Let Them Eat....Pies

It was National Pie Day the other day, a day that is set aside to bake and cook all of your favorite pies. At least that is what the American Pie Council wants us to believe. It's one of many "days" that promote the sale or use of something. They make life a little more interesting, sort of like the ice cream you put on top of the apple pie you eat. Every January on National Pie day there is contest held in the U.S. to select the best pies, a wholly subjective task.

Say "pie" to people and most immediately think of sweet pies. Apple pie is the favorite of most Americans and has been for decades. But pies can be savory instead of sweet. Any food that is topped with a dough of some sort. The strange thing is that in my travels I am rarely surprised by what is in a pie. They seem universal and differ more in name than in the ingredients. Maybe because pie is a simple dish it is recognizable almost everywhere a person goes.

Take the meat pie as an example. Every culture has some kind of dish that is a dough wrapped around a meat filling. The insides and spices may be different, the dough varies, but they are all the same basic dish. Maybe you recognize the names of some of those meat pies. They include: Pasty pie, Meat pie, Steak and kidney pie, Chicken pot pie, pork pie etc. One that I like to make is Shepherd's pie. That is a lamb based meat pie topped not with dough, but with mashed potatoes.

I can't say what the best pie I ever ate is because there are too many I have eaten to remember the best one. It's probably a sweet one though. I love sweets. But we have one version of a meat pie that is very good too. The grandmas aren't passing down pie recipes to the kids anymore because granny has left the kitchen and is more often sitting in front of the computer than baking a pie. Just as fast food is killing home cooked dinner, it's also killing pie baking. The whole world seems to be moving toward eating professionally cooked food more often than home cooked dishes. The comfort food we eat like pie might be one of the first favorites to disappear from the home kitchen.

I have rambled on at length about "nothing". I guess I am "full of it". But I would rather be full of pie