Sigh. This is at least the third year I’ve explained this, it’s really simple.

As CZ said a pie is foodstuff enclosed in pastry, just as a sandwich is filling literally “sandwiched” between two slices of bread. So a meat pie is a self-contained pastry crust containing meat, ditto potato pie, etc.

With things like “cottage pie,” this is simply the name of the dish as a whole, it is not a pie containing cottages. Similarly shepherds pie and, as someone else mentioned earlir (and will no doubt come as a disappointment to some), pot pie.

See also, beef wellington, Chorley cakes and club sandwiches.

Pie week brought to us by Jus-rol?!

And you’re all arguing about wether it tops and bottoms?!

Go away and come back when you actually know what you are talking about*

*Except Perchy who is right about what a pie is AND the awesomeness of a macaroni pie.

a self-contained pastry crust containing meat,

What? You mean a pasty? Or a bridie?

Neither of which are pies.

Now then – after being disappointed at the imagery on the website of a pub “famous for its pies” where there was a large amount of ceramic base showing, I found out this morning that they are in fact proper pies but served in the dish they are cooked in. So desperate Dan’s pie could well be a proper pie.

With things like “cottage pie,”

But this is the crux of the matter, if it’s acceptable for something to be a pie, just because it’s called a pie surely all things can be pies by virtue of the decision just simply to call them pies?

What? You mean a pasty? Or a bridie?

Neither of which are pies.

Logic fail. All lions are cats, therefore all cats are lions?

But this is the crux of the matter, if it’s acceptable for something to be a pie, just because it’s called a pie surely all things can be pies by virtue of the decision just simply to call them pies?

They’re not called pies, they’re called “(something) pies,” which is the name of the dish. You could call a cheese sandwich a beef casserole, doesn’t mean it is one.

All lions are cats, therefore all cats are lions?

Cats prefer Tweety Pie, I believe..

Is that a real pie?

so how about the macaroni pie? Its a pie case full of macaroni cheese but with no lid! an open topped pie?

That’s a Scotch Quiche. 🙂

Tonight’s real pie was minced beef and onion.

They’re not called pies, they’re called “(something) pies,” which is the name of the dish. You could call a cheese sandwich a beef casserole, doesn’t mean it is one.

So they’re not actually a pie then? They’re just called pies and “we’re ok with that” but it’s not acceptable to call a “casserole with a lid” a pie?

So for instance, that there macaroni pie is fine to call a pie, regardless of it not having a pastry top, though it’s no more a pie than it is the moon? On the other hand if you were to swap the macaroni for minced beef and onion it would not be ok to call it a pie?

I think all this pieritanism is misdirected any how. The coverage of the pastry is frankly irrelevant in the face of the far greater sin of calling two bits of pastry with barely more than a smear of filling a pie but by the logic it’s filling encased in pastry it’s more of a pie than say this…

OP! If you’re in the FOD, and you’ve not already, we chanced upon this place a few weeks back:

mad about pies

I’d already ordered a vegeburger before seeing the pie menu, so vowed to return and sample at a later date. Wild mushroom sounds most appealing.

I’ve posted about the true king of pies many times before, but if you were ever planning a pie based pilgrimage to pie nirvana then the George Hotel in Keswick is where its at, for their legendary cow pie….

That looks very dry, pastry too thick and not absorbed any of the cooking juices, with “gravy” that has the look of packet mix, anemic chips and frozen veg.

I hope it tastes better than it looks.

Its a thing of joy and wonder 😀

As I’ve posted many times regarding the Keswick Cow pie…..

Note the lack of pastry round 3 sides.

Best hope you don’t  get a middle slice. 😉

and for anyone out and about in Manchester, can I recommend
https://www.pieandale.com/
Monday deals and good real ale too. 5 minutes walk from PSBH, you can get completely pie-eyed.

Can you still get Fray Bentos pies? Wonderful creations in a tin with an almost infinite shelf life!!

Its my favourite week of the year…

Thanks for pointing this out, I didn’t actually know what day of the week it was nor what week it is..

I did buy 3 Pies from Waitrose yesterday so I reckon I qualify for the cause.

🤠

In the words of Simon and Garfunkel….
“I am just a fat boy and my oven seldom cold”.

