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