A no-frills beef number from Victoria’s Whittlesea Bakehouse has been named the best plain meat pie in Oz in the annual Official Great Aussie Pie Competition. It won out of a pool of 1,500 entrants where pies were judged on their appearance, size, filling and creativity, with Western Oz’s Four Seasons Patisserie coming in 2nd place. Whittlesea piemaker Adrian Caporetto reckons the win came down to using high-quality ingredients and a dash of love. “I’m a firm believer if you use good ingredients, good flour, good margarine, you keep it simple and love what you do, then that’s what counts,” he said. Victoria’s winning streak continued with Wodonga’s Miss Amelia Gourmet awarded the Best Gourmet Pie prize for its Chinese BBQ pork belly delight. You can check out the list of winners here.