Does a pie need a top and bottom?

[ladymalfoy45]

So,I'm making a chicken pie and my DH is of the opinion that a pie needs a top and bottom. I think it just needs a top. ( Like Cottage or Shepard's pie) .
The recipe just has a short crust top( but I fancy making a flaky pastry one instead).
So does a pie need a bottom? TKC ( The Kitchen Cabinet) says not.
I don't mind doing the bottom as well as the top ,but it's the definition of ' pie' that I need you all to help me with.
It's a recipe from Saturday Kitchen Live I'm making. Just to address any further question.

You need a poll for this one.
my view it needs to be entirely cased, otherwise it’s a stew with a top.

Yes, a pie needs a bottom.

Otherwise it's just casserole with a lid.

It depends on the type of pie. Shepherds/cottage pies have no bottoms or sides.

i do curse myself at holding that view when I’m blind baking the bastard though

I think a real pie has a top and a bottom.

A pie without a bottom (so x, y, z filling in a container topped with a circle of crusty pastry) is 'pie like' and delish (and a lot easier to make) but not a real pie.

In my humble pie opinion 😄

That’s acceptable in my head and I have no idea why

I agree with this. Pastry pies should have a bottom though, even if a lot of pubs don't seem to bother these days.

Yeah - but although those pies have pie in their name, it's not what i think of when someone says the word

PIE

to me.

I think of an actual pastry pie.

you can have either,I prefer just a top as I don't enjoy too much pastry, my granny often used to make what she called a "plate pie" cooked mince, onion & gravy or steak onion & gravy filling on a large oven proof plate, with a pastry top, they were delicious

A million times yes!

I only put a top on. Less sogginess and less calories

Exactly

A hat and coat on a pie is essential.

If it's a pastry pie it needs a bottom, sides and a top. If it's a mashed potato topped pie it only needs a bottom, for the obvious reason of it being mashed potato 🥔

I’d be very miffed if I was told I was getting a pie but received a dish with a pastry lid. I suppose technically you could call it a pie, but it would be more accurate to call it a disappointment.

Fish, shepherd’s or cottage pie, any other pie with mash on top, needs no bottom layer.
Anything with pastry IMO certainly does.

My DD’s making a chicken and vegetable pie today she’s only putting puff pastry on the top

Pork pies and bought pies need a full case.

Many others are better with a lovely crisp top and no soggy bottom and sides.

'Crustless quiches' which just have a soggy bottom and no crispy sides are nonsensical, of course.

Probably more than anyone ever needs to know about pies

This article takes pie – a baked dish with pastry encasing either a sweet or savory filling – as a starting point for consideration of global commerce, food, and death in the seventeenth and eighteenth century British and early American worlds. In this period, pies were devices in many senses of the word. They were used to preserve food, to make food last longer, and to prevent rot. Perhaps in part because of their preservative functions, pies were well-traveled, sent to friends and family members across long distances. Pies were embedded within global foodways, filled with ingredients sourced from around the planet. Reading into accounts, descriptions and reactions to pies found in first-hand accounts, it is clear that pies also inspired a wide range of emotions in the people who consumed them. These emotions included curiosity and delight but also, sometimes, fear and disgust. In fact, pies had a lively imaginative life, as they were debated and discussed in art and literary forms of many kinds. Pies served as elaborate metaphors and also as central tropes in some of the most popular and beloved works of the age.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20549547.2023.2252665

I'd be happy to have a pie with just a top. Bottom and sides is too much pastry and stodge for me and I wouldn't thank you for it.

My husband prefers one with a bottom too. I am not an entirely surrendered wife in most areas, but in the area of pies I tend to indulge him. Tho it would be easier for me, and better for our waistlines (we are meant to be dieting) to just do the lid... ..

Personally no. I find it much too rich and sickly with pastry on the bottom too especially shortcrust.

A pie needs a top and bottom, there is no debate to be had

Anomalies like cottage, shepherds and fish pies are allowed, they sneak in like Israel and Australia snuck in to the Eurovision Song Contest and we allow it because we like them but they're not really pies/european countries.

Are you going NC?

Do you blame yourself? Or did she get in with a bad crowd at school?