Ma and Pa Swarbrick’s steak and ale pie at The Bay Horse in Roughlee is the finest I’ve sampled.
A pie so fine it would make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window.

The pie at The George is a fine thing, but lacks the piquancy of the Bay Horse number. The gravy is like Kylie crying on your tongue.
The pastry is an architectural delight.

A close second are the pies from Haffners in Burnley.
A life without Haffners pies is a sham, a farago, a mere existence rather than a tastebud tingling happy journey towards ones first quadruple bypass.

Growing up in Manchester I have a fondness for Hollands in Baxendale, but there really is no comparison.

I did buy 3 Pies from Waitrose yesterday…

Do they call them pies or have they something more middle class to go by like tourte?

I’ve posted about the true king of pies many times before, but if you were ever planning a pie based pilgrimage to pie nirvana then the George Hotel in Keswick is where its at, for their legendary cow pie….

Looking at your pictorial evidence*, and in lieu of your reviewing the gourmet ‘Mad About Pies’ pies served at The Farmer’s Boy in Longdon…

…I vote to reserve final judgment. I will echo others when they dare mention that your (sic?)’true king of pies’ seems to be missing some essential clothing 😋

*Objectively flawed subject, or subjectively flawed object?

Whatever your opinions on proper pies vs casseroles with a fascinator, make sure your oven is in tip top working order, else…

and for anyone out and about in Manchester, can I recommend
https://www.pieandale.com/

I just spent far too long trying to parse what an “Andale” was there. It’s not a district in Manchester I’ve ever heard of… oh, wait, right.

I did buy 3 Pies from Waitrose yesterday…

Do they call them pies or have they something more middle class to go by like tourte?

Its got the words Pie writ large on the packaging, and are pastry all round the filling…

Me thinks they is Pies.

I do fancy that Cow Slice ^^ Keswick you say… bit far from my coastal habitat that but maybe one day.

A: Not a pie.
B: Hendos reference = weirdos from the wrong side of the Pennines.

Have a think about what your life has become and beg for forgiveness.

A: Not a pie.
B: Hendos reference = weirdos from the wrong side of the Pennines.

A: I know, but the same applies to proper pies.
B: Hendo’s is bloody lovely, even if you, yourself, are from the wrong side of the Pennines. I’m not even from South Yorkshire, and its still lovely.

Hendos?

Slight aside,

As a Worcestershire lad, I’m duty bound to point out that Henderson’s can only be an inferior Johnny-come-lately copycat and vegan version of Worcestershire Sauce.

And anyway, if it’s (Hendo’s) so great then why does it try and look like Lea & Perrins Worcs Sauce, right down to the bottle and the label colour? And why do they rely on KT Tunstall and the Arctic Monkeys to make it sound all cool Britannia on their website?

Something fishy going on there, and it certainly isn’t anchovies…

Can you still get Fray Bentos pies?

Indeed you can and they are still as shit as ever.
They are Coldwar Steve’s image of food after Brexit.

As a Worcestershire lad, I’m duty bound to point out that Henderson’s can only be an inferior Johnny-come-lately copycat and vegan version of Worcestershire Sauce.

That’s OK we are bound to have our local favourites. BUT… they both originate in the early 19th century, so who copied who?

I have never made a real pie* – today seams like a good time to rectify

Any recommended recipes? Is this a good starting point?

http://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/creamy_chicken_ham_and_03877

* Obviously my fish and shepherd pies don’t count

Have you made pastry before? If not start with something much less runny or you’ll have no idea if the (possible) resulting mess is because of rubbish pastry or sloppy filling.

I’ve only managed a couple this week, so 5 to go tomorrow I guess? Or possibly 6 if suet pastry cases don’t count.

Have you made pastry before? If not start with something much less runny buy it from the supermarket

FTFY.

Had a chicken and mushroom pie today and I am convinced it was just Campbells condensed soup encased by pastry. Much disappointment from me

That thing Binners posted looked mingin’. Cold doughy pastry, dry filling and crap chips. Any pie that stands up in its original shape after being cut is either freezing cold or over built.

Anyone who ever visits Glasgow should get to the Bon Accord for their steak pie. The business.

As it’s international women’s day today, I just took ‘er indoors to the pub for tea, save her cooking and all. As ‘luck’ would have it, (ahem) they are also celebrating pie week. Lamb and black pudding was a pastry ensconced triumph.