Pie
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- "Cherry pie" redirects here. For other uses, see Cherry pie (disambiguation).
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.
Reference to “pyes” as food items appeared in England (in a Latin context) as early as the 12th Century, but no unequivocal reference to the item with which the article is concerned is attested in the Oxford English Dictionary until the 14th century (Oxford English Dictionary sb pie).
Regional variations
Meat pies with fillings such as steak, cheese, steak and kidney, minced beef, or chicken and mushroom are popular in the United Kingdom,[1] 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 pie case, often with a flaky top. A peculiarity of Adelaide cuisine is the Pie floater.
Also popular in the UK is the 'pub style pie', which consists of a meat and vegetable filling baked in a dish, with a puff pastry lid on top. These pies do not typically have a pastry base or sides, and are thus considered healthier than most other types of pie because of the ratio of pastry to filling.
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.[2]
Pie throwing
Cream filled or topped pies are favorite props for humor, particularly when aimed at the pompous. 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,[3] 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]
Savory pies
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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.
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See also
References
- ^ "Pie". Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
- ^ ""Remember the à la mode!" (pie à la mode)". Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ "A Very Brief History of Slapstick". Splat TV. 2003. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
- ^ The Smoking Gun: Archive
External links
