Editing Pie (section)

==History==
===Antiquity===
Early pies were in the form of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes called [[galette]]s consisting of a crust of ground [[oats]], [[wheat]], [[rye]], or [[barley]] containing [[honey]] inside. These galettes developed into a form of early sweet [[pastry]] or [[desserts]], evidence of which can be found on the tomb walls of the [[Pharaoh]] [[Ramesses II]], who ruled from 1304 to 1237 BC, located in the [[Valley of the Kings]].<ref name="WCA" /> Sometime before 2000 BC, a recipe for [[chicken pie]] was written on a tablet in [[Sumer]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6cBSI6TioRQC&dq=Sumerian+recipes&pg=PA69 Somervill, ''Empires of Ancient Mesopotamia'', p.69]</ref>

In the plays of [[Aristophanes]] (5th century BC), there are mentions of [[Sweetmeat|sweetmeats]] including small pastries filled with fruit. Nothing is known of the actual pastry used.

[[File:Roberto Bompiani - A Roman Feast - 72.PA.4 - J. Paul Getty Museum.jpg|thumb|A 19th-century depiction of a Roman feast, where pastry-covered meat dishes were served]]

The Romans made a plain pastry of flour, oil, and water to cover meats and fowls which were baked, thus keeping in the juices. The Roman approach of covering "...birds or hams with dough" has been called more of an attempt to prevent the meat from drying out during baking than an actual pie in the modern sense.<ref name="Perry" /> The covering was not meant to be eaten. It filled the role of what was later called puff paste. A richer pastry, intended to be eaten, was used to make small pasties containing eggs or little birds which were among the minor items served at banquets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html|title=Food Pies|publisher=FoodTimeline.org|access-date=5 July 2010}}</ref> The first written reference to a Roman pie is for a rye dough that was filled with a mixture of goat's cheese and honey.<ref name="Pix" />

The 1st-century Roman cookbook ''[[Apicius]]'' makes various mentions of recipes which involve a pie case.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome|editor=Joseph Dommers Vehling|publisher=Dover:New York|year=1977}}</ref> By 160 BC, Roman statesman [[Cato the Elder|Marcus Porcius Cato]] (234–149 BC), who wrote ''[[De Agri Cultura]]'', notes the recipe for the most popular pie/cake called ''[[Placenta (food)|placenta]]''. Also called ''libum'' by the Romans, it was more like a modern-day [[cheesecake]] on a pastry base, often used as an offering to the gods. With the development of the Roman Empire and its efficient road transport, pie cooking spread throughout [[Europe]].<ref name="WCA" /> Wealthy Romans combined many types of meats in their pies, including mussels and other seafood.<ref name="Mayer" /> Roman pie makers generally used vegetable oils, such as olive oil, to make their dough.<ref name="Pix" />

===Medieval era===
In the Medieval era, pies were usually savoury meat pies made with "...beef, lamb, wild duck, magpie pigeon -- spiced with pepper, currants or dates".<ref name="Mayer" /> Medieval cooks had restricted access to ovens due to their costs of construction and need for abundant supplies of fuel. Since pies could be easily cooked over an open fire, this made pies easier for most cooks to make. At the same time, by partnering with a baker, a cook could focus on preparing the filling.

The earliest pie doughs were probably an inedible, stiff mixture of rye flour and water. The earliest pie recipes refer to ''coffyns'' (the word actually used for a [[basket]] or [[box]]), with straight sealed sides and a top; open-top pies were called ''traps''.{{sfn|Clarkson|2009|pp=18–19}} Until the mid-16th century this British pie dough known as "cofyn" was used as a baking dish.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stavely |first1=Keith |last2=Fitzgerald |first2=Kathleen |title=Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England |date=2011 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |page=246}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| last = Golden| first = John| title = Now for a British Challenge: Hand-Raised Meat Pies| work = The New York Times| access-date = 2024-11-30| date = 1979-02-28| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1979/02/28/archives/now-for-a-british-challenge-handraised-meat-pies-making-your-own.html}}</ref> These pies were meant to be eaten with the hands. The hardened coffyn pastry was not necessarily eaten, its function being to contain the filling for baking, and to extend its shelf-life.{{sfn|Clarkson|2009|pp=18–19}} The thick crust was so sturdy it had to be cracked open to get to the filling.<ref name="Gross" /> This may also be the reason why early recipes focus on the filling over the surrounding case, with this development leading to the use of reusable earthenware pie cases which reduced the use of expensive flour.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy |author=Odile Redon |publisher=University of Chicago Press:Chicago |year=1998 |isbn=0-226-70684-2 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Ceramic pie dishes were not used until the 16th century. Medieval pie crusts were often baked first, to create a "pot" of baked dough with a removable top crust, hence the name ''pot pie''.<ref name="Pix" />

