To pie or not to pie?

Through the creation of my blog, I have learned that the pie means more to me than I had originally anticipated. The minced and onion pie has become a part of my culture, a part of my identity and more importantly the taste of home. Through creating this blog, I have realized that eat pies a lot more than I had first thought. The pie is my go to dish on a menu, the taste that reminds me of what it is to be British. Whether it is a chicken and gravy pie or even a steak and ale pie, I know with a pie what I am getting. I know that the pastry will be fluffy and crisp on the top; I know that the bottom will eventually become soggy because of the gravy and the dense meat filling. So why can't I comprehend the taste or the thought of a sweet fruit pie? Well, my guess is because I have been brought up on dense pies which are served alongside stodgy portions of potato. I guess what it comes down to, is what you've always known. My family has never been absolute lovers of fruit pies. As I have mentioned we have our own recipe but I would argue that as my family has evolved sitting in our local pie and mash shop speaks more about our love of pies in contrast to an ancient recipe. 

I suppose what I have discovered is that for me, there is only one pie. It doesn't have mashed potato on top; it's not served with rice and nachos, nor is it served with ice cream. It is served next to some slapped on mashed potato and covered in parsley liquor, it is the taste of London, but for me it is undoubtedly the taste of home. 

The sweetest pie of all...

Image from Google Images

As I have mentioned previously, the mixture of sweet and savoury that Ayrton describes in the opening to her chapter on 'Pies', is something that I personally struggle to enjoy. I wanted to explore how a pie can transgress from being "[...] a splendidly convenient way of eating meat in gravy [...]" (85) to being a sweet dish which contains abundances of sugar and syrup. With the apple pies being an American recipe, like other American traditions it wasn't long before the recipe had reached England. Wikipedia claims, the pie was "first referenced in the year 1589, in Menaphon by poet R. Greene: "thy breath is like the steeme of apple pies". With the pie being a worldwide dish, this spin on the savoury option proved popular in the years to follow. There are numerous recipe's for sweet pies in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, (1861) Beeton claims in the opening to her chapter on 'General Observations on Pudding and Pastry', that "[a]lthough from puddings to pastry is a big step, it requires a higher degree of art to make one than to make the other" (259). Beeton follows this observation by claiming that, " [...] the next step was to inclose cream, fruit, and marmalade's; and the next, to build pyramids and castles; when the summit of the art of the pastry-cook may be supposed to have been achieved" (259). 

image from Google Images

From Beeton's language it is evident that during the nineteenth century the creation of the sweet pie was considered to be an art. At the end of the quote above, there is a sense of sarcasm in Beeton's tone. With her manual addressing everything from the way in which women behave, run their household and organize parties there is a sense in her tone that with the fruit pies comes a new expectation for cooks; the peas pudding pie will no longer be good enough. This cultural shift into Americanized sweet pies boomed in the 1950's with the rise of advertising and Britain's attempt at creating the great housewife. Significantly, in 1968 McDonald's released their fried apple pie into their chain of fast food restaurants. Not only does the pie become sweet at this point, but it becomes significantly unhealthy. This concept is something that interests me greatly as it is something that I struggled to comprehend whilst considering pie, mash and liquor as a fast food. To me, this Americanized version of a British favourite is the pinnacle of what fast food is. It is fried, overly sweet and extremely unhealthy. It is through McDonald's creation of the fried pie that I was really able to see the shift that pies had taken in the Western world. Pies were longer a means of eating meat and gravy without a fork, but pies were experimental dishes which could switch from savoury too sweet with the incorporation of fruit and sugar. 

