British Pie Week - 5 to 11 March

Jus Roll and producer of ready made pastry is holding a special
pie week. But home made is SO much better !

There are many types of pastry for sweet and savoury fillings:

Short Crust    (for savoury or sweet fillings)

Flaky or Puff   (for savoury or sweet fillings)

Hot water       (mostly used for pork pies)

Sweet            (desserts and sweet fillings)
Choux            (for eclairs and profiteroles)

Phyllo            (difficult to make - buy it ready made!)

The history of pastry has been little explored. Pastry of a sort was known to both Greek and Roman civilisations, but it was oil-based, and limited in its applications. Late medieval references to pastry do not make it clear what type is being referred to. In the seventeenth century, the work of La Varenne (originally published in 1651) and others shows that several types of pastry were recognised.

The Oxford English Dictionary  traces the first use of the word "pie" as it relates to food to 1303, noting the word was well-known and popular by 1362.

There is an old English nursery rhyme

Animated pies or pyes were the most popular banquet entertainment. The nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence . . . four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie," refers to such a pie. According to the rhyme, "When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the King." In all likelihood, those birds not only sang, but flew briskly out at the assembled guests. Rabbits, frogs, turtles, other small animals, and even small people (dwarfs) were also set into pies, either alone or with birds, to be released when the crust was cut. 
PS the pie birds used here are to keep the pie crust above the filling, so that it doesn't get soggy :~)

The Pastry War: France - Mexico, 1838

It's name is better suited to a Musical Comedy than a conflict between Nations and calls up visions of armies bombarding each other with Éclairs, Fruit Tarts, Napoleons and even Strudel. But on April 16, 1838 a French Fleet began the blockade of Mexico's east coast seaports, launching a war.
Read all about it HERE

The Dutch are famous for their apple pie, and even though it's very good it seems to be about the only cake served in Dutch cafes :~(

The British are, in my opinion the Kings of pie bakers. Enclosing a filling in pastry is a handy way of transporting food.
The Cornish pasty came into being for Cornish miners to take down the pit for their lunch. One end would have meat in it, and jam or fruit at the other end. The shape of the pasty meant that the miners could hold the folded over crust without the fear of getting arsenic from the coal on their hands.They would leave the rim for the 'gremlins' to eat !

                                            Here's a glorious recipe or Chicken, ham and leek pie !