Pie
“The First Law of Pies: 'No Pastry, No Pie.'” Janet Clarkson
I'm dithering again, not only about what to write about but also about what to cook for my Sunday guests. It's cold and wet and windy weather and so thoughts turn yet again to comfort food. And because we had recently been to Ballarat where there is a pie competition in process I pondered on pie. Why - well as usual Nigel Slater tells us why.
"It is pie weather. A damp, misty morning followed by a dark evening. A sudden need for crisp pastry soaked on one side with sauce or gravy from a pie. It can be an open one with a creamy filling and a soft undercrust, or a pie with a pastry top, its face golden, its underside soaked in the filling." Nigel Slater
However, I am also pretty short of time for this party and pies are a bit time-consuming, so in the end I decided to go for a comforting stew instead - with mash - I won't tell my husband and besides he will be happy with bread to soak up the juices - like the French. I'm going to try once more for the beef, carrot and black olive stew I remember from my time in the Jura.
But back to pie, because Nigel Slater is right - it's the contrast of crisp pastry and creamy filling isn't it? Well maybe not. First define pie.
Is Janet Clarkson right and should there, indeed be pastry? There are lots of dishes called 'pie' that don't have any pastry on top - some people call tarts pies - I think pumpkin pie and pecan pie are tarts really. So is lemon meringue pie. Then there are the pies that have no pastry at all - Shepherd's pie, Cottage pie, Fish pie. There are probably others. I think I'm with Janet Clarkson though - a pie has to have pastry - all over the filling - on top, on the bottom and round the sides. I saw someone say that those pies that consist of casserole in a dish with puff pastry on top are not really pie either. Well actually I think that in some cases this kind of pie could be called a pie, but probably not if you are a purist. No it has to have pastry all round. There is apple pie and apple tart and they are two quite different things.
But is a pasty a pie or is one of those middle-eastern filo pastries stuffed with cheese, or spinach or both? What about b'stilla? They have the pastry all around after all. But somehow they're not quite pies are they? I wonder if the Ballarat competition had rules about the pastry. As far as I can see they don't quite. What they have is this:
"each venue's pie must feature three local ingredients, and must be true to type and be served as a plated meal."
I have to say I have a couple of problems about this. One - what does 'true to type' mean? Hugely vague is all I can say to that statement. What does 'type' mean? I think they need a bit more definition here and maybe they do in the detailed instructions to the competitors. Also why does it have to be served as a plated meal? This eliminates a few places - like bakeries - that would otherwise be able to compete I would think. And here in Australia the traditional meat pie is not something that is a plated meal. You buy it heated up and served in a paper bag, preferably squirted through the lid with tomato sauce. Whether you like it or not it's definitely traditional and definitely what most Australians would think of as pie. Not the three Ballarat competitors shown below:
The first one, from a Vietnamese restaurant has no pastry at all - it's wrapped in banana leaf instead.
As for the plated - well several of them seem to have pretty minimal plating - here's a couple of them: The on on the right is really just served in a dish and then put on a plate - which presumable means it's plated.
Put it on a plate and dob a few leaves and a bit of chutney there too and it's plated.
This is the one we could have had at the art gallery - it's a coq au vin pie. I did think about it, but it was just too big for me for lunch, knowing that I was going out to dinner in the evening.
But please do not think I am criticising the pies, and I guess it's to the credit of the organisers that they haven't made it so difficult that imagination and innovation are repressed. I think it's an interesting idea.
I'm afraid I can't tell you the winners. For there is a critics prize and a people's prize - you can eat your way around Ballarat by testing them all - and I think there is also a prize for the apprentices at Federation University. But the competition doesn't end until July - so the lucky people of Ballarat have until then to eat their way through the 20 competition pies. It's a very interesting focus for the Plate Up Ballarat Food Festival which not only draws attention to various Ballarat eating places but also to local produce. It gives the locals a chance to taste the best that Ballarat can offer.
But back to pies in general.
Does a pie have to be hot? No I don't think so. I mean to the English the three archetypal pies are steak and kidney pie (hot), apple and blackberry pie (hot or cold) and pork pies, the perfect picnic food (cold). I do miss them a lot. You can get them here but you have to search around a bit. And they're not the same. And when I think about it I do think it's more the pastry not the filling that is the thing.
One day I'm going to have a go at making my own.
And they are one of those all-time great comfort foods aren't they?
“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.” David Mamet
Mind you I think there's a bit of stress involved in eating an Australian meat pie without burning your mouth and getting the filling all over your clothes.
"I ate another apple pie and ice cream; that’s practically all I ate all the way across the country, I knew it was nutritious and it was delicious, of course.” Jack Kerouac
Maybe it reminded him of home. I did see one commentator remark that pie in America seems to be largely a sweet thing. No surprises there.
“The homemade pie has been under siege for a century, and surely its survival is endangered.” Janet Clarkson
Janet Clarkson wrote a whole book on the subject of pie. For it seems that, in England at least, pies have fallen out of favour somewhat, although there now seems to be a pie renaissance - at least in posh restaurants. Whether it will make it back into the mainstream I don't know. And probably people don't make them at home. They think it's too hard. (And maybe pork pies are - it involves aspic). Making pastry is thought of as hard, though these days with electric mixers and processors it's almost stupidly easy. I suppose there's a tiny bit of work in putting the pastry into the pie dish and getting the pie out, but these days you can even get springform pie tins which makes that a breeze too. Interesting that with many things foodie, at the same time as technology has made it all a whole lot easier, people perceive it to be difficult. So keep cooking at home, or your children and grandchildren will have no nostalgic memories of mum or grandma cooking that will make them want to cook too. Pass your kitchen know-how on. They love it.
“We have been careless with our pie repertoire. The demise of apple-pear pie with figs and saffron and orengeado pies are tragic losses.” Janet Clarkson
Jane Grigson was a bit of a pie and tart aficionado, but she too is now hopelessly old-fashioned. Like me - and look - I have chickened out of making pie too. Maybe another day.
