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.

I'd rather have just the top if the person making the pie isn't that good with pastry - I've had far too many soggy bottoms, and they can be off-putting when you have to scrape the filling off raw pastry.

I'm happy either way, but the ideal is lovely crispy pastry top and bottom.

The dictionary says bottom sides and top. So I guess that’s why @chattyness granny and my aunt used the term plate pie - to avoid confusion. They are my favourite because the pastry is never soggy.

Now you’ve got me wondering why fish, shepherd and cottage pies were not given a different name when they were invented.🤔🙂

I don't understand why you wouldn't have a top and a bottom, because otherwise how do you serve a slice? You can't. Case closed.

I watched some cooking programme where I think Sarah Milligan called a top only pie a "lie" and I always think of that. To be fair I make both versions depending on mood, time etc

I made a pie with just a top a few weeks ago, I just followed the recipe and didn't think too much of it. The reaction from my teens was very much that a pie needs a top and a bottom.

I must be the only person who likes a soggy bottom. I dont get the hate, I like it stodgy.

You cant avoid a soggy bottom with a pie anyway, the filling makes it wet. As it should be.

@Bluefell

yes, it's a disappointment!!

@ladymalfoy45

cottage & Shepards, whilst called 'pie'. Aren't really pies.

pastry 🥧 need to be fully self contained. Read up on the history of pies. If you had, you wouldn't even be asking!!

mske a proper pie, not a dish with a lid for God sake woman!! Call yourself a wife?? You're a disgrace to your sex!

says the woman whose total 'cooking' today will be toasting a hot cross bun 😂😂😂

enjoy it no matter what you do!

(

Cant remember last time I had a pie with a bottom, unless it was an individual pie.

A traditional Steak pie doesn't usually come with a bottom (Scotland)

Well articulated!

Yes! I hate these knock off fake pies. It's a stew with a bit of pastry on top, not a pie. The ratio is all off.

Shepherds pies are completely different.

Plus shortcrust is vastly superior to flaky.

The British pie awards say a pie needs a pastry top and bottom. The local pie shop does one that doesn't have a pastry top and so it wasn't eligible to be entered.

Without a top it’s a tart?

i go with a top only - calorie related decision plus less faff

@Lurkingandlearning

our family 'plate pie' was tinned cornbeef & mashed potato made on a specific plate.

I've been vegetarian 35 years now & it's the only thing I miss.

I'm also low carb now, so I wouldn't be eating it anyway mind you.

Sweet pies sometimes have a bottom but no lid, like banoffee and lemon meringue, but an apple pie with no lid would not be an apple pie.

But a plate pie always has a bottom surely?
When I did D.S. at school we all had to buy a 'school pie plate' for the term we did pastry and every pie we made on it had a top and bottom ( very often different pastries as we were taught the different techniques).

Banoffee is a tart.
I think lemon meringue achieves pie-ness because of the meringue topping?

My favourite sort of meat pie is one where it's all meat/veg with a puff pastry top. I'm always disappointed when eating out to find that the pie has a shortcrust top and bottom. So in my book you are making a pie.

But Delia"s Steak and Kidney Pie just has a top. And as PP have stated about a stew or casserole with a lid ,my DH will eat that.
I need to get some baking beans don't I? I really hate blind baking. I think the beans in my neck of the woods are lighter than the rest of our fair Isle.

Top and bottom. But a pie with only a top is better than no pie at all.

And shortcrust always.

In Scotland a steak pie has no bottom but a lovely, thick puff pastry top!

I don’t mind either. But if it just has a top I do object to puff pastry. It has to be shortcrust.

If a pie without a bottom isn't a pie, what is it? Genuine question. 🫠

“Steak pie” is a traditional Scottish dish, eaten on New Year’s Day but also all year round. It consists of meat stew in a dish covered with a puff pastry lid. It is universally called “pie” and this is a hill I will die on.

Well just to confuse matters pizza is also referred to as a pie (in the US) as it is veggies (and/or fruit) and protein encased in dough

It seems like the amount that a pie has to be encased varies with the product used to encase and sometimes the extent of the casing

encasements seem to include
pie tins and casserole dishes
potato
pastry
yeasted dough

are pies always baked? Are deep fried hand pies actually pies..?