Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie), fruit preserves (jam tart), brown sugar (sugar pie), sweetened vegetables (rhubarb pie), or with thicker fillings based on eggs and dairy (as in custard pie and cream pie). Savoury pies may be filled with meat (as in a steak pie or a Jamaican patty), eggs and cheese (such as quiches or British flans), or a mixture of meat and vegetables (pot pie).

Pies are defined by their crusts. A filled pie (also single-crust or bottom-crust), has pastry lining the baking dish, and the filling is placed on top of the pastry but left open. A top-crust pie has the filling in the bottom of the dish and is covered with a pastry or other covering before baking. A two-crust or double crust pie has the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Shortcrust pastry is a typical kind of pastry used for pie crusts, but many things can be used, including baking powder biscuits, mashed potatoes, and crumbs.

Pies can be a variety of sizes, ranging from bite-size to those designed for multiple servings.

Etymology

thumb|A detail of a painting by [[Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625) and Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) depicting several bird pies. Cooked birds were frequently placed by European royal cooks on top of a large pie to identify its contents. A possible origin is that the word 'pie' is connected with a word used in farming to indicate 'a collection of things made into a heap', for example a heap of potatoes covered with earth.

thumb|A 19th-century depiction of a Roman feast, where pastry-covered meat dishes were served

The Romans made a plain pastry of flour, oil, and water to cover meats and fowls which were baked, thus keeping in the juices. The Roman approach of covering "...birds or hams with dough" has been called more of an attempt to prevent the meat from drying out during baking than an actual pie in the modern sense. The first written reference to a Roman pie is for a rye dough that was filled with a mixture of goat's cheese and honey. By 160 BC, Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BC), who wrote De Agri Cultura, notes the recipe for the most popular pie/cake called placenta. Alongside similar dishes such as the Roman libum, it was more like a modern-day cheesecake on a pastry base, often used as an offering to the gods. With the development of the Roman Empire and its efficient road transport, pie cooking spread throughout Europe. These pies were meant to be eaten with the hands. The hardened coffyn pastry was not necessarily eaten, its function being to contain the filling for baking, and to extend its shelf-life. The thick crust was so sturdy it had to be cracked open to get to the filling. Ceramic pie dishes were not used until the 16th century. Medieval pie crusts were often baked first, to create a "pot" of baked dough with a removable top crust, hence the name pot pie. The recipe included spices, apples, raisins pears and figs. The 14th-century French chef Taillevent instructed bakers to "crenelate" pie shells and "reinforce them so that they can support the meat"; one of his pies was high enough that it resembled a model of a castle, an illusion enhanced by miniature banners for the nobles at the event.

It was in the 16th century that a puff paste began to be used to make flakier pie crusts. In Gervase Markham's 1615 book The English Huswife, there is a recipe for puff paste where the paste is kneaded, rolled thinly many times while layering with butter. This made a flaky butter pastry to cover meat for pies or for tarts. There is also a pie recipe that calls for "an entire leg of mutton and three pounds of suet..., along with salt, cloves, mace, currants, raisins, prunes, dates, and orange peel", which made a huge pie that could serve a large group.

In the 17th century, Ben Jonson described a skilled pie cook by comparing the cook to a fortification builder who "...Makes citadels of curious fowl and fish" and makes "dry-ditches", "bulwark pies" and "ramparts of immortal crusts".

Pumpkin pie was fashionable in England from the 1650s onward, then fell out of favour during the 18th century. Pumpkin was sliced, fried with sweet herbs sweetened with sugar and eggs were added. This was put into a pastry case with currants and apples. Pumpkin pie was introduced to America by early colonists where it became a national dish. Apple pie became popular, because apples were easy to dry and store in barrels over the winter.

Pie fillings could be made with very few ingredients to "stretch" their "meager provisions". By the 19th century pies were a staple of the American family meal and women were responsible for figuring out how to make tasty pies that fit within the family budget.

Once the British had established Caribbean colonies, sugar became less expensive and more widely available, which meant that sweet pies could be readily made. Australia, South Africa and New Zealand as take-away snacks. They are also served with chips as an alternative to fish and chips at British chip shops.

