Maureen McLoughlin

What is your favourite flavour of Holland's Pies?

The meat pie is my favourite.

Why (apart from loving our pies!) did you want to become involved in the Pie Panel?

Is that not a good enough reason? Sounds eminently sensible to me!

What have you most enjoyed about the Pie Panel process?

I remember being really impressed at the first 'pie-factor' audition at just how scientifically rigorous the whole process was. They really meant business; it certainly wasn't just a passing fancy or some sort of media exercise to get their name in the papers.

At the subsequent meetings of us pie-o-neers, it's very obvious that Holland's are not only really committed to the process of product development, both new and existing, but also that they are very proud of the history and tradition of their brand. I think that any company who can manage to successfully balance those two aspects of their business is to be applauded. And I'm delighted to be a part of it.

What is your first/favourite memory of Holland's Pies?

It's not my earliest memory, but it's probably the thing that best sums up the place Holland's holds in the hearts of those of us who were brought up in the north west.

My brother lives abroad so he can't get Holland's pies, the poor soul!
These days, whenever he and his family come to this country to visit our parents, there's never any need to ask what he wants for dinner. It's off to the chippy for  "Upside down pie* and chips in a tray with gravy". His eldest son - who's six - has also developed a liking for them. Proof that Holland's is embedded in our very genes; passed down from father to son and mother to daughter for generations!

*That was what he called steak and kidney pudding when he was a kid. And it's sort of stuck in our family, like these things often do.

Where in the world would you most like to eat a Holland's Pie?

I have been to the Oktoberfest in Munich a few times and I would imagine that sitting in Bavaria in the late September sunshine with your litre stein of Oktoberfestbier and a selection of Holland's pies to hand might just be the perfect way to spend an afternoon. The massive pretzels are all very well and the Germans do make some rather lovely sausages, of course. But a Holland's meat pie would add a certain je ne sais quoi to the proceedings.
I'm getting very cosmopolitan now, aren't I? Maybe I just want Holland's to go international!

If you could create any flavour of pie, what would it be?

My other half had a pie idea recently – donner meat filling! If you made one of those, he'll be able to die a happy man.
And I bet he wouldn't be the only one. Sounds a bit on the hefty side to me.
(Though I have no doubt that I'd try one!)

Personally, I think some sort of a spicy lentil or bean or chickpea pie would work pretty well, depending on the herbs and spices you used. Lots of scope for experimentation there!