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Pies are recognised and baked all over the world in many shapes, forms and sizes, but many languages offer no exact translation of the word; this leads food historians to believe that pies evolved in Europe, especially in northern regions. When I first came to write on the subject, every book I own on the subject of British food history is littered with references to pies dating back to Medieval times, but in other books of global culinary history they occur only as introduced dishes. In Larousse Gastronomique under the entry for “pie”, it reads: “The French have adopted the word for the classic British and American pies”. I like to deduce from my research, therefore, that the pie, is a very British dish, which we have shared with our cousins across the Atlantic Ocean! Pies are also popular in Australia and New Zealand.

Pies of old were primarily a means to cook, keep and transport an assortment of fillings – the tough, dough casing was never eaten. It is thought that the word pie (pâté in Medieval English) has an ornithological derivation and comes from magpie – a bird with the habit of collecting things. There are many historical references to pies of old throughout culinary history. As with many familiar things, pies can also be dated back to the Egyptians.

Humble pie dates back to Medieval times. Now a common saying, it evolved in households where the folk at the top of the pecking order would get the prime cuts, and the poor workers would get a pie full of entrails and offal – you’ll find my version of this recipe inside this book. Cornish tin miners used to carry a pastry with savoury mixture at one end and fruit or jam (jelly) at the other in a roughly honed dough which was discarded once the insides were eaten – this was the original Cornish pasty. It was during the times of the Tudors, that pastry, or paste as it was known then, really became part of the dish called “pie”. Eggs were added as well as cold fats like butter and suet, and a more refined wheat flour was used for baking. Standing pies, like our raised pies of today, sound truly magnificent – like pieces of art you could actually eat. Pastry animals, birds, leaves and foliage were embossed or stuck all over the outside – just like we do today with our (crude in comparison) pastry cutters, and the patterns on the outside often depicted the filling within. For banquets and feasts heraldic emblems, coats of arms and other family emblems were also used as edible decor.

Shortcrust pastry recipes were recorded as early as 1545, but it wasn’t for another 50 years or so that flakier recipes started to appear written down. I’ve often wondered how puff pastry was first discovered – did someone forget to add the fat to the dough and then try to incorporate it afterwards?

It has been recorded that flaky pastry was an Arabic invention of around 1500. At the same time the Turkish were making filo (phyllo meaning leaf) sheet pastries for savoury and sweet dishes, and their rule over parts of Eastern Europe meant that this pastry was adapted by the Hungarians and Austrians to make their strudels.

By the end of the sixteenth century, pastry was widely made and eaten all over the world. The first American pie recipes began to appear in the late eighteenth century where fat was rubbed into the flour for a fine texture and some rolled in to give a good flaky crust. American pies are most usually bottom-crust only, which the British often refer to as a tart. Rarely have pies gone out of fashion and with our renewed enthusiasm for baking, comfort food and getting back in the kitchen, we’re all cooking like never before and pies are everywhere!