British Pie Week: 4th – 10th March 2013

What is British Pie Week?

British Pie Week is a week where we in the UK celebrate this brilliant pastry filled invention. It would appear that British Pie Week was the idea of the company “Jus Rol” who make readymade pastry: http://www.jusrol.co.uk (the company name: “Jus Rol” came about – allegedly - after the ladies working in the bakery were asked what they did with the pastry cuttings and they replied - "we just roll it out ...!")

History of the Pie:

• The first pies appeared around 9500 BC in the Egyptian Neolithic period or New Stone Age. Early pies were in the form of galettes (flat / round or freeform crusty cakes) wrapping honey as a treat inside a cover of ground oats / wheat / rye or barley.
• Historians believe the Ancient Greeks invented pie pastry which was a flour-water paste wrapped around meat and provided a lightweight sealed holder for long sea journeys.
• Through sea travel this knowledge was transferred to the Romans who having conquered parts of Northern Europe and southern Spain were far more practiced at using salt and spices to preserve and flavour their meats.
• Apicius a 1^st century Roman cookbook made mention of various recipes that involved pie cases.
• With the advancement of the Roman Empire and its excellent road transport system pie cooking quickly spread throughout Europe.
• As Medieval cooks had restricted access to ovens due to the cost of constructing ovens and the need for huge supplies of fuel - pies were a popular food that could be easily cooked over an open fire.
• The English tradition of meat pies dates back to the Middle Ages when an open top pie crust was used as the container for serving the meat and was called a coffyn (the word used for a basket or box).
• Song birds were a fine delicacy at that time and were protected by Royal Law. At the coronation of eight-year old English King Henry VI (1422–1461) in 1429 "Partryche and Pecock enhackyll" pie was served. This consisted of a cooked peacock mounted in its skin on top of a peacock filled pie. 
• European royal cooks would often place a cooked bird on top of a large pie to identify its contents – this led to pre-Victorian cooks placing a porcelain ornament on a pie to release steam and to identify it.
• The Pilgrim Fathers and early settlers took their pie recipes with them to America where they adapted their ingredients and techniques available to them. Thanks to the Native North Americans their first pies were based on berries and fruits.
• Pies remained a core food staple of travelling and working people in colder northern European countries with regional variations based on both locally grown and available meats as well as the locally farmed cereal crop.

Types of pastry used in Pies:
Pies are a mainstay of English cooking and different pastries are used for different types of pies:  

• Short Crust Pastry – used in basic pies such as meat & potato / steak pie / chicken and mushroom / minced beef and onion / lamb / game. In recent years more exotic fillings have begun to appear such as: balti curry.
• Hot Water Pastry – used in scotch pie / pork pie. Melton Mowbray pork pies are the classic pork pie and are world renowned.

Melton Mowbray Pork Pie

Steak & Kidney Pudding

• Puff Pastry – used in pot pies
• Suet Pastry – used in steak and kidney puddings (the original filling in this pudding was steak and oyster).

Other Types of Pies:

• Open pies or flans – mostly served for dessert usually filled with seasonal fruit.
• Cornish pasty – this is a crescent shaped “pie” that is traditionally filled with beef / onion / swede and potato. The pasty has a crimped edge that makes it easier to hold (I think the crimped edge is the best part of the pasty J). Nowadays there are lots of other fillings on offer such as: lamb & mint / cheese & onion / steak & stilton plus many, many more.

Cornish Pasty

Worldwide Variations:

United Kingdom / Australia / South Africa and New Zealand

• Meat pies with fillings such as steak / lamb / steak and kidney /minced beef or chicken and mushroom are popular in these countries as take-away snacks. In British Fish & Chip shops pies are served with chips as an alternative to fish and chips.

America

Pot Pie

• Pot pies with a flaky crust and bottom are very popular in American. They are generally filled with meat (usually beef/ chicken or turkey) / gravy and mixed vegetables (potatoes / carrots and peas). Frozen pot pies are often sold in supermarkets in an individual serving size.

Worldwide

Apple Pie (a la mode) 

• Fruit pies are popular everywhere. In America when fruit pie is served with a scoop of ice cream the dish is called “pie à la mode” however many sweet pies are served this way. The most popular pie in the USA is apple pie though any pie with sweet fillings may be served “à la mode”. The combination of pie and ice cream and possibly the name too - is thought to have been made popular in the mid-1890s in the United States. 

Pie throwing:
Cream filled or topped pies are favourite props for humour. Throwing a pie in a person's face has been a staple of film comedy since Ben Turpin received one in Mr. Flip in 1909 and you may also find a pie throwing stall at many school / village & church fetes in the UK – it’s a great way to raise money and you get to throw a pie in the face of a teacher / minor celebrity / etc.

Recipe:
We will be eating a homemade pie this week – steak & mushroom (I think) to celebrate British Pie Week J Here is a link for a recipe for a steak and ale pie you could try:
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/5137/steak-and-ale-pie.aspx

Andria Owen