[Zoot]

Rant Time

We had a meal in a posh restaurant on Saturday. I ordered the homemade steak and ale pie served with seasonal veg and gravy. All good.
When it arrived I discovered it wasn't a pie at all, but a dish of meat filling with a pastry circle stuck on top - my pie had no sides!
If I bought a shed I'd expect it to come with walls, so why not my pie? You just know that they just ladeled in the filling, placed a pre-made lid on it then served it. Thats not a pie


Thats a pie

(P.S - little tip for the future - Never go to Google Images and google the word 'Pie' at work like I just did...)

[MK Chris]

Ah, you mean the puff pastry lid? Yeah, I've had that a couple of times.

Like this, but with a different filling:


It is rather lazy.

[Yudster]

See, I like both kinds of pie. If I had to choose which of those two to eat though I'd go with Topher's one. Looks like chicken and leek filling maybe. Zoot's looks nice too.

[MK Chris]

The image URL suggests fish pie.

I do like the puff pastry top as well to be fair, but it does seem a bit lazy not to do the puff pastry all the way round. I have heard traditionalists moan about it before.

Also:

little tip for the future - Never go to Google Images and google the word 'Pie' at work like I just did...

You can change your Google Safe Search (and other) preferences here.

[Yudster]

Yep, fish pie - I can believe that. I love fish pie, but for me it should have a mashed potato crust not a pastry one.

Puff pastry is really only any good for pie tops - you can use it for "whole" pies, but it tends to get soggy and not really work too well in large meaty pies. Its ok for small pies, like mince pies. The point about puff pastry is that it puffs up into all the layers and is light and crispy - if you use it for sides and bottoms of pies, well, whats the point? And you can't mix short and puff pastry, I think that wouldn't work too well.

[S4B]

It always annoys me when pies don't have sides. You should have stuck to a chip shop Zooty!

[catherine]

Stop moaning, it takes too long.

[S4B]

Moaning doesn't take long at all Cat! Pies should be pies, with pastry all the way round!

[catherine]

I'm saying, trying to make 50 pies, which are all individual portions, would take too long. You only have 3 hours of prepping and cooking time before service.

[S4B]

Well then they shouldn't be advertised as pies should they!?

[Munki Bhoy]

The image URL suggests fish pie.

I do like the puff pastry top as well to be fair, but it does seem a bit lazy not to do the puff pastry all the way round. I have heard traditionalists moan about it before.

Also:

little tip for the future - Never go to Google Images and google the word 'Pie' at work like I just did...

You can change your Google Safe Search (and other) preferences here.

Doesn't always work. Google safe search tends to be on by default, yet an innocent image search on the company I work for's name brings up a scuddy painting.

Which has made many of us here laugh heartily.

[Munki Bhoy]

Moaning doesn't take long at all Cat! Pies should be pies, with pastry all the way round!

I should say I agree. That's not a pie, it's meat with a hat.

[MK Chris]

It's not foolproof, no, but it is better than having it off and the only reason I mentioned it is that I searched 'pie' with the SafeSearch filter set to 'moderate' and nothing untoward was returned.

[S4B]

Moaning doesn't take long at all Cat! Pies should be pies, with pastry all the way round!

I should say I agree. That's not a pie, it's meat with a hat.

Hahahaha! There you go Cat - "Meat with a Hat" on your menu please.

[catherine]

If you read the description underneath food titles on a menu then you would gather which one it is from, as Yudster has said, whether it is puff pastry or short crust pastry. If it is short crust pastry I doubt they made it from scratch not unless they did a few big ones and cut you a slice, but that wouldn't look as good.

[S4B]

But it would taste better! I love pastry.

[MK Chris]

Pies with puff pastry tops do tend to taste nice though (of course it depends on the filling and how well it's done.)

[TIAL]

I'm in total agreement with Zoot. That really annoys me!
I've made one or two pies before and always line the pie dish with pastry, otherwise it wouldn't be a pie - just a stew with a pastry lid.

[MK Chris]

just a stew with a pastry lid.

Not unless the filling has been stewed.

[S4B]

And if it hasn't been stewed it's probably just boiled beef and vegetables in gravy!

[Yudster]

Tell you what should happen - every restaurant and food outlet in the country should contact every one of us and ask us to specify our own personal definition of a pie, and then they should word their menus accordingly.

You people are being very silly.

[Andy B]

There's a place near my missus parents' house which does the best pies. Award winning no less. Every time they visit they always bring a stack of them. I'm addicted to the damn things. Oh and they are proper pies with pastry all the way round.

[foot-loose]

Can I just say that I don't like pie.

[MK Chris]

*drool*

[Yudster]

Eeeew, looks like Foots' elephant has been at it.