Pie: From coffyn to pastry

December 1st is National Pie Day. Pie as in the round crusty dessert, not the irrational number which is spelled pi. Pie by definition is a baked dish at least topped with and sometimes also surrounded by pastry. Pies are filled with fruits, custard, vegetables or meats and come in all sizes from handheld, individual servings to multiple servings. Pies also come with a single crust on top or just a bottom crust or as a double crust with a crust on top and bottom or as a handheld enclosed pie that is small enough to hold and is often just a piece of a crust folded over the filling and sealed onto itself.

Pie began its early life sometime in 1300 BC and was a flat, round crust filled with honey called a galette. These galettes developed into a form of early sweet pastry. A tablet from early Mesopotamia included a mention of a chicken pie. But the more traditional pie we think of is most often credited to Ancient Greece in the 5th Century BC with the earliest mentions of confections including small pastries filled with fruit. Early Romans used a thin, plain pastry dough made of just oil, water and flour to cover their poultry or pork when cooking to keep the juices in, much like we use aluminum foil today. It was then discarded. They also made a richer pastry used to serve eggs or little birds at individual place settings. Romans were the first to use a crust on top and bottom of the filling.

Pies continued to grow in popularity as they were easy to cook over a fire and ovens were too expensive to be readily available in the 12th Century AD. Some crusts were thicker and were just a box the filling was served in. These crusts were often too hard to be eaten though and had to be broken to get to the filling. These crusts were called coffyns.

Pies in the 1400’s often included songbirds such as pigeons, crows and even peacocks but were sweetened. The expression ‘eat crow’ was started during this time. Tarts were also created during this era. They were fruit in crust but unsweetened as sugar was too expensive to be commonplace at this time. Pies all the way up to the mid-15th Century were expected to include meat or fish.

Custard and dried fruit pies were created in the late 15th Century. Fresh fruit pies didn’t appear until the 16th Century. It wasn’t until the 18th Century that sweetmeat pies began to lose favor. There began to be unsweetened alternatives for meat pies and the popularity of savory pies soared even further, as long as the pie was done right.

The pilgrims brought their pie recipes with them to North America. They then began using North American common ingredients to alter them to what was available, often with guidance from the indigenous people. Pot pies were created as a way of making a more filling pie as meats were not the same as where they came from. Throwing vegetables into what was mostly a meat pie made them more palatable to the pilgrims until they got used to the meats. Pies became more refined with every new immigrant that came to America, each bringing their own recipes and tweaking what already existed with what they enjoyed, changing them each time until we have the pies we bake today.

This week, I went half savory and half sweet. I will say though while Frito Pie is not technically a pie by definition. Best I can guess is it’s called a pie for ease in saying and because it is layered kinda like a pie with the Fritos making the crust. No one really knows why it’s called pie, but I used it anyway. Make your grocery list and pick up some pie crusts. Then, meet me in the kitchen for easy, delicious pies!