Throughout this blog, I have looked at the works of Beeton, Ayrton, White and Hartley and the fruit pie is evident in all of their recipe books. In Household Management Beeton goes as far as detailing the methods needed to make these different types of pastry. Through the layout of both Beeton and Dorothy Hartley's books it becomes apparent that the details a woman's working day is far more important than giving any recipes. For example, Dorothy Hartley writes, "First in the morning when thou art waked and purporest to ryse, lyft up thy hands and thee and make a sign of holy cross [...]" (308). From Hartley’s language is becomes ever more apparent that in order to be a cook, one must be a good woman. The reason I have chosen to explore Hartley's views alongside my discussion of the sweet pie, is to present the differences in the female cook from Hartley's writing, in comparison to the 1950's poster which is attached above. Indeed, during the 40's and 50's cooking was considered as fashionable and a woman's duty. Whereas the view that Hartley creates in the opening to her book is that in order to be a good cook, one must first be a holy woman. It is through the layout of these traditional cookbooks and through the mixture of both sweet and savoury that I would suggest that the true essence of a pie has been lost. 

Whilst exploring the transition from the sweet to the savoury pie, I decided that I would follow one of my grandmother's apple pie recipes. It wasn't until I spoke to my mum and told her that I was creating this blog, did she talk me through what I needed to do. For some reason, I was told that I wasn't allowed to upload the recipe, I think it is some sort of secret. Growing up, my mum always made apple pies and cherry pies, but as I have made clear, I don't like sweet pies so it's something that I have never really focused on. But nevertheless, I decided that I would make the pie and see if I could change my own opinion on the over rated sweet pie. 

Here are the steps I took in order to create the pie... 

I began by peeling and
coring cooking apples

Once the apples were peeled
I left them in water so that they
wouldn't brown 

         

I added butter, flour and
baking soda to a bowl and
began needing it by hand
to form a dough

Once the pastry was kneaded
I formed a ball ready to roll  

I began to roll out the pastry
so that it was big enough to cover
the dish

I laid the pastry over
the rolling pin
and rolled the pastry
over the dish to form
the bottom pastry. This method
had to be repeated twice in
order to make the top and bottom
pastry

Once the dish was covered
I pushed it firmly, ensuring
that all of the sides were sealed

My focus then shifted to cooking
the apples, I placed them on a
hot ring and added a small amount water
along with Caster sugar to caramelize
the apples

I then evenly laid the apples
over the base of the pie

I placed lines of pastry
over the pie to make the pie look nice
and egg washed the pastry, I then
placed the pie in the oven to cook

After much hard work, this was my end result: 

Seeing as I had worked hard to create the pie, I thought I had to taste it. Even after cooking the pie and it smelling amazing, I just didn't like it. What I'm learning about myself through the scope of this blog is that I don't like change. I don't like the sweet pie, for me a pie should be wholesome, meaty and filled with rich gravy. Not sticky, sweet and filled with caramelized apples. 



Works Cited:

Ayrton, Elisabeth. The Cookery of England. 1974. Andre Duetsch Limited. BAS Printers Limited. London. Print.

Beeton, Mrs. Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Oxford World Classics. Great Britain. 1861. Print. 

Wikpedia. ‘Apple Pie’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_pie. Web. 01/04/2015

What is the pudding pie? Does the traditional pie still exist?

image from Google images

Initially, trying to differentiate between the pudding and the pie was very difficult but I think I have discovered that the difference is a pudding is made with suet whereas a pie is made with pastry. Suet is beef or mutton fat which tends to be found around the kidneys of the animal. I think the reason that Suet replaces pastry in the pudding recipe, is to create a much heavier and denser taste. Plus with the taste of the beef being already in the suet, it makes the pudding tastier. After researching the purpose of suet, it would seem that the reason it has disappeared from many pie recipes is because of the availability of ingredients such as oil and butter. It was originally used because suet can hold more liquids than pastry; hence the steak and kidney steamed pudding.   Below is an image that I found of a suet pudding recipe.

image found on www.food.com

The image that is displayed of this "Traditional Beef Steamed Savoury Pudding” is somewhat unappealing. The dish looks heavy and gloopy, just from looking at the image my stomach questions its ability to digest such a stodgy looking pie. It’s not just through the shift from pastry to suet and from savoury to sweet but pies are becoming multicultural, ingredients are no longer just meat and gravy. Recently, I visited a restaurant in Kidderminster and I had the most bizarre eating experience. The blog has clearly outlined my love of pies, so it was no surprise that I ordered a pie, but this pie was like none I had ever tasted before. I ordered the "Mexi-Bomb Pie". 

