The Not-So-Humble Pie

I was standing in the bakery of a large supermarket the other day waiting for two loaves of bread to be sliced. Savoury pies were flying off their shelves like hot cakes. A few days later I observed the same trend in the bakery of a convenient shop at a service station.

Everyone who is anyone seems to buy ready made pies for lunch and dinner and also as a snack. I would not be surprised if pies are one of the most popular fast and convenient foods in our and perhaps many other countries.

It is as if we live in world trapped in the middle of a pie explosion. And I am not referring to the bog standard chicken or meat pie. No, the options are staggering: Hamburger pie; bobotie pie; Russian pie; pies with cheese, and pies without cheese. Any and everything seems to be used a pie filling these days. It is the ultimate convenient food.

Once prepared, it can be frozen raw. It thus stores well. Once defrosted and baked, it can be kept warm for a substantive period of time which means it is always ready for the hungry take-away customer.

Pies have been around for almost as long as we figured out how to make dough. Historians reckon the Egyptians made rustic free form pies today known as ‘galettes’ from flour made from oat, wheat, rye and/or barley with honey as filling.

These pies were baked over hot coals (which I suppose made them the first ‘braai pie’ which seems to be all the rage in some circles at the moment). Numerous cookbooks with pie recipes were published in Europe during the 16th century. It was most likely the Greeks, who established pies in Europe and the Romans, who spread it to all corners of the continent during their conquest. Back then, pies were by no means convenient or fast food. It was the food of royalty and nobility.

Modern day fillings, even though comprehensive and eclectic, do not seem to hold a candle to the pie fillings of yesteryear. ‘An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the Thirteenth Century’ contains the following recipe for tortoise or mullet pie: “Simmer the tortoises lightly in water with salt, then remove from the water and take a little murri, pepper, cinnamon, a little oil, onion juice, cilantro and a little saffron; beat it all with eggs and arrange the tortoises and the mullets in the pie and throw over it the filling. The pastry for the pie should be kneaded strongly, and kneaded with some pepper and oil, and greased, when it is done, with the eggs and saffron”.

Other animated pies contained 24 black birds, rabbits, frogs, turtles, and even small people (dwarfs). Such ‘live fillings’ would escape and as such ‘entertain’ the guests once the pies were cut. Often such animation pies were part of royal events.

During Charles V (1364 to 1380), King of France’s reign, chefs participated in royal events by creating ‘soteltie’ or ‘subtilty’. These were elaborate food ornaments included with troubadours, acrobats, dancers and performers for the evening. No king wanted his guests to be bored between courses.

One source recounts such a ‘wow’ pie moment: “England’s King Charles I (1600 to 1649) and 15-year-old Queen Henrietta Maria (1609 to 1669) passed through Rutland and were being entertained at a banquet being given in their honour by the Duke and Dutchess of Buckingham. At the dinner, an enormous crust-covered pie was brought before the royal couple. Before the queen could cut into the pie, the crust began to rise and from the pie emerged a tiny man, perfectly proportioned boy, but only 18 inches tall, named Jeffrey Hudson. Hudson, seven years old and the smallest human being that anyone had ever seen, dressed in a suit of miniature armour, climbed out of a gilded pastry pie, stood shyly on the table in front of the queen and bowed low. Hudson was later dubbed Lord Minimus”.

In more modern times, the English emerged as Europe’s most important pie-nation. Early English pies included cottage pie and shepherd’s pie, both of which are made with potato crusts, and more recently we have fallen in love with Cornish pies.

The pie became a global phenomenon via British colonialism, first to the USA and later to the rest of colonies including southern Africa.

In my book, only a few things beat a well-made, hearty home-made pie for comfort food. Conversely, it can be the most unappetising, even disgusting fast food dish there is. I had some springbok shanks and kidneys in my fridge from a recent hunting trip and when the mood took me, I stuffed this and a few other ingredients into a generous (but dwarfless) pie.

Bon appetit!

• 750 grams springbok shank, diced into

3cm cubes

• 250 grams springbok kidneys, diced into

3cm cubes

• 1 medium yellow onion, finely sliced

• 150 grams mushrooms (button or whatever

is available), diced

• 100 grams leeks, finely sliced

• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley

• 600 mililitres Weissen beer

• 2 teaspoons English mustard

• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

• 2 bay leaves

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