Pie

Lattice-topped pies

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough shell that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Pies can be either "filled", where a dish is covered by pastry and the filling is placed on top of that, "top-crust," where the filling is placed in a dish and covered with a pastry/potato mash top before baking, or "two-crust," with the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Pies can be a variety of sizes, ranging from bite-size to ones designed for multiple servings.

So-called “pyes” originally appeared in England as early as the 12th Century, but the word “pie” is not attested in the Oxford English Dictionary until the 14th century. ^[1]

Regional variations

A slice cut from an apple pie

Meat pies with fillings such as steak, cheese, steak and kidney, minced beef or chicken and mushroom are popular in the United Kingdom,^[2] Australia and New Zealand as take-away snacks. They are also served with chips as an alternative to fish and chips at British chip shops.

These meat pies contain beef and gravy in a shortcrust piecase, often with a flakey top. A peculiarity of Adelaide cuisine is the Pie floater.

Pot pies with a flaky crust and bottom are also a popular American 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 à la mode. 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 popularized in the mid-1890s in the United States.^[3]

Pie throwing

Cream filled or topped pies are favourite props for humour, particularly when aimed at the pompous. Throwing a pie in a person's face has been a staple of film comedy since the early days of the medium, and is often associated with clowns in popular culture. Pranksters have taken to targeting politicians and celebrities with their pies, an act called pieing. Activists sometimes engage in the pieing of political and social targets as well. One such group is the Biotic Baking Brigade. "Pieing" can result in injury to the target and assault or more serious charges against the pie throwers. ^[4]

Savoury pies

Bacon and egg pie Butter pie Chicken and mushroom pie Chicken Pie Corned beef pie Cottage pie (and Shepherds' pie)

Meat pie Pasty Pizza pie Pork pie Pot pie

Quiche Scotch pie Curry Pie Stargazy pie Steak pie Steak and kidney pie

A chicken pie with a traditional pie bird

Sweet pies

Some of these pies are pies in name only, such as the Boston cream pie, which is a cake. Many fruit and berry pies are very similar, varying only the fruit used in filling.

References

External links

• The American Pie Council
• History of Pie
• Food Timeline, History Notes: Pie & Pastry