Pies, glorious pies

From our Cornish pasties to our Melton Mowbray pork pies, to our pie, mash & liquor, we celebrate our pies historically, nostalgically and sometimes even divisively.

Whatever your penchant for pie-fection, you can find a flavour that will tickle your pickle: steak & kidney, chicken & mushroom, minced beef and onion, butternut squash and goats cheese, even chicken balti, the list of classic savoury fillings is endless. Then there are sweet fruit pies like apple pie and the festive favourite, mince pies. Mmm, that sweet goodness with a warm glug of custard.

A brief history of pie

To find the first pies we have to go back, way back to Ancient Egypt. They knew a thing or two about wrapping and entombing things, after all. The first pies are thought to have been sweet honey fillings encased in a cakey pastry.

Pies have been part of the British cuisine since the 1300s and literally meant a dish of meat or fish cooked in pastry. They arrived to England via the northern Mediterranean, but we obviously put our distinct British stamp on it. The shortcrust pie variations that we know and love shunned the exotic olive oils in preference to butter or lard-based pastes more suited to our cooler climes.

Perhaps all cultures and cuisines have their own pies: Pithiviers of France, spiced Moroccan pastilas, Spanish empanadas, is there always a dish cooked in some kind of pastry?

The purpose of the pastry case is two-fold: to lock in all those delicious flavours and juices and create a transportable meal in a package. I know they’re not technically a pie, but Cornish pasties were the original packed lunch offering both a savoury and sweet segment in an easy-to-hold pastry case.

When is a pie not a pie?

What makes a pie? Does pastry make a pie or does a lid make a pie? Does it need to be fully encased in pastry, topped or lined?

That depends if you’re a pie purist or not.

When we think of a British pie, we think of pastry all the way around the filling. But wait, what about shepherd’s pie, is that not still a pie? Of course it is, but not a pie, pie, you know.

Then there are the tarts that pretend to be pies. Banoffee pie, pumpkin pie, key lime pie… sweet pies acquired from our friends across the pond. They call themselves pies. A pie by any other name would taste as sweet.

And then there’s birthday pie

Last week it was my daughter’s birthday, so it was time once again to make a birthday pie. We call it Happie Birthday pie (Do you see what I did there?) and it’s become a bit of regular thing in our house going back over three years – maybe it will be a family tradition!

Each birthday, the person whose birthday it is picks their choice of pie. We’ve had steak & porter (for the OH), chicken & mushroom, I think we even had a veggie one when Ollie was in his year-long vegetarian phase, but by far the most popular is the breakfast pie.

Breakfast pie, breakfast for dinner pie, brinner pie, whatever you want to call it, it’s the fundamentals of a cooked breakfast wrapped in pastry and we have it for dinner. It goes well with a few extra hash browns, some baked beans and a big dollop of HP.

Of course, we still have a birthday cake as well. We’re not total heathens.

Here’s a rough guide how to make Happie Birthday breakfast pie – if you fancy it.