The first unequivocal reference to pie in a written source is in the 14th century (''Oxford English Dictionary'' sb ''pie'').<ref name="WCA" /> The eating of mince pies during festive periods is a tradition that dates back to the 13th century, as the returning Crusaders brought pie recipes containing "meats, fruits and spices".<ref name="Pix" />{{better source|date=November 2024}} Some pies contained cooked rabbits, frogs,<ref name="Pix" /> crows, and pigeons.<ref name="Gross" /> 

In 1390, the English cookbook ''A Forme of Cury'' had a recipe for "tartes of flesh", which included a ground-up mixture of "pork, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese" blended with "spices, saffron, and sugar".<ref name="Greenwood" />  The "cofyn" dough for the 14th-century apple pie recipe from ''[[The Forme of Cury]]'' was probably a simple mix of water and whatever flour was available in [[late middle ages]].<ref name=Pangrace>{{cite book |last1=Pangrace |first1=Meredith |title=Midwest Pie: Recipes That Shaped a Region |date=2023 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing}}</ref> The recipe included spices,  apples, raisins pears and figs.  The 14th-century French chef Taillevent instructed bakers to "crenelate" pie shells and "reinforce them so that they can support the meat"; one of his pies was high enough that it resembled a model of a castle, an illusion enhanced by miniature banners for the nobles at the event.<ref name="Perry" />

Pies in the 15th century included birds, as [[song bird]]s at the time were a delicacy and protected by Royal Law. At the coronation of eight-year-old English [[King Henry VI]] (1422–1461) in 1429, "Partrich" and "Pecok enhakill" were served, alleged by some modern writers to consist of cooked [[peacock]] mounted in its skin on a peacock-filled pie. The expressions "eat crow" and "four and 20 blackbirds" are sayings from the era when crow and blackbirds were eaten in pies.<ref name="Gross" />  Cooked birds were frequently placed by European royal cooks on top of a large pie to identify its contents, leading to its later adaptation in pre-Victorian times as a porcelain ornament to release of steam.<ref name="WCA" /> The apple pie was first referenced in writing in 1589, when the poet R. Green wrote "Thy breath is like the seeme of apple pies".<ref name="Mayer" />

Medieval England had an early form of sweet pies called [[tart]]s and fruit pies were unsweetened, because sugar was a rare and costly [[status symbol]].<ref name="Gross" /> In the Middle Ages, a pie could have several items as its filling, but a [[pastry]] would have only a single filling.<ref name="JIUpK" />

===15th to 17th centuries===
[[File:Pieter Claesz. - Still-life with Turkey-Pie (detail) - WGA4972.jpg|thumb|A detail from [[Pieter Claesz]]' 1627 painting of turkey pie.]]

Until the start of the 15th century, most pies were expected to contain meat or fish.<ref name="Perry" />  Fresh fruit did not become widely used until sugar dropped in price during the 16th century.<ref name="Perry" /> The first cherry pie is recorded in the late 16th century, when [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]] was served cherry pie.<ref name="Pix" /> Elizabeth was often given gifts of quince or pear pies for New Year.<ref name="Perry" /> 

During the [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] era, fruit pies were served hot, but others were served at room temperature, as they would be brought to the "...table more than once".<ref name="Perry" /> Apple pies were popular in Tudor and Stuart times. [[Pippin apple|Pippins]] were baked with [[Clove|cloves]], [[cinnamon]], [[Date palm|dates]] and [[Candied fruit|candied orange peels]]. [[Rose water|Rosewater]] was often added to apple pies.<ref name=":1" />

