making pies. We saw so many pies today and really all of them were fantastic. It was very hard to choose. You cut them open dead down the centre, open them up and it was unbelievably fantastic to see the different fillings people have gone for, how innovative they've been….with the nation's bakers, we're in good hands.'
Without knowing who the Supreme winning pie was, Nici says of her favourite in the final judging: 'Out of these final top 10 pies there's a clear winner for me. It surprised me because it's one of the more usual categories and yet really innovative (referencing the potato top pie).' The Café Boutique gold winner, a rhubarb and raspberry sweet pie earned the 'unbelievably delicious' credit from Nici, too.
Ian Moore, who has been a judge for many years and is now the chief judge, summed up the competition saying: 'The standard was amazing again as usual…the final range is fantastic across the board and it just comes down to a half point here and a half point there. And once again those final flavours and the range had a significant difference in all of them because of their different categories. It was an amazing day and once again a great standard.'
NZ Bakels managing director Brent Kersel says of the Supreme pie: 'It was something unique. It had a potato gratin through the middle of it, the potato on top, and the mince around it had a very good flavour. Overall a really good pie, that's why it's come out on top with all the judges pulling it through. Well done to the baker.
'In this year's competition the standard was incredibly high in all the categories and the expectation of how they would taste certainly kept the judges working hard to take the best pies through to the final.
'We saw so much innovation in every aspect of the pies from elaborate toppings, different pastry styles, and some new and really interesting flavours like the Pacific-style palusami; the venison, port and tamarillo; and the Malabar beef curry. This competition just proves that New Zealand leads the world in pie-making. We own that credit. So congratulations to all the winners. Now is your time to shine. Make the most of it.'
Category Gold winners:
Bacon & Egg – Mr Sean Vo, Levain Artisan Bakery, Blockhouse Bay Auckland
Mince & Gravy – Mrs Sopheap Long, Euro Patisserie, Torbay, Auckland
Mince & Cheese – Mr Michael Gray, Nada Bakery, Wellington
Potato Top – Mr Samraksmey (Sam) So, Rosedale Bakery & Café, Albany, Auckland
Steak & Gravy – Mr Sok Heang Nguon, Taste Bakery and Roast, Henderson, Auckland
Steak & Cheese – Mr Sok Keo, Milldale Bakery, Wainui, Auckland
Chicken & Vegetable – Mr Mengheng (Jason) Hay, Richoux Patisserie, Ellerslie, Auckland
Gourmet Meat – Mr Buntha Meng, Wild Grain Bakery, Silverdale, Auckland
Vegetarian – Mrs Sopheap Long, Euro Patisserie, Torbay, Auckland
Commercial/Wholesale – Dad's Pies, Silverdale, Auckland.
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