Not only did the ingredients subvert my expectations of what would be in a pie, but the entire meal as a whole was very strange. The pie was served with rice, nachos, soured cream and salsa. As much as I enjoyed the Mexican spices that were in the pie, it was a very strange eating experience. I am used to eating pies with mashed potatoes, vegetables and gravy. But this pie was fun, different and very spicy. Through my personal experience with the "Mexi-Bomb Pie" and the image of the suet pudding, I wanted to question what makes a pie a pie at all? Now for me, the pie is a pastry dish with a base, two sides and a lid which contains a filling. But my idea of a pie becomes somewhat distorted when considering dishes such as the Cottage or Shepard's pie. Wikipedia claims that, "In early cook books, the dish was a means of using leftover roasted meat of any kind, and the pie dish was lined with mashed potato as well as having a mashed potato crust on top". From Wikipedia's definition, I have discovered that a pie doesn't necessarily refer to a pastry dish which contains a filing, but instead a pie is an object which surrounds a middle filling.

Pies can contain any ingredients; pies can be made with pastry, suet, mash and so much more. I suppose I would argue that there is no traditional pie anymore; pies are made to suit different types of people. The people who like spice, the people who like rich tasting meat, even people that enjoy a sweet treat. But for me, the pie will always be the best when it served with mash and liquor. 



Works Cited:

Wikipedia. ‘Cottage Pie’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottage_pie. Web. 01/04/15

Traditional pie and mash versus tourist pie and mash...

Image sourced from Google maps

It is clear to see that Pie and mash has indeed become a trend again and the taste of London that tourists long to try. It is the difference in tourist pie and mash, and pie and mash for the Londoner which interests me. Arments, the Pie shop I have been visiting for years is set just off a back street of Walworth Road in South East London. The shop is traditional in its ways, with wooden benches and long tables. On busy days customers share tables just to indulge in their meals. The beauty about this pie shop's location is that it is a hidden gem, there is very little to visit on the road, meaning that customers have to be aware of the shops location before they visit. As can be seen from the map the shop is set off a main road surrounded by residential properties. Arments closest competition is Manze's on Tower Bridge Road, which is equally as traditional in its serving of the dish. Growing up in  Bermondsey where these shops are located has caused a great divide in the area. On a Saturday, society splits. Some go to Arments and the other's go to Manze’s. What they have in common, is their destination at their favourite pie shop. It is the making of the pies and the layout of these traditional shops which allows me to question the purpose of high end pie and mash shops, such as those located in tourist areas such as Greenwich. On my exploration into this Cockney dish, I discovered a posh little shop in Greenwich. I ordered what I would normally order and the difference in the dish was remarkable. 

The dish looked amazing. The lid was made of thick puff pastry, the filling was chunks of beef drenched in rich beef gravy. The liquor was thick and the taste of Parsley was rich and detectable. The mash was mash. Again, it wasn't made as lovingly as it would have been in a mother’s kitchen and it lacked butter and milk, but it was mashed potato nonetheless, served perfectly in scoops. I wasn't keen on this. For me, I felt like the dish was trying to be made posh. I have to admit that upon visiting the shop, there were both Londoners and tourists indulging, so my opinion can only speak for my own experience. I felt that this London dish was trying to be sold as something that it isn't. On the menu which ran the length of the back wall, the choices were endless. There was the option to have gravy, beans and even a thick chunked steak pie. I never knew that this Cockney favourite could be so diverse. There was something about being in this shop, which made me feel like I couldn't enjoy my favourite dish in the way that I wanted to. I couldn't flip it over, cut it and fill it with chilli vinegar, this was a posh shop and people in posh shops don't eat pies like that. The image to the right shows one of the many advertising boards outside of this shop located in Greenwich, like I have mentioned before there is an obvious emphasis on the British element to this traditional cockney dish. What I believe shops like this try to achieve, is the tourist element. It is less about the generations of customers that have visited the shop, but more about the tourists who feel the need to try a uniquely British dish. The emphasis that this shop puts upon the 'British' dish is most enthralling. As I will unravel later this dish is not necessarily British, but it is a dish which is unique to London. Outside of London, there are few if not no pie and mash shops. It is this sense of London that I love, I feel like I enjoy a secret meal, with secret ingredients, on a secret backstreet. 

