Professional High School
History of Pies
SECOND QUARTER
T.L.E. Study Notes # 3
A. What is a Pie?
A pie is a baked dish usually made of
a pastry dough casing that contains a filling
of various sweet or savory ingredients. It has
a bottom and sometimes a top crust. Sweet
pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple
pie), nuts (pecan pie) or sweetened
vegetables (rhubarb pie). Savory pies may be
filled with meat (as in a steak pie or
a Jamaican patty), eggs and cheese or a
mixture of meat and vegetables (pot pie).
Pies are defined by their crusts
1. A filled pie (also called single-crust or bottom-
crust), has a pastry lining in the baking dish, and
the filling is placed on top of the pastry but left
open.
Example: Lemon Meringue Pie
2. A top-crust pie has the filling in the bottom of the
dish and is covered with a pastry or other covering
before baking.
Example: Chicken Pot Pie
3. A two-crust pie has the filling completely enclosed
in the pastry shell.
Example: Apple Pie
B.
• In medieval England, they were called pyes, and instead of being
predominantly sweet, they were most often filled with meat — beef, lamb,
wild duck, magpie pigeon — spiced with pepper, currants or dates.
• Historians trace pie’s initial origins to the Greeks, who are thought to be
the originators of the pastry shell, which they made by combining water
and flour.
• The wealthy Romans used many different kinds of meats — even mussels
and other types of seafood — in their pies. Meat pies were also often part
of Roman dessert courses, or secundae mensea. Cato the Younger recorded
the popularity of this sweet course, and a cheesecake-like dish called
Placenta was made.
• Pilgrims brought English-style, meat-based recipes with them to the
colonies. While pumpkin pie, which is first recorded in a cookbook in
1675, originated from British spiced and boiled squash, it was not
popularized in America until the early 1800s.
• The colonists cooked many a pie: because of their crusty tops, pies acted
as a means to preserve food, and were often used to keep the filling fresh
during the winter months.
• The Pilgrims used dried fruit, cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg to season
their meats. Further, as the colonies spread out, the pie’s role as a means to
showcase local ingredients took hold and with it came a prolifer ation of
new, sweet pies.
• The original apple pie recipes came from England.
• In 1589 the pre-revolutionary prototypes of Apple Pie were made with
unsweetened apples and encased in an inedible shell.
• Present day pies are made with everything from apples to avocados.
Page 2….2nd Quarter Study Notes #2 in TLE 8
C. Difference Between Pies and Tarts Type of Pan
a. The Similarities: • The sides of a pie dish or pan are sloped and the dish can be made from a variety
of material, such as ceramic, glass or metal.
• Crust & Filling. Both tarts and pies comprise a pastry crust with a filling that
can be sweet or savory. • A tart pan has straight or straight fluted side with a removable bottom. A pastry
ring atop a baking sheet can also be used.
• Multiple or Individual Servings. Both pies and tarts are multiple serving dishes.
While individual-size pies are called mini pies, an individual tart is a tartlet. Size.
• A standard pie pan is 9 inches in diameter and 1-1/4 inches deep. Other common
sizes are 9-1/2 inches and 10 inches.
b. The Differences:

Number of Crusts • Tart pans range from 10 to 12 inches in diameter, with a depth from 3/4 inches to
• A pie can have a full top crust, a lattice, or be open-faced. 2 inches. There are also rectangular tart pans, typically ranging from 11 inches to
15 inches in length, that make a handsome presentation.
• A tart has only a bottom crust. Flans and quiches are also tarts; and a cheesecake
is a cheese-custard tart.

Type of Crust
While both pie and tart crusts use the same ingredients (flour, shortening, cold
water, salt and sometimes sugar), they are in different proportions for different
purposes.
• Pie crusts are thin, soft, flaky pastry that can be made with different types of fat. Pie Pan Tart Pan
Typically, vegetable shortening or lard is used aside from butter. The pie is Consistency of Filling
served from the pie pan – angled sides not fluted. • Pie fillings can be loose (fruit pie) or firm (custard pie and pecan pie, for
example).
• Tart crusts are traditionally made with butter to achieve a buttery pastry flavor.
The tart crust is firm such that the tart can stand independently when removed • Tarts have firm fillings, based on more eggs or other binders. This is especially
from the tart pan. A tart is meant to be unmolded before serving. While it can be important since the tart is free-standing—no pie plate for juices to run onto.
served from the pan, the idea is to enjoy the beauty of the standing tart without
the pan. This is especially true with a beautiful fluted crust.

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D. Classification of Pies
• Cream pie is a type of pie filled with a rich custard
or pudding that is made from milk, cream, sugar,
wheat flour, and eggs. It comes in many forms,
including vanilla, lemon, lime, peanut butter,
banana, coconut, and chocolate. One feature of
most cream pies is a whipped cream
topping. Example: Banana Cream Pie

• Fruit pie are pies that are filled with fruits such as
apples, cherries etc. Example: Cherry Pie

• Custard pie is any type of uncooked custard

mixture added to an uncooked or partially cooked
crust and baked together. Example: Egg Pie

• Savory pie is a pie that contains cooked meat,

poultry, seafood, or vegetables in a thick sauce.
Examples: Chicken Pot Pies, and Shepherd’s pie.

Page 5….2nd Quarter Study Notes #2 in TLE 8