During the Puritan era of [[Oliver Cromwell]], some sources claim mince pie eating was banned as a frivolous activity for 16 years, so mince pie making and eating became an underground activity; the ban was lifted in 1660, with the Restoration of the monarchy.<ref name="Pix" /> Food historian Annie Gray suggests that the myth of the Puritans "actively" banning mince pies came about "due to the defenders of Christmas" who reported Puritan vitriol "with a certain amount of exaggeration".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gray |first=Annie |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1240493345 |title=At Christmas We Feast: festive food through the ages. |date=2021 |publisher=Profile Books LTD |isbn=978-1-78816-819-9 |location=[S.l.] |oclc=1240493345}}</ref> 

It was in the 16th century that a puff paste began to be used to make flakier pie crusts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Puff pastry |url=https://britishfoodhistory.com/tag/puff-pastry/ |website=British food history}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Renfrew |first=Jane |title=Food and cooking in 16th century Britain |date=1985 |publisher=English Heritage |isbn=9781850745365}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=How |first=William |title=A proper New Booked of cookery |date=1575}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dawson |first=Thomas |title=The good housewife jewel |date=1596 |publisher=Southover press |isbn=978-1870962124}}</ref> In Gervase Markham's 1615 book ''The English Huswife'', there is a recipe for puff paste  where the paste is kneaded, rolled thinly many times while layering with butter.  This made a flaky butter pastry to cover meat for pies  or for tarts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mcgee |first=Harold |title=On food and cooking the science and Lord of the kitchen |date=1984 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=1-4165-5637-0}}</ref>  There is  also a pie recipe that calls for "an entire leg of mutton and three pounds of suet..., along with salt, cloves, mace, currants, raisins, prunes, dates, and orange peel", which made a huge pie that could serve a large group.<ref name="Greenwood" /> According to Markham, crusts made with fine wheat flour required the addition of eggs to be sturdy enough for raised pies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stavely |first1=Keith |last2=Fitzgerald |first2=Kathleen |title=Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England |date=2011 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |page=246}}</ref>

In the 17th century, [[Ben Jonson]] described a skilled pie cook by comparing the cook to a fortification builder who "...Makes citadels of curious fowl and fish" and makes "dry-ditches", "bulwark pies" and "ramparts of immortal crusts".<ref name="Perry" />

===18th century===
In the [[Georgian era|Georgian]] era, sweetened pies of meat and dried fruits began to become less popular. In recipe books of the period sweet veal, sweet lamb or sweet chicken pies are given alongside recipes for unsweetened alternatives with the same ingredients made for those who could "no longer stomach the sweetened flesh meats enjoyed by earlier generations".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=C. Anne |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/859209 |title=Food & drink in Britain : from the Stone Age to recent times |date=1973 |publisher=Constable |isbn=0-09-456040-4 |location=London |oclc=859209}}</ref>

[[Pumpkin pie]] was fashionable in England from the 1650s onward, then fell out of favour during the 18th century. [[Pumpkin]] was sliced, fried with sweet herbs sweetened with sugar and eggs were added. This was put into a pastry case with currants and apples. Pumpkin pie was introduced to America by early colonists where it became a national dish.<ref name=":1" />

===19th century===
During the 19th century, pies became, according to food historian Janet Clarkson, "universally esteemed" in a way that other foods were not.<ref name=":0" /> In 1806 [[Maria Rundell|Mrs Rundell]] in her Observations on Savoury Pies in [[A New System of Domestic Cookery]] stated that 'There are few articles of cookery more generally liked than relishing pies, if properly made'. [[Alexis Soyer]], a celebrity cook of the 19th century said in his book ''Shilling Cookery for the People'' (1860) "From childhood we eat pies - from girlhood to boyhood we eat pies - in fact, pies in England may be considered as one of our best companions du voyage through life. It is we who leave them behind, not they who leave us; for our children and grandchildren will be as fond of pies as we have been; therefore it is needful that we should learn how to make them, and make them well! Believe me, I am not jesting, but if all the spoilt pies made in London on one single Sunday were to be exhibited in a row beside a railway line, it would take above an hour by special train to pass in review these culinary victims".<ref name=":0" />