Image taken from Google Images

Here is a video of how the pies are made in Arments... 

The History of Pie, Mash and Liquor...

Despite it typically being an East end dish, the cockney favourite, Pie, Mash and Liquor has undoubtedly been a huge influence in my appreciation and desire for good home cooking. I have been eating pie and mash for as long as I can remember, the same shop, the same place and the same delicious recipe. I decided that I would go and interview Roy Arment, the now owner of Arments and question why he feels the cockney favourite is just as, if not more popular than it was one hundred years ago... 

After speaking to Roy Arment and questioning the popularity of the London favourite, he suggested that pie and mash was popular "comfort food" and it was the taste of "home" for many people. Now with Arments being passed down for generations, the family run business has a secret pie recipe which is at the heart of Arments success. Of course he wouldn't tell me the pie recipe but Roy claimed that a huge part of Arments success is down to "trends" and "family traditions". This family tradition that Roy suggests pushes the popularity of Arments is something that I can relate to. During the interview, Roy turned to my mother and laughed about the memories he had playing with her as a child. Roy also remembers me from a young age and how I was weaned onto mash and liquor until I was eventually brave enough to face the pie. Growing up I always felt a sense of achievement for eating the whole of my meal. The starchy potatoes alongside the dense pastry and parsley liquor made the meal a battle to complete as a child. One of my fondest childhood memories was me trying to stretch my belly to eat what my parents and big brother ate. Being the youngest and the smallest, I always had a bit of my mum’s pie with my own mash and liquor, but now I can conquer double pie and mash, and stupidly this makes me feel like the rest of my family. It's this memory which makes pie and mash so central to my family life and my roots of being in London.

How I eat my favourite meal

There's a specific way that I eat pie and mash. Firstly, I flip the pie over so the lid is on the bottom and the base faces upwards. Because the base is so soft compared to the lid, I make an incision on the pie and pull the base slightly apart. From there, I fill the pie with chilli vinegar and loads of pepper. Only once these stages have been completed can I even contemplate eating the meal. It is the meal itself which interests me so much. Considering I'm a rather fussy eater, I don't know why I enjoy pie and mash so much. The mash isn't made with butter or milk, the liquor doesn't really taste of anything and I always fill the pie with chilli vinegar which changes the taste anyway. My only logical answer for my love of this traditional dish is because as a child I was weaned on to it. What I find amazing is the passion for the dish that is in London itself. When I first met my boyfriend three years ago, he was eighteen. I took him to Arments hoping he would love it as much as me, and instead he thought it was horrid. He couldn't understand why nothing had been seasoned. It is this which has made me realize that the pie itself changes in different parts of the country. I have to admit that the idea of a northern pudding doesn't sound appetizing. It sounds heavy and doughy, but the cockney pie however, completely serves its purpose. It is this fascination with the hidden recipe of the pie that I want to look at a little bit more...