Pot pies with a flaky crust and bottom are also a popular dish, typically with a filling of meat (particularly beef, chicken, or turkey), gravy, and mixed vegetables (potatoes, carrots, and peas). Frozen pot pies are often sold in individual serving size.

Fruit pies may be served with a scoop of ice cream, a style known in North America as pie à la mode. Many sweet pies are served this way. Apple pie is a traditional choice, though any pie with sweet fillings may be served à la mode. This combination, and possibly the name as well, is thought to have been popularised in the mid-1890s in the United States. Apple pie can be made with a variety of apples; cultivars such as the Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, and Rome Beauty are popular for usage in pies.

In literature

Cold pigeon pies and venison pasties appear in novels by Jane Austen, but also more generally in writing in the 18th century. The character Mrs Elton, from the 1815 novel Emma, believes herself to be modern, but nevertheless plans to take 'pigeon-pies and cold lamb' to a country outing to Box Hill and consults George Turberville's 1575 work The Noble Art of Venerie (1575) for advice.

In the 1817 novel Persuasion, Jane Austen includes pies in her description of an old-fashioned Christmas spread, mentioning 'tressels and trays, bending under the weight of brawn and cold pies'. In the whole of Persuasion, brawn and cold pies are the only specific mention of food; they are also the only Christmas foods to be mentioned in any of Jane Austen's novels. More recently, pieing has also become a political act; some activists throw cream pies at politicians and other public figures as a form of protest.

Types

Savoury

Bacon and egg pie
Butter pie
Calzone
Cheese and onion pie
Chicago-style pizza
Chicken and mushroom pie
Corned beef pie
Curry pie
Game pie
Fish pie
Flipper pie
Homity pie
Jamaican patty
Kalakukko
Meat pie
Meat and potato pie
Pasty
Pork pie
Pot pie
Quiche
Rabbit pie
Scotch pie
Shepherd's pie
Stargazy pie
Steak pie
Steak and kidney pie
Steak and kidney pudding
Tourtière

File:Lamb and chicken pie.jpg|A chicken and lamb pie

File:Cornish pasty - cut.jpeg|A traditional Cornish pasty filled with steak and vegetables

File:Chickenpie1.JPG|A chicken pie with a traditional pie bird

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Sweet

Some of these pies are pies in name only, such as the Boston cream pie, which is a cake.

Black bottom pie
Buko pie
Bundevara
Cashew pie
Chess pie
Chestnut pie
Chiffon pie
Cream pie
Custard pie
Egg pie
Milk pie
Peanut pie
Pecan pie
Pumpkin pie
Shoofly pie
Sugar pie
Sweet potato pie
Turtle pie
Walnut pie

File:Lemon chess pie for pi day, with strawberry, March 2010.jpg|A slice of chess pie

File:Pecan pie slice (cropped).jpg|A slice of pecan pie

File:Mmm...Mrs Js Perfect Pumpkin Pie (5205060347).jpg|Pumpkin pie showing texture of surface

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Fruit

Many fruit and berry pies are very similar, varying only the fruit used in filling. Fillings for sweet or fruity are often mixed, such as strawberry rhubarb pie.

Apple pie
Banoffee pie – named for the combination of bananas and toffee
Blackberry pie
Blueberry pie
Cherry pie
Key lime pie
Lemon pie
Lemon meringue pie
Mince pie – although formerly made with finely minced meat, it is now made with fruit
Rhubarb pie
Saskatoonberry pie
Strawberry pie

Image:Blackberry pie and ice cream, 2006.jpg|Blackberry pie with ice cream

File:Raisin pie with lattice crust.JPG|Raisin pie with a lattice-style crust

File:Making Pear pie with puff pastry.jpg|Pear-shaped pear pie with puff pastry

File:Tarte pruneaux 2.jpg|Jeûne Genevois plum pie

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Other

Fried pie – a smaller pie that is deep-fried instead of being baked; it can have any filling.
Tart – a pie with no top crust, often filled with fruit

References

External links

A Tale of Two Tarts by Monica Gaudio (contains info that can be added into article with references)
Food Timeline, History Notes: Pie & Pastry
A Wide Variety of Pie Recipes at recipeforpie.com

Etymology

In literature

Types

Savoury

Sweet

Fruit

Other

See also

References

Further reading

External links