by Gail Kavanagh

Created on: February 22, 2009   Last Updated: February 23, 2009

The best pie in the world is the Great Australian Bite. No, not that rather interesting geological feature on the continent's Southern side that looks as if some sea monster has taken a chomp out of the coastline that's called the Great Australian Bight, anyway.

I'm talking about the meat pie, that ubiquitous piece of Australian cuisine that still manages to beat the Pavlova (a delectable concoction of meringue, cream and fruit) b a country mile, and defies all modern attempts to alert the world about the wonders of our produce and seafood.

We Aussies are so obsessed with this humble dish of pastry and meat filling, that every year we hold a contest to discover the maker of the best meat pies, and bakers large and small rush to compete.

There are no boundaries on the great Aussie meat pie entries come from all over the country, and you can hear the knives sharpening and the appetites whetting as the judges gear up to taste them.

My first encounter with a meat pie was at back in the 60s at Manly, an oceanside suburb of Sydney. I foolishly confessed to not knowing there was such a delicacy as the Great Aussie Meat Pie, and was immediately marched down to a caf by my Aussie friends to become inducted.

There was a pie warmer on the counter, a glass and metal affair full of small pies in silver foil pie cases. One was reverently removed for my delectation and liberally doused with tomato sauce from a plastic bottle. Everyone stood back while I sank my teeth into it. I think the scream woke people back in the UK.

No one told me that darned thing would be so HOT. It literally burnt my mouth and I couldn't taste a thing. Gravy dripped down my white shirt, staining it forever more in what I know understand to be another Australian tradition, and almost set it on fire.

Apparently Australian mouths are immune to the scorching first bite. Lesser mortals, like myself, allow the thing to cool down before we tackle it.

Once the burns had healed and my Aussie mates had stopped laughing, I tried again. I found the meat pie to be a tasty, savoury dish, but the quality does vary, as the Great Aussie Pie Contest judges have found.

Some meat pies come with a cardboard crust and dried out, salty black filling that might once have been meat and gravy. Others lack flavor or texture or any identifiable meat source at all.

But in its best incarnation (such as annual contest winners) the Aussie meat pie is a marvel. The meat is cooked to perfection in a savory, slightly spicy, gravy, and the pastry

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