The Medieval Pie and Sour Sugar

A love of pies has always been apparent in British food culture. Traditionally, the pie recipe was created before the use of cutlery. The purpose of the pie was to be rich, nourishing and easy to eat with the fingers. Elisabeth Ayrton’s The Cookery of England (1974) opens its chapter on pies by writing that, "[t]he meat pie attained its full perfection only in England and holds its pride of place from the middle ages until the nineteenth century" (85). The "pride" that Ayrton discusses is interesting when considering the evolution of pies and their constant changing ingredients. Throughout her cookbook, Ayrton attempts to recreate and establish new recipes for the medieval pie; Considering this idea of the medieval pie and the origins of the infamous food item, Chef Heston Blumenthal filmed a documentary on his recreation of the medieval pie. 

The opening page to Aryton's chapter on "Pies"

In the opening to the video when Heston begins talking about the pigeon pie, he reads his recipe from the very book which is being discussed in this post. During the video when Heston mentions taking the pies to a tasting at a football match, he comments on how people are "used to such low pie standards". It’s comical that Heston comments on the standards within today’s society, when Ayrton herself comments on the unappealing taste of the medieval pie. Ayrton establishes that, "I have faithfully made Gervase Mackham's Chicken Pye, and it is very sweet , rather too rich with butter, and all flavour of the chicken is lost" (86). Later on in her discussion of the Medieval pie Ayrton addresses the struggles that modern cooks faces with the strange notion of adding sugar and currents to supposedly savoury recipes. 

It is through this removal of a method in Ayrton's writing that I might suggest that Ayrton assumed that her readers would be uninterested in trying the traditional recipe. Upon reading it’s evident that there are moments in the opening to the chapter that Ayrton attempts to evoke disgust among her readers. One way in which Ayrton achieves this is by listing the innards of the animals which traditionally made their way into British recipes. One suggestion as to why Ayrton includes this pre-history to the pie before presenting her own recipes is firstly to provide the reader with a knowledge of what they're eating, but my assumption is that she includes these disgusting recipe's in order to make her own seem more  appealing.

The struggle between sweet and savoury that Ayrton discusses in the opening to her cookbook is one that I can relate with. Personally, the thought of a mince pie for example is completely disgusting; the combination of both sweet and savoury disturbs my taste buds greatly. The pie is neither a sweet, nor a savoury dish; it is sometimes served with cream and sometimes served with potatoes. What has become apparent from Ayrton and Heston's dishes is that the pie is complex; it is neither one thing nor another. The pie is not a dessert, nor is it just to be served with potatoes and gravy. It is so much more than that...





Works Cited: 

Ayrton, Elisabeth. The Cookery of England. 1974. Andre Duetsch Limited. BAS Printers Limited. London. Print. 

Blumenthal, Heston. Youtube. 'Heston's Pigeon Pie'. May 10th 2010. Web. 01/04/15. 

Introduction: Is the Pie Britain's Best Dish?

The pie is quite literally the taste of Britain; it represents all that is British. From the pastry which is delicately made to the various fillings which are put inside; the pie really is a national dish. I've decided to focus on the history of the pie because to me the burnt upper crust of a pie is the warming taste of home. Having grown up in South East London, almost every Saturday throughout my childhood was spent in the traditional Pie, Mash and Liquor shop. Pie and mash has been a family favourite of ours for generations, it is the glue that holds our family together. No matter where we end up, we always return home for the comfort food that we so strongly desire. Similarly to how side pastry of the pie keeps the filling in, pie and mash is the glue that holds our family together and reminds us of the taste of London. This blog will look through the history of the pie and why some might say that it is Britain’s best dish. What I aim to question throughout this blog is the divide in tastes which separate us nationally. Despite having family completely spread out our love for traditional cockney food still exists. Nationally, there are big differences in the way in which pies are enjoyed. For example, there's the Cornish pasty, the pudding pie, Sheppard's pie and the rich taste of the mince and onion pie.  I’ll be looking at medieval pies and the use of currents and sugar in pie recipe’s and then question how the pie has evolved. Should a pie be called a pie if it has mashed potato on top? Is an apple pie really the same as rich meat pie with gravy? Now the story of the pie can begin…