Acceptable Thanksgiving Pies

[jamos14]

Poontang Pie

[Jon Snow]

I have never been a fan of pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie.

Both flavors take over the pie crust. Both would be better served in some kind of casserole.

Blasphemy!

[thefuzz]

Moon Pie and an RC Cola?

[Daeavorn]

Cherry!? Come on man!

[bryn10]

I like to make a good cream pie every now and then.

[Jase]

I have done some research and found a pretty awesome site as a resource in this discussion.

 

http://www.everythingpies.com/history-of-pie.html

 

 

What is pie and what is not pie?

Believe it or not a concise definition for pie does not exist that everyone agrees with.

 

There are some pie definitions that some like while others would hate. Pies are not pies just because they are called pies. The American treat called Eskimo pie is definitely ice cream. Moon pie is a chocolate biscuit. Boston cream pie is certainly a cake baked in a pie tin.

 

How do we handle a cobbler or pandowdy? As failed pies with creative tops. Then we have cottage pie and shepherd’s pie. But none of these pies have a pastry.

 

First Law of Pies: Pies must have a pastry made from some sort of grain, wheat, rice, cracker or cookie crumbs. No pastry, No pie!

 

Second Law of Pies: Pies must be baked in an oven at some time of the process or pseudo bake -  like no baked pie custards. Pies are not fried, boiled or steamed.

 

What? Not fried! This comes to our next pie law. We must quantify the time period we are defining pie for since it took on different means through the ages. Pies from the 16th century until now where all baked in a dish, a pie dish, and of an edible tasty crust. So the definition of pies will cover the time period of the 16th Century until now.

 

Therefore, our pie definition will not include fried pies that are more like turnovers or store bought package pies like Hostess. A fried pie is really no different than a jelly filled doughnut.

 

Fried pastry is not what we visualize when we thank of pie. If so? Why not call a fry won ton a pie.

 

Third Law of Pies: A pie shall be baked in some form of a dish - metal, ceramic or glass.

 

The next point to make is which pastry is mandatory or how many? Must it have a bottom crust or must it have a bottom and top crust. Maybe you prefer just a top crust.

 

Oxford English Dictionary defines a pie as:

A baked dish of fruit, meat, fish, or vegetables, covered with pastry (or a similar substance) and freq. Also having a base and sides of pastry. Also (chiefly N. Amer.): a baked open pastry case filled with fruit: a tart or flan.

 

It seems Europe makes the top crust essential to be a pie.

 

America makes the bottom crust the primary statue for a pie.

 

According to the British English bakers, the American open single crust pie is a tart or flan. So the definition is less clear. For argument state if you are in America, a pie must have a bottom crust of some sort of pastry.

 

Fourth Law of Pie: A pie in America must have a bottom crust of some sort of pastry.

 

Is a tart, a pie and a pie a tart? Tart comes from the word torture, which comes from the same Latin root. The pastry is twisted or torture to fit the dish which is layered with custard and jam, decorated with fruit, leaving it in all other respects ‘open’, just a bottom crust.

 

A tart never has a top crust. The filling of tarts are not as deep as a pie and tend to be somewhat shallow. Not mandatory but tarts have optional sides of pastry, and if there is one, the sides are in most cases perpendicular to the base.

 

Common tarts have a custard base stuffed with fruit laid out in an organized matter.

 

Tarte Tatin is an upside down tart, normally filled with fruit like apples.

 

Fifth Law of Pie: A pie must have a pastry that comes up on the sides to contain its filling. A tart is a subset of the pie. If sides are perpendicular, filled with custard and topped with fruit, the pie is called a tart.

 

[Inimicus]

Cheescake is always an appropriate substitute for pie

 

[Jeremy Igo]

Here, let me take a watery dump in a pastry shell, someone will call it a pie.

[Jase]

Another note about custard pie: It is one of the oldest forms of pie.  Thought by many pie-storians to precede the first fruit pies of the late 1500s by several hundred years.

 

Custard pies first appeared in the medieval period.

[Judo Thoreau]

Jello pie recipe:

1. Prepare Jello (Orange, preferably) as described on packaging.

2. Pour into precooked pie shell.

3. Refrigerate until firm.

4. Enjoy.

[PhillyB]

Jello pie recipe:

1. Prepare Jello (Orange, preferably) as described on packaging.

2. Pour into precooked pie shell.

3. Refrigerate until firm.

4. Enjoy.

 

why do you hate america

[Khaki Lackey]

I concur with Igo's list, although I would omit cherry only because it sucks in comparison to the others listed.

As far as fruit based pies go

Apple>Blueberry>strawberry>lemon>Cherry

I don't know what a rhubarb is.

[SCP]

Pecan and Pumpkin

Done.

[Kakarot]

Mmmhhmmm sweet potato pie. My favorite.

Apple pie is a close 2nd.