===United States (17th century-1980s)===
{{main|Pie in American cuisine}}

The Pilgrims brought the pie recipes they knew from their home countries with them when they arrived to the colonies. Colonists appreciated the [[food preservation]] aspect of crusty-topped pies from Britain, which were often seasoned with "dried fruit, cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg".<ref name="Mayer" /> The first pies they created in the United states were adapted pies that were based on berries and fruits pointed out to them by the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native North American]]s.<ref name="WCA" /> 

According to [[James E. McWilliams]], American cooks "embraced the rough edges of American foodways to foster a pastoral ideal that promoted the frontier values that the colonists had once downplayed".<ref name=cox>{{cite book |last=Cox |first=Robert S. |title=New England Pie: History Under a Crust |date=2015 |publisher=Arcadia |isbn=9781625852922 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9g3hCgAAQBAJ}}</ref> [[Apple pie]]  became popular, because apples were easy to dry and store in barrels over the winter.<ref>"Pie". ''The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink''.Andrew F. Smith, Oxford University Press, USA, 2007.</ref>

Pie fillings could be made with very few ingredients to "stretch" their "meager provisions".<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" /> These pies later came to be known as [[desperation pies]]. First originating in the 18th century they included pies like [[sugar cream pie]] and [[Kentucky transparent pie]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Jean |date=2012-03-14 |title=The South's Storied Chess Pie: Food + Cooking |url=http://www.gourmet.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/food/gourmetlive/2012/031412/the-souths-storied-chess-pie.html |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=gourmet.com |archive-date=September 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240914155524/http://www.gourmet.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/food/gourmetlive/2012/031412/the-souths-storied-chess-pie.html |url-status=live }}</ref> By the 19th century pies were a staple of the American family meal and women were responsible for figuring out how to make tasty pies that fit within the family budget.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Jacqueline |title=The Way We Ate: Pacific Northwest Cooking 1843-1900 |publisher=Washington State University Press |page=83–4}}</ref>

Once the British had established Caribbean colonies, sugar became less expensive and more widely available, which meant that sweet pies could be readily made.<ref name="Gross" /> Molasses was popular in American pies due to the rum and slave trade with the Caribbean Islands, and [[maple syrup]] was an important sweetener in Northern states, after Indigenous people taught settlers how to tap maple trees and boil down the sap.<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" /> In the Midwest, cheese and cream pies were popular, due to the availability of big dairy farms.<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" /> In the US south, [[African-American]]s enjoyed [[sweet potato]] pies, due to the widespread availability of this type of potato.<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" />

By the 1870s, the new science of [[nutrition]] led to criticism of pies, notably by [[Sarah Tyson Rorer]], a cooking teacher and food editor who warned the public about how much energy pies take to digest.<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" /> Rorer stated that all pie crusts "...are to be condemned" and her cookbook only included an apple tart, jelly and meringue-covered crackers, pâté, and a "hygienic pie" which had "apple slices or a pumpkin custard baked in biscuit dough".<ref name="Perry" /> In 1866, ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' included an article by C.W. Gesner that stated that although we "...cry for pie when we are infants", "Pie kills us finally", as the "heavy crust" cannot be digested.<ref name="Perry" />

Another factor that decreased the popularity of pies was [[industrialization]] and increasing movement of women into the labour market, which changed pie making from a weekly ritual to an "occasional undertaking" on special occasions.<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" /> In the 1950s, after WWII, the popularity of pies rebounded in the US, especially with commercial food inventions such as instant pudding mixes, [[Cool Whip]] topping, and [[Jello]] gelatin (which could be used as fillings) ready-made crusts, which were sold frozen, and alternative crusts made with crushed potato chips.<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" /> There was a pie renaissance in the 1980s, when old-fashioned pie recipes were rediscovered and a wide range of cross-cultural pies were explored.<ref name="Drink. Andrew F 2007" />