For Pie Lovers Everywhere

LOVE OF PASTRY, JOY OF PIES

Comfort food (n) : food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal.

There are times when nothing else will do. A taste and smell that takes you back, makes you feel warm, cosy, loved. An essential for cold, damp days when you need something solid inside that puts a smile on your face. Usually, it should be said from the beginning, with a high stodge factor.

The fish supper. A rich stew with dumplings. Macaroni cheese. And, naturally, the culinary high spot and classic pick-me-up that is the bacon sarnie. But is there really anything more comforting than a good pie? Pastry has an allure of its own, the cuddly artisan of the food world. Less a lover, more a big welcoming pair of arms to be wrapped up in and hugged by. I am in awe of the pie.

You will, if of a certain persuasion, have noticed that my brief list above was entirely savoury in nature. Fear not, I would never scorn the dessert pie, but my love is primarily directed towards the salt rather than sugary. Having said that I could never resist the charms of a lattice topped apple pie, heavy on the cinnamon and crusted with brown sugar, served with a good quality vanilla ice cream. Or rhubarb and ginger pie, or a sharp tasting lemon tart, or......

The trouble with writing about food is that it's too easy to get carried away. Especially when it comes to pies. Everyone will have their own favourite variation on the pie. Short or puff pastry? A steak pie oozing dark gravy or the solidity of the traditional pork variant? Single person pies or an acre of crisp brown topping to be divided amongst the table dwellers? Do quiches count as suitable objects of veneration for the pie aficionado? (A question I will not be brave enough to take on here. I also intend to sidestep the biggest pastry related query of them all - "Who ate all the pies?")

I speak here as a consumer of the pie world, not a producer. Although I have made the odd venture into working with pastry I have no expertise to offer. The results of my efforts have been..... let's call them 'variable'. What they had in common was a slightly frightening appearance for I bring minimal visual artistry to my cooking. The best pies should appear as objects of desire, both before and after their time in the oven. Pastry should be of of even thickness, neatly containing the steaming juices within, a deep brown glaze on puff pastry. In short (no pun intended) a great pie should look like you want a pie to look like. There is little call for pastry innovation in comfort food.

Fillings are a different matter and offer great scope to the baker's imagination. A London restaurant I've eaten in several times has an extensive and interesting list of fillings. In addition to the classic steak and ale there is chicken with gooseberries and ginger; gammon, potato and apple; lamb with apple and rosemary; game pie with a mix of pheasant, venison, wild boar and rabbit. There is even a vegetable and nut option (which for many of us would remove the 'comfort' part of the experience!), but, surprisingly, no hint of a fish pie. I have enjoyed some delicious examples of the latter over the years.

Other pies lend themselves to different variations. The standard pork pie, complete with delicious jelly, may be flavoured with herbs or contain added ingredients such as onion, cheese, apple or chutney. The humble mince pie (aka the Scotch pie) can be found topped with baked beans or mashed potato, or revamped with entirely new fillings like haggis or macaroni cheese (a stodge too far if you ask me).

So where do I sit on the pie spectrum? My tastes are eclectic, but I think I will end with a few pie memories. At school there would be occasional lunchtimes when we would walk down to the village baker and buy hot mince pies to eat on the way back. It was essential to bring along a pen or pencil.

A pen?

Yes, a pen. To gently poke a small hole in the bottom to let the grease run out, carefully holding it at arm's length to avoid fat-spattered trousers. Once degreased it was very tasty, and less likely to cause burns. Most mince pies I come across nowadays don't require the pen-poke technique, a welcome indicator of the improvements in pie-related technology.

At university the most popular lunch choice was pie, beans and chips, with the obligatory request that the kitchen staff ladle on plenty gravy. The latter sometimes contained more meat than the pie. Forget the taste, feel the price, that was a lot of filling food for the money.

The fish pie can be a true delight. It can frequently be found topped with mashed potato, which is a treat in itself, but still no match for decent pastry. I forget the exact location now, but a coastal town of course, and I still recall the taste of cod, salmon and prawns, enhanced by soft leeks, sitting in a creamy sauce and topped with the lightest of pastry. Subtlety and comfort on the one plate.

Oh, the home made pie. Is it cheating to include this one because I did contribute, creating a thick, dark filling of mince, onions and peas, flavoured with herbs and given a kick by more than a pinch of chilli. My wife then proceeded to give a pastry master class, lining a ten inch tin and covering my mixture with a neatly crimped, holed and scored shortcrust topping. It tasted as stunning as it looked.

I will finish with my most recent pie experience. All too often pub pies, and even many in restaurants like the London one mentioned previously, arrive before you in a distinctly non-traditional format. The meat and gravy resides in a pottery dish, the crust sits astride the lips of the earthenware. Two days ago I ordered steak and ale pie in a pub, prepared for that slight feeling of disappointment the pot and crust structure always provokes on arrival. But no - here was a proper pastry house of a pie, with short floor and walls and a flaky shiny roof. Big succulent chunks of meat fell apart to the prod of my fork, a rich gravy invited mopping up operations using fragments of the flour-based casement. Perhaps I was wrong before - comfort food can provide the odd orgasmic moment.